Oklahoma Education and Mr. Ryan Walters

An unsettling frustration is growing over Oklahoma's schools. At the center of it, overseeing 700,000 students, is State Superintendent Ryan Walters. His leadership, which he promised would fix education, has essentially only created political drama that has left parents, educators, and even members of his own party shaking their heads in disbelief.

For starters, Walters’ PragerU textbooks teach students that being a slave “was better than being killed” and that slaves were actually fortunate to have "developed skills" from their experience that "could be applied for their personal benefit.” All of which is unimaginably insulting and historically inaccurate.

It doesn’t stop there. Walters sent emails to Oklahoma lawmakers and their assistants containing "inappropriate adult material” that Walters says was to demonstrate the kind of explicit material that is being made available to students in a "left-wing woke culture" that is "pushing pornography in schools" which continue to be totally unsubstantiated claims. This is weird, right?

Walters is also accused by two members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education, Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson, of displaying "full-frontal nude" images of women on Walters' office TV during their executive meeting. Walters denied responsibility and suggested that the Board members or perhaps his political rivals were trying to frame him. I’ll say it again. Weird, right?

Walters' relationship with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, a former ally, has deteriorated to the point where Stitt publicly declared: “I don't think anybody takes that guy seriously” and that Walters is more concerned with his "next political office" than with education. The governor's clear lack of confidence is another sign that change is needed in Oklahoma’s state education department.

Many people believe petitions are a waste of time. But what are they doing? When our children’s curriculum is being used as a political football, a petition is a way to stand up and say: this is unacceptable. It already has nearly 33K signatures. Please not only sign it but share it with everyone you can. You don’t have to live in Oklahoma. All (decent) humans are urged to sign on Change.org or the link below.

https://www.change.org/p/call-for-the-resignation-of-oklahoma-state-superintendent-ryan-walters