Top headlines of the week: Oct. 24, 2025
Top headlines of the week: Oct. 24, 2025
Leaders of Oklahoma City Public Schools say enrollment for the inaugural ninth-grade class at the new Belle Isle Enterprise High School has started for the 2026-27 school year. Belle Isle will be a free application-based public school.
The Belle Isle high school campus, near the intersection of Broadway Extension and Wilshire Boulevard, is under construction, so as freshmen, Belle Isle students will attend classes at the current Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School campus at 5904 N Villa Ave. The new Belle Isle High School campus is expected to open for the 2027-28 school year.
The district plans to add one class of students to the school per year, meaning it should have a full complement of freshman through senior classes by the 2029-30 school year.
Superintendent Jamie Polk said the new school represents the district’s “commitment to helping every student see themselves as a leader and a learner.”
“From the very beginning, our goal is to create a school where students not only excel academically, but also discover their purpose, find their voice, and lead with confidence,” Polk said.
The $76.16 million project is being paid for through funds from a $955 million bond issue approved by voters in 2022.
The district is accepting applications from perspective students both within and outside of district boundaries. Information about the application process can be found at www.okcps.org/belleisleEHS.
Biography captures life, career of former OSU president
A biography of former Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis is being released as the university celebrates the renovation of an on-campus leadership institute named in his honor.
Oklahoma historian Bob Burke and Gary Shutt, a longtime spokesman for OSU, teamed to write “One Lucky Cowboy: The Life of Burns Hargis.” The book tells of Hargis’ partnership with his wife, Ann, and chronicles his career, first as a lawyer, then as vice chairman of the Bank of Oklahoma, and finally as president of OSU, which Hargis led from March 2008 until July 2021.
Hargis has held signing ceremonies for the book, including after an Oct. 10 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Hargis Leadership Institute, which now is located on the second floor of OSU’s Student Union. Hargis has said the goal for the institute is to help students “find the leader within them.”
“It really was one of the most remarkable good fortunes that we’ve had — and we’ve had more than our share over the years — but to get the chance to be president of Oklahoma State University and Ann to be First Cowgirl has just been magical,” Hargis said.
‘School of Rock’ launching a new radio station
The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, informally known as the “School of Rock” since it was established in 2009, has launched a new radio station it says is built around discovery, deep cuts and music with meaning.
The station, ACM@UCO Radio, is curated by the school’s chief executive officer, Scott Booker, who’s also the longtime manager of the famed Oklahoma City band The Flaming Lips. Booker has drawn from a personal archive of more than 45,000 records and will include songs from the past five decades spanning multiple musical genres, including rhythm and blues, country, indie, jazz, rock and pop.
Booker said ACM@UCO Radio will include Oklahoma artists in its regular rotation. Listeners can expect to hear several ACM@UCO alumni, including Kaitlin Butts, alongside other notable Oklahomans such as J.J. Cale, Broncho and The Gap Band.
“Our goal is to play songs that connect to everyone,” Booker said.
Community college leaders honored
The newest class of the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges Hall of Fame was recognized Oct. 3.
Just-retired Rose State College President Jeanie Webb, who led the Midwest City school from 2013 through this past June, was one of three inductees.
Also inducted was Tom Poole, who worked for 26 years as an administrator at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami. The third inductee was Larry Duffy, a 1975 Western Oklahoma State College graduate who has worked 47 years in various roles at the Altus institution. A building on the Western campus bears his name.
Heritage Hall teacher named to national council
Heritage Hall teacher Ashley Adams has been named to the National Humanities Center’s Teacher Advisory Council for the 2025-26 academic year. Heritage Hall is a private college preparatory school in northwest Oklahoma City.
Adams, an eighth-grade history teacher, is one of 20 educators on the council, which works with the organization’s staff to help teachers become more effective in humanities classrooms.
The independent organization is dedicated to advancing and promoting significant humanistic study and reflection.
Report shows desire for after-school programs
A household survey commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance – a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group that seeks to expand support for quality afterschool programs – shows that about four in five Oklahoma parents want after-school programs for their children but are unable to enroll them, in many cases because programs are too expensive, unavailable or inaccessible.
The national study, known as “America After 3PM,” found that 89% of Oklahoma parents with a child in an after-school program rate it as excellent or very good. The survey showed that in Oklahoma, the parents of 360,998 children want after-school programs but just 70,354 children were enrolled in such a program.
The study, conducted by Edge Research, was based on a survey of 30,515 U.S. parents of school-age children who live in their households, including in-depth interviews with 418 parents in Oklahoma. The study examines 20 years of data and claims to be the first after-school household survey conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This study is an urgent call to action to Oklahoma and federal leaders to increase funding and capacity, so all families will be able to access after-school programs,” said Tristy Fryer, the network lead of the Oklahoma Partnership for Expanded Learning.
Southeastern, Cameron professors celebrate literary achievements
Two Oklahoma college professors are celebrating literary achievements.
Rolando Diaz, the chair and associate professor in the Department of English, Humanities and Languages at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, has been recognized by the 2025 International Latino Book Awards.
The second edition of Díaz’s “Tales from the Tortilla Curtain and Other Stories” has been named a finalist in the category of Best Collection of Short Stories – English. The ILBA is the largest awards ceremony in the U.S. that celebrates achievements in Latino literature.
Across the state at Cameron University in Lawton, associate professor David Bublitz had a release party on Sept. 25 for his children’s book, “The Depend-Ant.” Bublitz wrote and illustrated the book, which was inspired by his experience as a military dependent