Superintendent Walters  3:02  
next on the agenda is. the agenda. Superintendent Walter. us. for 

Amy London  3:17  
Miss. Lepak, here, Mr. Van dehende Here, Mr. Tinney, Mr. Deathridge here, Ms Carson here, Superintendent Walters here, so we do have a quorum, Miss London. 

Superintendent Walters  3:33  
Was the agenda posted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. 

Amy London  3:37  
It was. 

Superintendent Walters  3:38  
Thank you very much. Next item is the Pledge of Allegiance. Nicole, flex, salute. If you would stand with me, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Now the flag salute and imma say a prayer here before we get started. Dear God, we pray that every Oklahoma student gets the education that they deserve. We pray that you're with all the parents, teachers and staff in the school to support our kids. We pray that everyone makes decisions for kids based on what the parents want for their children, because parents know best for their kids. Amen. Okay, next on the agenda, sorry, The comments from the State Superintendent. We'll keep this pretty brief here today, very excited on the progress going on at the Federal Department of Education. Appreciate President Trump and Linda McMahon shutting down the department and working to grant states more flexibility. We offered the largest waiver in the country's history to give more power back to Oklahoma, back to this board, back to the people, back to school districts. We've been meeting with the Trump administration on a weekly basis to hone in what that waiver can do. And frankly, what we're probably looking at is getting parts of the waiver over time, so we will keep Oklahomans and the board apprised of any progress made along those lines. But again, this could give us more flexibility. And I mean, you can or nearly name it, whether it's the school report card, the accountability system, student testing, teacher recruitment, Child Nutrition, special needs, we can go on and on, but it but it would give the state of Oklahoma more flexibility and more money, because the money wouldn't be tied up in the bureaucratic strings at the federal level will be given back to us. We're very excited about that. Very excited to continue moving forward with new curriculum as we begin to develop that with our new standards. We're also very excited about summer school programs that will be kicked off with a great year. Last year, we had some of our districts launching the biggest summer school programs that they ever had. We want to continue to support that and support districts using their best teachers in those summer school programs. We think that's very vital to the success of our young people to get caught back up over the summertime. So that's that's something we're very excited about. And lastly, we're going to make sure, with the new curriculum and new content being provided for kids, that we're preparing them for jobs. And so you're gonna hear a lot for us as the summer moves on into next school year, but how curriculum is aligning to the jobs that Oklahoma needs, but also what aligns the talents for young people. So we're very excited about that, and that's all I've got. Let's go ahead and move into the discussion and possible action of the minutes. We've got several of these lined up, folks, so I'll flip here in my book. But we've got January 28 February 27 April, 24 I know that some additions were made to those. So if there's comments, discussion, action on let's do January 28 this will be the first one in your binder, first.

Oh, and I apologize. Welcome Becky Carson, her first board meeting. So she has been sworn in. She's ready to go. I apologize for that, Becky, we appreciate you being here, and welcome to the board.

Speaker 1  7:46  
I'll move to approve the January 28 2025, minutes.

Superintendent Walters  7:58  
We have a motion. Do we have a second? I will

Van Denhende  8:02  
make it possible. Comment for a second in the conversation with Mr. Kutmas. I understand we may not necessarily need a vote to get them in, but I personally will be voting no, but I did want to con i don't know. Miss London, maybe you can tell me the proper vote is a present, absent or abstain. If I choose to not register a vote,

Kutmas  8:35  
that would be as abstain, okay, sometimes

Van Denhende  8:37  
it's present. So I just wanted to make that comment, but I will second to move ahead on a vote.

Superintendent Walters  8:47  
We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion before we call roll? Miss Lenny, Michael force,

Kutmas  8:56  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de handy, abstain. Mr. Tinney abstain.

Tinney  9:05  
I just don't know how to vote on him, since it wasn't there. Mr.

Kutmas  9:09  
Death rich, abstain. Miss Carson abstain, as

Carson  9:16  
what Mr. Tinney said, I wasn't present, so

Kutmas  9:19  
superintendent Walters, yes.

Superintendent Walters  9:24  
So motion fails correct with a two total four here.

Van Denhende  9:29  
And if I could just ask a question, yes, sir, my understanding Mr. Kutmas That these minutes can still be filed and meet the requirements of the Department of Education to file these minutes

without a vote.

