After what happened during the executive session during the most recent Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting drew national attention – and following two weeks of threats by state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters to remove teachers from classrooms for their thoughts on the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk – there is no such closed session listed on the agenda for this month’s board meeting.
The agenda for the meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25, was posted Wednesday morning. In an unusual move, Walters – who has ironclad control of the agenda – chose not to include a closed session, during which sensitive items such as teacher licensing or student transfers often are discussed.
After the board’s last meeting, on July 25, two board members reported seeing images of naked women on a television screen inside Walters’ office during the executive session. Walters vehemently denied the board members’ accounts, called on them to resign and said Gov. Kevin Stitt had orchestrated the drama.
An investigation by the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said, corroborated the accounts of the board members. Johnson said a 1985 Jackie Chan movie, “The Protector” – which contains scenes full frontal nudity – accidentally was playing on the television set during the executive session.
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters did not include an executive session on this month’s agenda for the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting.
In the days after Kirk was shot to death during an appearance on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University, Walters said, “Let me be clear: any teacher or employee who attempts to glorify this disgusting act of violence will have their teaching license taken from them and will never step foot in an Oklahoma school again.”
Walters has a history of trying to suspend and/or revoke the teaching licenses of educators with whom he disagrees politically. He does not have unilateral authority to do that – by law, that power is given to the state Board of Education. Walters chairs that board but is one of seven people on it, and he would need to convince at least three other board members to side with him on any teacher licensing matter to successfully suspend or revoke a license.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSBE won’t discipline Oklahoma teachers over Charlie Kirk comments