Volume 120, Issue 2
SPORTS FOOTBALL SEASON
Get the inside scoop on the coach’s plan for the year, and the players that are making it happen. Pg. 7
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022
VISTA The
“OUR WORDS, YOUR VOICE.”
vistanews1903 @thevista1903 @thevista1903 The Vista ucentralmedia.com
Volume 119, Issue 19
The votes are in:
Oklahoma primary runoff results Tilly Harvey Reporter
Summer Boismeir covers her library collection in her classroom, writing, ‘Books the state doesn’t want you to read.” (Provided)
Norman High teacher leaves due to HB1775
Tilly Harvey Reporter
A Norman High School (NHS) teacher resigned on Aug. 22 following a complaint related to Oklahoma House Bill 1775. Summer Boismier began her
second year of teaching at NHS on Aug. 19. By the end of the first day of school, she received an HB1775 complaint. Boismier was instructed on that day that she would need to meet with Assistant Superintendent Holly Nevels Continued on Pg. 4
Oklahomans headed to the polls August 23 for the runoffs from the June primary election. Markwayne Mullin defeated T.W. Shannon for the Republican nomination to replace Senator Jim Inhofe. Madison Horn won against Jason Bollinger for the Democratic nomination to run against Senator James Lankford. Carrie Blumert, the incumbent, defeated Anastasia Pittman in the Democratic primary runoff for Oklahoma County Commission District 1. Myles Davidson won the Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma County Commission District 3 over Amy Alexander. Kevin Calvey defeated Gayland Geiger in the Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma County District Attorney. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is October 14, 2022. Requests for absentee ballots can be submitted no later than October 24, 2022. The general election will be held November 6, 2022.
Educators react to Walters primary win Allison Miller Contributing Writer Oklahoma educators, as well as future teachers, expressed frustration following the Aug. 23 primary in which Oklahoma Education Secretary Ryan Walters defeated April Grace to become the Republican Party nominee for State Superintendent For Public Instruction. Oklahoma Education Association’s President Katherine Bishop said there was a “huge sense of disappointment” following the results of the election due to low voter turnout, as well as the political rhetoric taking center stage over student needs. Bishop said the result could be devastating if Oklahomans do not focus on electing officials who have the best interest for public school students. It could result in politicians taking more money away from public schools, the loss of teachers and support professionals, and an increase in emergency certifications, said Bishop. Higher education could also be affected, with an increase in tuition and a decrease in class options, Bishop said. Walters supports “school choice,” in which vouchers are given to Oklahoma students to attend private schools. The money for these vouchers would be taken out of public school funds, Bishop said, and that Walters will likely push for passage of The Empowerment Act, a school choice bill, if he is elected. The bill
failed earlier this year. “[Kids] have the right to a free and equal education. We can’t let political agendas control or dominate how we are teaching students, because that is indoctrination,” said Victoria Lyon, an English education student at UCO. Lyons said she disagrees with HB 1775, which prohibits material about race and sex if they are deemed discrimanatory by the Bill’s guidelines. This makes a teacher’s job impossible, Lyon said, because they have to go through their class and find everything that could be in violation of the law. Lyon plans on leaving the state after finishing her degree due to better opportunities. She said several education students feel the same way, and that the incentives given are not good enough to keep teachers in Oklahoma. UCO’s English Education department has also seen a 9% decrease in students enrolling in the program in the last semester, Lyon said. “We feel like we’re losing before we even start the race,” she said. Teaching students must work contract teaching hours and work towards full-time certification while going to school full-time in their final semester for what Lyon said are unsatisfactory conditions and and low pay. Bishop said schools in Oklahoma are already understaffed. Teachers are leaving because of inadequate pay Continued on Pg. 4
Oklahoma Education Association President Katherine Bishop was disappointed in the primary results. (Provided)
Couple buys OKC Cafe after working there for years Sam Royka Managing Editor
When the previous owner of Cafe Oasis, 1135 NW 25 St., could no longer open the door, two employees had a choice to make. When the cafe, adjacent to Super Cao Nguyen supermarket, was up for sale, business and life partners Norman Haase and Emily Shan were the only interested buyers. They took over last year because they wanted to “keep the doors open for the Cafe Oasis legend,” Haase said. As the cafe celebrates its 20th anniversary, the pair reminiscences on their time working at the Taiwanese cafe. Haase said the previous owner had been running “all cylinders” of the restaurant and “it just eventually got to the point where she couldn’t deal with the physical nature of the job and the work.” “It was time to go ahead and move on, in her case, and that’s when the opportunity came up,” he said. The couple needed more help running the business without their former boss. Though Haase and Shan officially ac-
Cafe Oasis resides inside Super Cao Nguyen. (The Vista/ Sam Royka)
quired ownership of the cafe last October, the transition was a cooperative effort with the
previous owner, lasting a few months. It took a lot of communication to make a smooth transition. “The restaurant business over the last couple of years is a very contrarian business to move into,” Hasse said, mentioning the restaurant below them had just gone out of business. In business, Haase said, “first and foremost, there’s always uncertainty. It kind of all worked out, you know, in an odd sort of way,” he said, calling Oasis, “part of the fabric” of Oklahoma City as one of the first boba tea shops to open in the Asian District. “The whole time that the restaurant’s open, six days a week, she and I are there doing something or picking something up or, you know, doing something business related,” Haase said. “Which is well over 70 hours a week. But we’re busy. We’re busy people.” He continued. “Everything that we use in our drink space is imported so you get a traditional Taiwanese boba tea experience when you come to Continued on Pg. 4