Kutmas  9:45  
I would recommend that the Board direct Miss London to file the minutes in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. This has been open since January. You are correct. It doesn't necessarily have to be a vote. It's been in a. Accommodation, but they need to be placed in the records, and I would strongly recommend that you direct Miss London to do that today. Okay, so, so

Van Denhende  10:11  
I can't operate technology, so the recommendation from our board attorney is that we have a motion to place the minutes as they are now into the records without approval, correct. Okay, well, so I don't know if I need to re say that, but I would make that motion, a motion to instruct and Mr. Kutmas mentioned Amy. I don't know if that's the appropriate but whoever at the Department of Education to place these minutes into the record without a vote from the board,

Kutmas  10:56  
yes and not miss London individually in her capacity as executives.

Superintendent Walters  11:01  
Okay, so

Van Denhende  11:02  
that's the motion.

Superintendent Walters  11:07  
So just so from like with this motion, she could file it, so that way we would meet any obligations from an open meeting without there necessarily being a vote to correct. Okay,

Kutmas  11:20  
so there is no obligation. There is a 2012 Oklahoma attorney decision from mister Pruitt's office that goes into great detail about the minutes, and he comes to the conclusion that there is no requirement under the Open Meeting act to approve or disprove the minutes. However, his conclusion is they do need to be placed into the files of the board or agency to comply with the Open Meetings Act, and that's what my recommendation is consistent with the safety opinion. And

Van Denhende  11:54  
just to be clear, Mr. Kutmas And I had a fairly lengthy conversation about all sorts of statutes and stuff which hurt my head, but that's the purpose of this motion. Is I don't feel in good conscience having not participated in the lead up to or the meeting that I could vote to approve, but I still believe the Department of Education should be able to fulfill their legal responsibility to place those into the record. So that's the point.

Lepak  12:24  
So it's your motion, just for this

Van Denhende  12:27  
January. Minutes, Yes,

Tinney  12:34  
that sounds reasonable. Second,

Superintendent Walters  12:38  
we have a motion a second any further discussion? And Ms, London roll for us again.

Kutmas  12:45  
Ms Lepak Yes. Mr. Van Halen, yes. Mr. Tinney, yes. Mr. Deathridge, yes. Ms Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, yes,

Superintendent Walters  13:00  
that motion passes. The next item is going to take a look at the the minutes of the February 27 State Board of Education

Tinney  13:12  
meeting. I would make a motion. Make a motion similar what we did last time is to table those due to the controversy over the social studies standards. I don't want to get back into that again. I know there's a case pending on it, until there's some resolution there. I I would just, my motion is just to table those minutes. 

Van Denhende  13:35  
I would second that.

Superintendent Walters  13:39  
Okay, we have a motion and a second to table the minutes from the February Board meeting. Any further discussion?

Speaker 1  13:47  
Are there changes that need to be made to the minutes to reflect who made motions more accurately? Or,

Tinney  13:58  
I think it's more about the process. I don't have an amendment. I just think of the time being, I've recommended the table. That's my motion anyway.

Van Denhende  14:12  
And just to clarify, I second the motion. But I personally, I feel like the things that I'm concerned aren't in the minutes would be rehashing conversations we've had, and I don't think, given the pending lawsuit,

it would be appropriate to have those discussions. Would you all speak

Kutmas  14:39  
clearly and directly into your microphone, please.

Van Denhende  14:51  
And Mr. Tinney just so is your recommendation? We. Table them forever, or are you wanting to make an amendment?

Tinney  15:05  
I recommend we just table for this meeting pending what happens. I mean, the lawsuit is probably not going to be over in a month, but I'm just not comfortable they accurately reflect what happened at the meeting, and I don't want to get back into that again and rehash all that. I just my motion is just a table.

Kutmas  15:29  
That's Council. I don't like to interject, but just to be clear, the Ag opinion is very clear on two things. It's clear that one, it's not to be a verbatim statement, and that could be a violation of the Open Meetings Act, because it forces you to fight through it. It's supposed to be a summary of actions and things that occurred, and two that if you wait too long to get them into the official files, that itself could be an official Open Meetings violation act. So I just wanted to advise you that, as you're considering these table, I think this is February, and we're now in May, and looking to go into June.

