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Incumbent school board president Tina Floyd and special education advocate Tori Collier will face off on April 1 for the Office 5 seat of the Norman Public Schools Board of Education.
Tina Floyd views, platform
Floyd is a lifelong Oklahoman and mother of four children, two of which were students at NPS. She has been a member of the board since 2023 when she was appointed after former representative Linda Sexton announced her resignation midterm. She was elected as president of the board in April 2024.
Floyd and her husband Robert Floyd have co-owned Spark Softball, an Oklahoma City-based professional softball team since July 2022.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in school administration from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, a master’s degree in adult and higher education from OU and a doctorate in educational leadership and administration from Southern Nazarene University.
Supporting teachers
As a former public school teacher of 22 years, Floyd’s main focus is on uplifting teachers. She said her biggest concern is meeting teachers’ needs.
She said many teachers receive the recognition they deserve for their work, but there may be teachers who are doing the same level of work and may not receive the same attention.
“It’s very difficult, when you have a district of 2,000 people, to get into every classroom and celebrate what every teacher is doing,” Floyd said. “You have teachers that are doing so much but maybe not getting the credit because maybe they’re a little quieter.”
If elected, one of Floyd’s goals is to visit more classrooms and get to know teachers. She also plans to help take things off of the teachers’ plates by doing things such as reading to younger students during the school day.
“People put a lot on teachers,” Floyd said. “Anything we can do, myself individually or as a collective board, to try to alleviate some of that pressure is good.”
Mental health
Floyd also prioritizes strengthening mental health safeguards in schools. She wants to make sure that students and faculty are getting the help they need to be in a safe mental space.
“This year, we have more mental health supports in place than ever before,” Floyd said.
NPS was recently awarded a federal grant of $6.5 million to improve the district’s mental health services in their schools. The project will span over five years, with $1.3 million being funded during this school year.
Floyd said this grant has allowed the district to focus on improving mental health supports that are already in place as well as creating new ones.
“We can never have too much, in my opinion, mental health safeguards in our buildings and for our children,” Floyd said.
Tori Collier views, platform
Collier is a Norman resident of 26 years and a mother of three children. She currently works for the Evolution Foundation as a community consultant. She worked at the Oklahoma State Department of Health as a project manager from November 2021 to April 2024. Collier was also the community state liaison for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse from 2015 to 2021.
Collier holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies from Webster University and a master’s degree in journalism from OU.
Education equity
Collier’s oldest child is diagnosed with autism and provides the inspiration for her passion for educational equity for all students.
“(He) really shaped my decision to run,” Collier said. “I have him in mind when I knock on doors or talk to teachers.”
From the time her son was diagnosed at age 3, Collier has been an advocate for her son and people with disabilities by becoming involved in Partners in Policymaking, Oklahoma Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) and Family Voices.
“I've gotten to see both sides of a traditional learning student as well as those with severe special needs,” Collier said. “I sometimes see a disparity in resources there, and I want to make sure that if elected, I'm able to talk about those from my perspective … and other parents’.”
Collier said it’s important to shed light on the fidelity of current special needs programs in NPS but also inspect areas where programs could be improved.
“I want to look at the whole thing and say, ‘Where can we do better?’” Collier said. “And really identify those (gaps) and start creating some action steps of what can be built to fill in those gaps.”
Mental health
Because of Collier’s experience at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, mental health is one of her top issues in her campaign.
“When I think about the health of a child, I think about physical health, mental health and nutritional health,” Collier said. “I'm not sure that mental health is looked at as highly as we look at maybe some of those other forms of safety.”
Collier said she has seen the effects of not only how struggling with mental health affects the student who is struggling but also the student’s peers.
“If we can look at it as mental health, and not just being about even the one child that may be suffering, but knowing that if we can't serve that one child, it ripples out to the other children,” Collier said.
Collier spoke about the idea of implementing school resources such as a school psychologist or student-run mental health clubs where students would feel safe talking about mental health struggles.
“The city pushes a lot for the resource officers and for that safety if there were an intruder,” Collier said. “I want to see us go in with just as much rigor that we do because that’s just as important.”
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Ismael Lele and Ana Barboza. Gretchen Schultz and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
