A few Oklahoma City local businesses are celebrating State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters stepping down from his position.
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters leaves after an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.
Walters, a controversial figure in education, stepped down after two years on the role this Thursday. Walters was vocally against critical race theory, LGBTQ students’ rights and teachers’ unions in Oklahoma. He is now joining the Teacher Freedom Alliance, an anti-union organization, as their CEO.
Those who held celebration parties Friday night said the festivities were not just a celebration of Walters’ exit, but also a way to support teachers across the state. Kellen McGugan, who organized a party at the 51st Street Speakeasy, said 100 to 150 people joined the event. The money raised from the bar will be donated to the Oklahoma City Public Schools foundation.
The OKCPS has a platform called “Donors choose,” in which teachers can post their projects on the website and share what they need for their classroom.
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“We’re going down the list and we’re going to fulfill as many projects as we can until we run out of money,” McGugan told The Oklahoman. “We felt like that was a better way to use the money than just giving a lump sum to a charitable entity, because at the end of the day, sometimes you don’t really know where the money goes.”
The 51st Street Speakeasy was not the only business to host a celebration. OKC Cider Co. and Rocco on Western were two others, but McGugan said he expects more to come. The parties were not connected to each other.
“It seems like everybody was kind of sharing the same sentiment, because over the last 24 hours, I’ve just seen so many events popping up at many different places,” McGugan said. “It’s pretty interesting that it’s a very bipartisan sentiment. Democrats and Republicans both agree that [Walters] is a waste of time.”
McGugan said the party at the Speakeasy was not about high fives and rubbing the superintendent’s nose in the dirt, it was more about the community coming together and getting involved with the public schools.
“Some people that showed up, they didn’t have kids,” he said. “And they wanted to get involved. That was the whole point. The reason things got so bad is because people haven’t been involved, and this is a step in the right direction to getting people to care about not just their local schools, but their local governments. At the end of the day, they work for us and not the other way around.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: “Until we run out of money.” Local businesses donate funds to OKCPS