Superintendent Walters  16:12  
No, I can't remember. We have a motion. Did we have a second? So let me just add this in. Could? Well, we can take a vote on it and come back to it. But I mean, we could potentially do what we did on the first one, if the board would be comfortable where we could vote on it and then potentially have it filed. Would that meet your any issues you would have? Functionally, they would be able to be filed. But we could also show on the record that they weren't approved by the Board, correct? Okay. I just mean, we can vote and we can discuss that afterwards. I just want to get that understood before we vote. Understood

Van Denhende  16:42  
before we vote and and I appreciate that suggestion I would support that the the only thing that would cause me heartache is if at some point we don't get to revisit the deficiency that I think I feel like is in those minutes. So if you would honor a request that we could, maybe, if prior to the next meeting, and set a time frame prior to the next meeting, that we could amend the record, if we could make an amendment and agree to that, I

Superintendent Walters  17:17  
don't, yes, sir, I don't have any issue with that.

Tinney  17:20  
You're saying maybe, perhaps, if we passed on this time, we could come back with a proposed amendment next

Van Denhende  17:25  
time. So I think what superintendent Walters has asked is that we allow, I'm going to say Miss London, but tell me the your appropriate title. So executive section, so we would allow the executive secretary to file the minutes so that the State Department is compliant with their legal requirement to have minutes, but that I asked superintendent Walters if we could revisit at the next meeting the deficiencies that we feel, at least that I feel because I feel it's similar for the April minutes, although I don't know that I would agree with that. Is that

Tinney  18:05  
doable legally?

Kutmas  18:07  
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with proposed amendments, and you know, it certainly can be prepared by Miss London that are official capacity. You certainly can make suggestions, but I would recommend that we go ahead and move along with that process, to be in a position to have them in the all

Tinney  18:26  
in one vote. Can I just change my motion? Then to not approve the minutes from that, but to go ahead and put them in the the whatever you put them in the file as needed for the department, and then we'll revisit them next meeting. Is that all proper motion

Kutmas  18:45  
under the Ag opinion, they don't have to be approved or disapproved, okay, and whether they're approved or disapproved doesn't mean that the action is valid or invalid. It's already occurred. The only thing that we're talking about, just to put a point on it, is that it reflects whether you agree with it or disagreement with it, what happened at the actual meeting itself, and if there are errors. And I think that one that was highlighted is Mr. Death rich brought a motion. I think that that's something that is fairly easily to be corrected, and we should do that, but I don't think it contemplates that we would draft lengthy narratives or addendums on personal beliefs or statements based upon this. AG, opinion had merely stayed. This was the general discussion. This was the action. This was the vote.

Deatherage  19:34  
I know I want to was the was the corrections made? I haven't found the corrections in here that request was made in the last meeting to be corrected, were they reflected in this month? Yes, I'm sorry. Okay. I'm asking. I just didn't see it, so I'm sure they are 

Amy London  19:48  
Yes, sir, they were okay. 

Deatherage  19:50  
Thank you, ma'am, 

Lepak  19:52  
and that was on the motion that you were concerned about. 

Deatherage  19:56  
That's correct, yes, ma'am, are they do? Miss London. Do you mind what? What section is that under that would reflect that? So I could take a look at that. I was under 4b I believe right now looking at that and I did not see that correction. So bear with me. I

You miss London. Would you mind helping me with what page that's for? Because

Tinney  21:01  
'm not a top board member, deathridge moved to approve the recommendation. Okay,

Deatherage  21:05  
and I don't see it corrected in my copy, so I'm not challenging you. I'm just trying to make sure that I'm looking at the right form. I you miss Lepak, did you? Would you agree that it's not? Yeah, it looks the same. I think I've got a highlight on mine, so

Tinney  21:29  
I think we need to take

Speaker 1  21:31  
but you're talking about page four, which is six, A, one, one, yeah. I think that needs to be amended to reflect, I think I made the motion. I don't know Who seconded. We may have to check the transcript. You did. I made them. Okay, yes,

Amy London  21:56  
the wrong copy got in the packet. My apologies. 

