Ryan Walters, the superintendent of education who was trying to force Christianity on students — introducing PragerU trash into the curriculum, requiring Bibles (the Trump Bible, actually), etc. — resigned a short while ago. I assumed it was because he had been made a more lucrative offer by a conservative Christian organization, but it may have been a deeper problem than I thought.
Walters is being investigated by the state ethics commission! He had been abusing teacher licenses and firing people he didn’t like, among other fiscal irregularities. He had given high-paying positions to his friends, instead. Some of his actions are already being revoked.
Starting with the cases regarding teacher licenses. The board voted to dismiss several cases for revocations of teachers like Regan Killackey, the Edmond teacher who went somewhat viral last year after an Instagram post from five years prior came to light that showed his kid in a Trump mask and Killackey with a pirate sword, they were at a Halloween store around the holiday time.
The board also voted to dismiss the case of the teacher license revocation for Alison Scot, who also became a target under Walters when she commented on someone’s social media post regarding the assassination attempt of President Trump.
Also cool: the Oklahoma education website, which once promised all this crap about Bibles and PragerU, is already being revised, and his weird religious programming is already beginning to disappear.
As Sam Seder mentions above, this suggests that the Oklahoma citizenry aren’t as far gone as we feared — they’ve been quietly fighting back all along, and we’re starting to see the bad policies of the Walters era being rolled back. Maybe they’re getting tired of being the 50th worst education state in the country.
Do we know yet who has replaced him? Not all Christians agree with each other. This could be a case of let you and him fight.
Somehow I knew before I got through the first paragraph what the lede of the second paragraph would be. Oops! I frankly expected something more salacious as it’s such a common theme. But this fits in with the Taco style perfectly. Corruption. Cronyism. Churlishness. And I suppose more could emerge.
Next up, Taco says something about it.
is there actually hope for education in Oklahoma (and maybe other red states)? I’ll believe it when I see it (who replaces the outgoing guy, what policies are put in place-)
Nope. Until the current batch of right wing jesus warriors are tossed out, it is doomed. The only question will be how functionally illiterate their children will be.
seachange @ #1
Yes. Lindel Fields. And he has rescinded Walter’s bible mandate and curriculum.
https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-schools-bible-mandate-superintendent-630b2f706731224a070d7fef6a35b7d8
So far, so good.