The Oklahoma State Board of Education continues its work to remove age-inappropriate pornographic materials from Oklahoma’s public schools. At its January 25, 2024, meeting Superintendent Ryan Walters officially informed the board that he has appointed nationally renowned Chaya Raichik (handle: Libs of TikTok) to the state Library Media Advisory Committee. In a brief video presentation Chaya assured viewers that the porn will be removed and “we will take back our schools”. 

Superintendent Ryan opined that it would be better for schools to act on their own now to remove such materials from their libraries. He said that if the state finds the materials “there will be accountability.”

Well before the meeting began Protestors armed with signs gathered outside. Protests continued during the Public Comment portion of the meeting. In part protestors were blaming Chaya for the August 2023 bomb threats to Tulsa area schools that were later deemed “not credible” by the Tulsa Police Department and the FBI.

Protestors appear to fear her appointment will cause additional bomb threats. Two people speaking “on the agenda” suggested that Chaya’s appointment will be followed by bomb threats. However, bomb threats have been made for a myriad of reasons and it is the person making the threat responsible for the harm. Terror attempts generating fear must not freeze our freedom.

A third said that appointing her is another example of not listening to the public. In contrast, one of the three “off the agenda” speakers commended Chaya’s appointment.

Sexual Predators in Oklahoma Schools:

Superintendent Walters stated that “the board will move on this.” He explained that school districts are required to notify the board and suspend teachers who are being investigated from individual reports of improprieties. Fourteen teaching certificates were reviewed in an executive session. Four (Benjamin Hall, Lauren Anderson, James Caldwell, and James Miller) were “summarily suspended” and referred to a hearing officer for an individual proceeding for revocation or other action, two (Erin Overton and Kacy Katibeh) were suspended for the remainder of the school year for breach of contract with Glenpool public schools, eight were referred to a hearing officer (Ivy Reneau, Kimberly Coates, Kristen Andrews, Melissa Smith, Rhonda Carlile, Stacy Dimarco, Christin Covel, and Devon Mitchell). One additional individual (Dallas Ewton) “failed to appear” before the assigned hearing officer so the board agreed to accept the hearing officer’s decision.

The board decided to hear the case of Summer Boismier during their regular March 28, 2024, board meeting.  At that meeting the board will decide whether to revoke Ms. Boismier’s teaching certificate or hold a hearing. On 08/22/22 Ms. Boismier resigned from the Norman Public School District.  She had a display of books in her classroom covered by a sign reading “Books the state doesn’t want you to read” accompanied by a QR code to the Brooklyn Library Books Unbanned. A parent accused her of violating HB 1775. Ms. Boismier now resides in Brooklyn, New York and works for the Brooklyn Public Library.

Praise for Superintendent Johnson and TPS:

Following Dr. Johnson’s detailed report Superintendent Ryan praised TPS for their good academic progress and intentionality. He voiced his concerns regarding financial projections wanting to be sure that there is money to sustain TPS for the future.

Superintendent Ebony Johnson gave her monthly presentation about the turnaround efforts that she is leading in TPS. She opened by showcasing a number of students in graduation regalia.  Those students hadn’t met the requirements to graduate in the spring of 2023 but succeeded in meeting them for “Winter Graduation” on January 8, 2024.

Dr. Johnson and her team reported progress towards reaching the three district goals established in previous meetings with the OSBOE. Much of the work focuses on the district’s CSI (Comprehensive Support and Improvement) and MRI (More Rigorous Intervention) schools. She cited

• shifts in teacher and administrative assignments to better meet student needs
• purchase of Oklahoma standard aligned test preparation materials
• starting “high dose” tutoring in CSI and MRI schools
• plans to complete Science of Reading training with all teachers and school leaders by May 30
• winter break tutoring with 299 elementary students
• placing support staff into English Language Arts classroom vacancies at all MRI and CSI sites
• providing additional counselors and social work supports to MRI schools
• plans for district leaders to receive midyear reflections from MRI and CSI school leaders
• using various data (i.e., Amira usage, end of unit assessments, number of skills mastered) to monitor student progress throughout the school year
• chronic absenteeism has improved from last year, but continues to be significantly higher than pre-pandemic years
• student behavioral issues are “less prominent” than last year, but suspensions continue to interfere with the goal of maximizing instructional time
• teacher retention is stabilizing post COVID, yet the proportion of traditionally certified teachers has steadily declined since 2018
• TPS has taken measures to be able to maintain a sustainable budget for the next five years
• TPS is maintaining building spaces
• TSP finance teams is meeting every three weeks with the OSDOE finance team
• TPS plans to audit central office positions aiming to reduce the current 4.03% administrative costs
• OSDOE board members are actively helping TPS
• TPS board member Lamkin is working on establishing PTAs in TPS schools that currently do not have a PTA
• Dr. Dodd (chief strategy and innovation officer) reported that there is energy, momentum and enthusiasm across the district and added that there is “no arm twisting needed”

OSBOE board members asked questions, made suggestions, and engaged in dialogue about:

• multi use of school buildings and family accessibility
• demonstrating how science of reading training serves student outcomes
• the benefits of Amira (AI real time feedback to students)
• definitions of non-instructional spending and the meaning of “per student” to calculate the percentage of administrative costs
• chronic absenteeism: teaching families that pre K and Kindergarten is school, showing families how better attendance will help their children, and helping families team up with the schools to get their children to attend
• teacher retention: noting that it is more about teachers feeling good about the district they work in (working conditions) than about teacher pay
• continuing to make a “deep dive” into financial stability over the long term

Other subjects covered in this OSBOE meeting:

1. Three school districts (Antlers, Jennings, and Glencoe) requested that they be in session for fewer than the required one hundred sixty-five instructional days for the 2024-2025 school year. The request was granted. The three districts have the required1,080 hours per year of instructional time and are “high” performing districts. Therefore, they meet the legislative established qualifications for a reduced number of instructional days.
2. A number of school districts requested “late penalty waivers”. The penalties were incurred when the districts failed to meet the deadlines for various reports due to the state. Bryan Cleveland, General Counsel, explained that traditionally if the penalty is less than $100 it is waved upon request.

Five hundred twenty-one of the five hundred forty-six school districts met all deadlines. The penalties are subtracted from state aid the next time that aid is given and are generally less than three thousand dollars. 

Board members asked if there were any districts that have asked for waivers in a previous year and learned that there were two such districts. After some discussion the board passed a motion to waive all penalties except for the two school districts (Bokoshe and Hanna) that had previously asked for waivers.