Lepak  21:59  
Okay,

Speaker 1  22:00  
so if I know there's a pending motion, but like, if we were moving to approve, we could do that, I believe, just verbally today, and say, with the correction that this person made, the motion could approve the minutes, but you have a pending motion right now to do something else. So

Lepak  22:20  
Right? 

Superintendent Walters  22:21  
I think we have a motion in a second. 

Deatherage  22:22  
Have a motion a second on the floor

Superintendent Walters  22:24  
so we can withdraw or modify em. Kind of depends on where you want to

go with it. 

Tinney  22:32  
Well, actually, we voted to amend these last time, so I wouldn't that still stand, even though it's just not in here. I believe we tabled them last time. Okay, that's right. We take, we amended, and we we

Speaker 1  22:45  
tabled them with the idea that she was going to correct them. And then I thought, maybe approval.

Tinney  22:50  
Let's move along. I

Amy London  22:52  
I can, I can explain what happened. I amended the minutes, and what happened was when I was putting the board packet together in your notebooks to save cost and not have those reprinted, I moved those minutes, and that's why you don't show them edited in your packet today. So

Van Denhende  23:16  
the minutes we received online are not the same minutes

Amy London  23:21  
that is correct. The ones that you received in your handout packet online are the minutes that were corrected.

Tinney  23:30  
So for the sake of progress, if we tabled and made it simple and tabled one more time, that's not going to unhinge anything in the department, can we just do that, go back to my original motion, and let's get things moving.

Van Denhende  23:45  
Can I in the spirit of keeping things moving? I think we might get bogged down on the next one. Can I? Can I just, can we just table all the minutes and all of us just recognize that whatever changes need to be made, we need to communicate those. We need to see the drafts and plenty of times so we don't have this issue again, is that, I don't know if that's part of a motion or just an agreement that, but

Deatherage  24:17  
I think we have, we have a motion on the floor. We have a second on the floor. We need to take action on the motion. If there's no action, we have the second. So we would need to vote if I, if I'm correct, to either kill it or restart it.

Van Denhende  24:29  
That's correct, yeah. Well, I'll withdraw my second and ask Mr. Tinney if he wants to modify his

Tinney  24:39  
simplified leave it here, and we can I'm gonna leave it. You guys can vote it down. I'm gonna leave it just a table right now. Just to make it simple, we've got a lot of issues. Well,

Carson  24:48  
can I ask Mrs. London a question? So if the revised, amended minutes aren't in our packet, where can they be found?

Amy London  24:59  
There? They. Should be online. Yes, they're there, just Yes, just not in your packet, because I organized the books according to the schedule, or, I'm sorry, to the agenda, and

this is what I printed, so see if that's correct.

Superintendent Walters  25:18  
Mr. Tinney has filed to table or filed a motion to table the minutes. Do we have a second or further discussion around that motion?

Van Denhende  25:28  
So Mr. Tinney, is your? Is your motion just a table? Just a table? Okay, I'll second that.

Deatherage  25:35  
I'm looking at the documents that were online, I believe, and there is not a correction on this. And I may, I, yes, I guess Miss London.

Van Denhende  25:51  
I think there's just too much confusion on this topic. Let's, let's table it. And,

Superintendent Walters  26:01  
yeah, we've got a motion was there. So,

Van Denhende  26:03  
yeah, I just okay. I would just request that we get the revised minutes before 24 hours before our meeting, so we have plenty of time to review make sure we're comfortable. But that's just a statement. Stand by my second.

Superintendent Walters  26:26  
Okay, we have a motion a second. Any further discussion? Miss London, can you call roll for us?

Kutmas  26:33  
Mister pack,

Lepak  26:35  
yes. Mister

Kutmas  26:38  
van de hand, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mr. Death rich, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, no.

Superintendent Walters  26:51  
Okay, so motion passes to table the February, 27 minutes. Let's take a look at April, 24 minutes. So we're we're see here, I'm

Speaker 1  27:20  
going to move to approve the April, 24 2025, minutes.

Superintendent Walters  27:34  
We have a motion. We have a motion. Do we have a second?

Van Denhende  27:42  
I I'll second.

Superintendent Walters  27:46  
We have a motion. A second, any further discussion? Miss London, you might call the roll.

