by Brett Schaeffer

Frosty Troy can heat up a room.

And the veteran journalist and editor of the Oklahoma Observer, wasted no time Friday lighting a fire under the attendees of the Horace Mann League’s 82nd annual luncheon.

Troy’s target: Not surprisingly, the No Child Left Behind Act. “If you don’t fight back, who will?” he asked rhetorically.

Frosty Troy

Nearly 100 (actually 145) crowded into the Marriott’s salon rooms to witness Troy receive the Horace Mann League’s 2004 Outstanding Friend of Public Education award.

He thanked the league for the recognition and then, with a deadpan delivery, unleashed a searing assessment of NCLB.

“I’m getting another award,” he said. “I’ve spoken to the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records, and they’ve told me it’s legitimate ... I’m submitting No Child Left Behind as the biggest pile of bullshit in the history of the world.”

Troy’s comment sent the room into hysterics.

When he wasn’t bashing NCLB, as well as members of both political parties who assented to its passage, he was celebrating public education—something he has done in front of appreciative audiences for the past generation.

“With all of its warts, it’s never been more successful,” he said. “Universal, free public education was Horace Mann’s dream. That’s what built this country, and that what separates us from the rest of the world.”

Troy’s been playing the role of a public school advocate since his days in the 1960s as the education reporter for the Tulsa Tribune. Troy’s earlier writings examining the state’s public schools tackled funding inequities, special education and teacher qualification. At that time, said Troy, the only criteria for teaching in an Oklahoma public school was simply “a pulse.”

“I started covering education and it was a dramatic story,” he said. Soon other news outlets took notice and education coverage became the norm rather than the exception.

But being only a reporter wasn’t enough for Troy. “I wanted a second opinion for Oklahoma. I wanted to be crusading reporter,” he said.

Troy doesn’t seek credit, though, for the attention paid and the subsequent improvement to Oklahoma’s public schools. “I was a catalyst,” he said.

For $1 he bought out the local church paper and with a borrowed $18,000 started the Oklahoma Observer, a twice-monthly journal of commentary Troy and his wife have owned and operated since 1970. His wife Helen is the publisher and runs the business side of the still two-person operation. That allows Frosty to do what he does best: Rile politicians and educators.

A one-time target of Troy’s reporting was on hand to present him the award. But even Art Stellar, former superintendent of the Oklahoma City Public Schools, who admitted to taking a few hard hits from Troy over the years, conceded he had a tough time finding fault with Troy’s ultimate mission.

“Frosty,” said Stellar, “is part Will Rogers and part Horace Mann. He tells it like it is.”

Jerry Sellentin, Walt Warfield, Douglas Otto, John Simpson, Steve Rasmussen, Art Stellar, James Anderson, Colleen Wilcox, Susan Purser, George Garcia, Larry Dlugosh, Fred Hartmeister, Mark Edwards, and Spike Jorgensen

Outstanding Friend of the Horace Mann League Award: Terry Grier
 
Colleen Wilcox, Terry Grier, and Larry Dlugosh

The Outstanding Public Educator Award: Julie Underwood

Spike Jorgensen, Julie Underwood, and Larry Dlugosh

The Ambassador Award Recipients for 2004

Walt Warfield, Colleen Wilcox, John Monahan, John Simpson, Jerry Sellentin, Art Stellar, Jane Hammond, Spike Jorgensen, and Steve Rasmussen

updated, 5/5/08