Two former teachers say curriculum resulted in a C grade for elementary school

Merriott taught fifth-grade science, social studies and writing for 23 years at the Edmond Public Schools campus. She was finishing her final year before retiring in the spring when a family emergency forced her to miss the last quarter of school, including the two weeks leading up to testing.

Merriott's mother had injured herself in a fall, so she rushed to her home in Claremore to care for her.

“I didn't know what I was going to do and how long I would be gone,” she said. “But my mom is 87 and lives alone. I had to go.”

Merriott said she had the support of her school to take care of her mother, and the substitute teacher who took over her classes was more than capable.

When grades were released in October and Ida Freeman was the only school in the district to score below a B, Superintendent David Goin and Ida Freeman Principal Brenda McDonald pointed to the long-term absence of a social studies teacher as a possible factor in the low grades, which included an F in social studies. They did not mention Merriott by name.

Merriott and former Ida Freeman teacher Eileen McGinnis, who also retired in the spring, think the scores were low because the district had instructed teachers to consider social studies as an extra reading lesson.

“The curriculum I was told to use was not the social studies curriculum,” Merriott said. “I was told to supplement for reading because reading was where we needed improvement and I was told to teach science and social studies through reading.”