Kutmas  27:54  
Miss Pat Yes. Mister van Han Yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, sustain. Superintendent Walters, yes,

Superintendent Walters  28:07  
okay, motion passes. Taking a look at the consent docket here. We've got couple of items there and just a reminder board on a consent docket. This is pretty short one, but just if you ever want to pull something off the consent docket, feel free to make that motion or reach out to us beforehand. I didn't have anybody reach out to me to pull anything off, but we can vote on those things holistically, or we can pull things off of there as well. So there's an A which is the request to approve the exemptions of the state board of education certificate regulations. That's going to be in your binder there. We have some of that information we discussed last board meeting in front of it there for you to kind of continue to see the updated running total as we continue through the year. So we'll just continue to do this so you all can kind of see, and again, it'll it'll change some as the year progresses, and it will get kind of the year end totals closer as we get into the fall period before the next school year. And then you got the list. So the list again, you can pull off any individual from that list if there were to be any issues, but this is to grant them the provisional license. So the district, the requesting district, has already filed all the documentation. You kind of see that at the top part. So that's all been received by our agency, and so that's where we move forward with the recommendation that all of these emergency certificates be approved.

Carson  29:35  
Superintendent Walters, I'd like to before we look at voting on this, I'd like to make a couple of statements and observations just about emergency certification in general. I definitely, and as a classroom teacher, I definitely understand the need for this. This is not a new issue. You know, we would think it is with the crisis that we're facing today, but it's not to. 20 years ago, I was offered a job at the State Department to oversee a grant, and that grant was only going to look at teacher retention and how we gain quality teachers in this state, and here we are, 20 years later, asking the same questions. So I definitely understand the need, I understand the need to put quality educators in the classroom. I think it's a necessary for lack of better words and necessary evil. At this point, the school districts are doing the best that they can to find quality educators, but they're just not here and and so I understand that need. When I was going through the information that I was sent the fact that we have 49 sorry, 4500 emergency certificates in this state to year to date. Even though I knew it would be during a crisis, it kind of slapped me in the face. And so I have a in saying that I have a couple of questions about not particular individuals, but just in general, what are we doing to ensure that these individuals that are on this list and previous list, you know, we're now offering them bonuses to come to the state, sir, what are we doing to ensure that they're not just here for the for the quick, for the quick bonus, and then turning away and going to Another state? So that would be my first question.

Superintendent Walters  31:22  
Yeah, that's a good question. So that's where, in all of our bonus programs, we've required them to stay for a certain amount of years. To your point, you know, if you if you give teachers a bonus, but there's no stipulation on time, that would be the concern, right? As they come in, they get the bonus and they leave. So all of our grant, all of our signing bonuses, have all had a requirement of years to stay in the classroom. Frankly, we've always done no less than three, because a lot of the data shows after year three, especially if you do five, year five, the retention rate dramatically increases. So that was kind of the data points there for three and five years being that tied with the bonus. But I do agree with you. You've got to continue to attach longevity to it, or else programs like that could be used in a way that wouldn't actually retain them

Carson  32:05  
beneficial to us. And the other was when they are granted this emergency certificate, when a new teacher, and they're certified and they're a first year teacher, they're given a mentor teacher, and that teacher walks them through the process of that year, and they're in their classroom and they're observing, they're answering questions, and they're meeting with that teacher. Are we doing the same thing with those emergency certificates? That's

Superintendent Walters  32:28  
a great question. Yes, ma'am. So you know, we've continued to ask for the mentor program to continue in our budget, we've also allotted more funds from the agency to support those types of programs. We've also very proud of our work with the teacher empowerment program to provide grants for teachers across the state that are your high performers. And one of the stipulations is that they help the oncoming teachers. So that is something, and that was a program that, you know, we've done the five or $10,000 bonuses. These are up to 40, $50,000 bonuses. So I think I completely agree with both of your sentiments there, of we have to recruit and get people to come here and stay, but at the same point, you've got to utilize the highly talented teachers here to mentor. And I mean, I've told the story before, if I didn't have a gentleman that came down the hall and helped me every day, I don't know how long I would have been a teacher for. I mean, that's just kind of the honest truth there. And so, you know, we try to make sure that the programs are in place so that when you're new, and especially, to your point, if you're emergency certified. And I will say this, when I visit districts across the state, I do have districts that often tell me, you know, you're not going to believe it. This one of our a teacher that we really like, and they're emergency certified, you know. So there, there are. It is interesting how this opens up pathways for individuals. But to your point, these are folks that often don't have a classroom management training. And again, I I'll brag on like Putnam city and some others that have really launched a, hey, we do our own classroom management and it's like a multi week course. I mean, I really love when districts do that, because to your point, and you know, you want to make sure that that's that's done. So I agree with the sentiment, and I think that's something we've gotta just continue to do

Carson  33:57  
well. And I think that was part of my The next question is, are we requiring districts to provide training for these teachers?

