Oklahoma State Department of Education video 'painted a target on our backs,' teacher says
A video from the Oklahoma State Department of Education painting the state’s largest teacher union as a menace in public schools, mixed with resolute Fox News sound bites from the head of the state agency, has ratcheted up tensions and deepened frustrations among teachers.
The agency posted the video on its website homepage after first showing it during an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting Thursday. The video was quickly removed, as officials said they planned to reupload it to the agency’s official YouTube page.
With an ominous soundtrack in the background, the video singled out the largest teacher union in the state, the Oklahoma Education Association, and its national affiliate, the National Education Association, with clips from an NEA convention, where speakers advocated for teaching unabridged history, giving open access to books and supporting people of all identities, including LGBTQ+ individuals.
The video also depicted another person, not at an NEA convention, urging for pedophiles to be rebranded as “minor-attracted persons.”
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters claimed this person was giving a training that the teacher union had supported. Walters did not have an answer for how much the video cost the agency to produce.
'He is going to get us killed, and that video is part of it'
Teachers in attendance called out “shame on you” after the video played and marched to the Capitol to speak with lawmakers.
In an era where mass shootings in schools have become tragically common, some feared Walters’ rhetoric could incite violence against educators.
“This video has painted a target on our backs,” said Shaista Fenwick, a Moore High School teacher and union member. “He is going to get us killed, and that video is part of it.”
Walters called that argument “absurd.”
He said he had the video made to expose teacher unions, who he alleged have spread lies about his administration, waged secret campaigns against him and pushed for sexualized conversations in the classroom while opposing school choice.
“They want to operate in secrecy,” Walters said. “They’re here to engineer elections. They are here to damage their political opponents. That is what they say they’re for.”
Not a single speaker or portion of the video represented anyone from Oklahoma, OEA said in a statement.
The 30,000-member union aims to build positive relationships and improve public education in the state, rather than defend educators from inflammatory accusations, the association said.
“Oklahoma educators are exhausted from the constant barrage of attacks from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction,” OEA said. “He is supposed to be the leader of public education in the state, but consistently looks to manufacture division between educators and parents.
“Oklahomans see this for what it is, a desperate attempt to raise a politician’s profile at the expense of our neighborhood schools.”
Ryan Walters has targeted Oklahoma teachers unions before
Teachers unions have been a frequent target of Walters’ attacks. He called them a “terrorist organization” in a May 1 hearing with House lawmakers.
That comment spurred an overflow crowd of educators to attend Thursday’s board meeting.
Jami Cole, a Duncan teacher, left the meeting in disgust after the video played. Cole is the administrator of the Oklahoma Edvocates Facebook group, a pro-public-education message board with more than 62,000 members.
"That is the kind of thing that will get us killed,” Cole said. “You can't put that rhetoric out there in today's climate. I'm sitting inside that board room with people in front of me and people behind me talking about how all we do in schools is porn and how we're teaching porn. And just crazy, crazy things. That is not happening in public schools.”
The state superintendent also called out Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, one of Walters’ most vocal critics in the state Legislature, and the news media who covered McBride’s scrutiny of the state Education Department.
Walters said the Moore Republican spread falsehoods in the news media and called him a “sellout” to the teachers union. He claimed, without presenting evidence, that some reporters intentionally published lies and called them “a true enemy of taxpayers and an enemy of every parent and child in the state of Oklahoma.”
McBride has raised questions about the agency’s handling of federal grants and questioned whether any of its federal funding was at risk. The lawmaker pushed to add language to the state's budget bills that would force Walters to get permission from House and Senate leaders before discontinuing any federal grant programs.
“All I care about is students and teachers," McBride said. “I’m not interested in a personality contest on social media or wherever it’s going to happen. I’m the chair of education appropriations, and my job is make sure funding gets to schools and not to get wrapped up in other things.”
Walters said his track record proves he’s a supporter of teachers, despite his adversarial relationship with their unions. His administration founded a signing bonus program to attract educators back into the profession and convince others to move to Oklahoma from other states.
Five hundred people have signed up for the recruitment program, he said, which offers signing bonuses up to $50,000.
“I think we want great teachers in the classroom,” Walters said. “We want more supports for parents. We want an education system that values a kid as an individual.
“There has to be the change, and the change only happens when there’s full transparency about all the players and what’s going on.”
Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel.