Faith & Culture — The Colony OK

LEAD STORY

A long empty high-school corridor: a row of dented grey lockers, a wall clock, a drinking fountain and a closed classroom door on a polished terrazzo floor.

CultureAUG 12, 2026

Your District's Phone Ban Was Supposed to Be Optional This Fall. In May It Became Permanent.

The one-year experiment ended in May: HB 1276 makes bell-to-bell phone bans permanent statewide. What your district's back-to-school packet can still change.

An empty small-town polling place in a school gymnasium: cardboard privacy booths in a row on the varnished floor, a trestle table beside them.

CultureJUL 31, 2026

Two Names Most Voters Cannot Place Are One Election From Running Oklahoma's Schools

Franklin 22.6, Taylor 19.7, and a seven-candidate field that split almost evenly. The runoff is August 25.

The Colony DeskNewsroom Desk

Pawnee Grade School, a low red-brick public school in Pawnee, Oklahoma

CultureJUL 24, 2026

Your District Is Writing Its Phone Policy This Month. You Have About Three Weeks.

The state banned the phones. Your school board decides what happens when one comes out.

The Colony DeskNewsroom Desk

A limestone and red-brick university academic building behind a mown quad, broad stone steps rising to its doors.

CultureJUL 20, 2026

A Security Fee for Campus Events, and a New Claim on What Faculty Invent

Two higher-education laws took effect July 1 that will be argued about for years.

The Colony DeskNewsroom Desk

Cattle, hay rolls, and a lone tree on the Oklahoma plains under an overcast sky

CultureJUN 15, 2026

The Institutions That Hold a County Together in a Bad Year

Churches, 4-H, the extension office and the co-op — the infrastructure with no line item.

The Colony DeskNewsroom Desk

CultureJUN 6, 2026

The Phones Are Gone For Good: What Changed in Oklahoma Classrooms on July 1

A permanent cellphone ban, a new grading rule, and policies every district now has to write.

The Colony DeskNewsroom Desk

Pawnee Grade School, a low red-brick public school in Pawnee, Oklahoma, behind bare winter trees

CultureMAY 27, 2026

Oklahoma Parents Push Back on New Curriculum Mandates

Four districts. Three thousand parents. One coordinated response — and what it tells us about the next school board cycle.

Your District's Phone Ban Was Supposed to Be Optional This Fall. In May It Became Permanent.

Two Names Most Voters Cannot Place Are One Election From Running Oklahoma's Schools

Your District Is Writing Its Phone Policy This Month. You Have About Three Weeks.

A Security Fee for Campus Events, and a New Claim on What Faculty Invent

The Institutions That Hold a County Together in a Bad Year

The Phones Are Gone For Good: What Changed in Oklahoma Classrooms on July 1

Oklahoma Parents Push Back on New Curriculum Mandates

The week in Oklahoma, in your inbox every Sunday morning.