Superintendent Walters  34:07  
We do some, a lot of it is at the district's discretion. So I think that is something you know always to look at. Legislatures often struggled back and forth with this of you know, again, how much do you require? How much do you incentivize? And so that's always kind of the the argument. But you know, I think that the data bears it out as well. You see that with the mentoring, if somebody has a mentor teacher and they rate that as a quality experience, you see the retention rate go up dramatically. So

Carson  34:36  
another part of that is that they're only required to have a bachelor's degree. It does not. They do not have to have it in even in the subject matter that they're teaching or in education, which is a little bit of, not a little, it's a great concern to me, and not like you said. There may be a list I went through just the first four pages, and there are 38 of those emergency certificates. That don't have anything their degrees don't have anything to do with education or the subject matter that they would be teaching. So for example, we have a young lady who is a criminal justice major, and she has applied for emergency certificate for elementary education. We have a business major who is applying for a certificate in early childhood, one of our most important areas in education is that early childhood, where we're making those interventions at an early age, because they can make such a big difference, I think we have to be really careful with that. I mean, I know, you know, we're looking at, yes, they have to have a degree, but sometimes that's not the most important thing. And so that's just my concern. And then I just have a couple of three more questions. One is there are little numbers next to the names of the individuals on some of them? Can you tell me what those little numbers represent

Superintendent Walters  36:00  
by the individuals, or by the district,

Carson  36:02  
by the individuals, the numbers

Van Denhende  36:03  
in parents, 

Carson  36:05  
I believe they're in. 

Van Denhende  36:06  
So the first one on the list,

Carson  36:09  
yeah, yeah. So I don't want to say names out loud, but the first one has a number in

Superintendent Walters  36:16  
the parentheses, yeah. I see, let me flip to the first page see if we've got an explanation of that. I do not remember at the top of my head.

Carson  36:28  
I know those individuals, some of those individuals that have that also have the star, which indicates they're asking for a renewal, 

Superintendent Walters  36:35  
right

Carson  36:36  
 Um, so I thought that I assume that that meant that's how many times they've asked for a renewal, but

Superintendent Walters  36:45  
that's a good question. I'm not sure I can check into that for you, because,

Carson  36:51  
because, if that is what it represents, that concerns me that this is their fifth time to ask for a renewal, but yet, they're not certified yet, that would be my concern.

Superintendent Walters  37:00  
 No, I understand that 

Carson  37:01  
time to get it an education also was one of our steps that we're taking to get the ones that districts say, Oh, you won't believe this is, you know, she's one of our best teachers, and she's emergency certified. What are we doing to attract and to enable those that were able to keep those good ones and get those good ones certified. Are we giving them any type of you know, sometimes I know the University of Central Oklahoma would offer not stipends, but they would give credit to mentor teachers. When I was a mentor teacher for a student teacher, I got credit at the college level that I could go and take classes, sure, and so I'm just just interested, what are we doing to make sure that they are headed down the path of getting certified?

Superintendent Walters  37:48  
That's a great question. And most of the time, you know, when you do the emergency certification, you can't come back and ask for the same emergency certification the same area. But to your point, what you do is people can ask for a different area. And so you know that right now is in the legislation. So that's in statute. So, you know, districts now, I will say, just for the context, districts do have to post the position. If someone applies that has the proper certification, they get the job first. So just, I just want to give that context, everybody listening, but, but no, I mean, you know, right now the incentives are basically, you know, that we're trying to actively get districts to go out and recruit and recruit and retain we've got a lot of build your own programs that have come we've heard a lot of great things of those, of getting kids that are seniors to come back, kind of do some teachers assistant work, and then come back over the summers and work with the districts. So the Grow Your Own programs have been very successful. We funded some of those in the past as well. And so I think, you know, those are the type of things we try to do, to continue to incentivize that, and try to reward the districts to do it. And that's also, I mean, frankly, I'll go back to it again, the teacher empowerment program, where there's over $30 million available, that is a district decision. And now we finally got up to, you know, we got a lot more districts signed onto that, but again, they can utilize that to incentivize mentor teachers, to incentivize certifications, things like that. So, I mean, we try to give them the flexibility, but also encourage them to do

Carson  39:03  
that. Okay, thank you for addressing those I just you know, the year to date total was a little over 4500 and like I said, it's not, this is not a new issue. It's not a new problem for our state, but it is just began, that it is now. You know what I would call a crisis, when we have 40,000 educators in this state, and that's about 10% of our teacher workforce. Thank you for addressing this

Superintendent Walters  39:28  
 Absolutely. 

Van Denhende  39:29  
Can

I just ask a question? Great conversation, and clearly the two of you are on the same page, because you both in the classroom. I need a little catch up. You mentioned the bonus? So is there a bonus for emergency certified or for teachers? So an emergency certified teachers getting a bonus?

Superintendent Walters  39:48  
That's a great question. And thank you for clarifying all of our bonus programs. You have to have an active certificate, so emergency certs are not eligible for it. So frankly, when we first heard the program that was one of the incentives was. Well, also you're not eligible for these programs unless you get a certification. So that's something we've always tried to kind of tout as well of as part of our incentive package, we try to incentivize the teachers to go ahead and follow if they with the certification.

Carson  40:11  
So with those emergency certified teachers, if they did follow through at the end of that, they could apply for that bonus. They could Yes, ma'am,

Van Denhende  40:19  
okay, so those are all the bonuses and areas that we have shortages, not necessarily specific to this, but they could work into that. That's correct. Yes, sir, thank you.

Deatherage  40:31  
Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Superintendent Walters, I've been asked several times about the bonus program. Is there something that you could possibly have somebody on your staff kind of prepare a synopsis for us board members that kind of goes through, that we kind of talk about the building bonus programs, just so that we're a little more educated, and that when we're approached, that we have some talking points that we could share with school districts across the state, 

Superintendent Walters  41:02  
absolutely.

And, you know, that's one of those things that would love to, love to give you guys an update on that, and would love to continue to advertise it. It's one of those things where we've had tremendous success with it, and we're going to continue to try to find any kind of incentive program we can and make sure that the districts are utilizing them. That's kind of the other part of it is, you know, especially our districts are on the border level, because they really because they really try to go into Arkansas and Texas and utilize them. But absolutely happy, happy to do that,

Deatherage  41:27  
Superintendent Walters, on the consent docket, on action item B, are we going to be able to separate that out, just so I could address that they're

Superintendent Walters  41:35  
separated, right? Like we would vote on a, yes, sir. We would vote on a and then go to B,

Deatherage  41:38  
yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Superintendent Walters

Tinney  41:42  
I appreciate that too. Superintendent, how would we get that just in our emails or later on, or how's that going to give absolutely

Superintendent Walters  41:48  
we can even, I think it would be good to do a full synopsis of the first year program, second year program, and then what we're doing this year, so y'all would have the context too. So we very much appreciate it. We put that a full report.

Van Denhende  42:01  
Okay, excellent. That'd be great. Thank

Tinney  42:03  
you. Are you? Miss Carson, I appreciate your insight that that was helpful to all of us. Are you going to make a motion one way or the other on this? If you want to, we'll rely on your expertise.

Carson  42:14  
I make a motion that we go ahead and improve the State Board of Education Teacher Certification and permit these emergency certificates,

Tinney  42:24  
then I would second. Okay,

Superintendent Walters  42:27  
we have a motion a second. Is there any further discussion? Miss London, you mind call and roll for

Kutmas  42:35  
us? Miss Lepak, yes. Mister Van denhen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  42:46  
Motion passes, and now yes or miss death mister desert deathridge, let's move to six. I mean 5b discussion and possible recommendations on the qualified suppliers the mobile panic system. So there's again, some of this was provided last time, but we got the, the panic button history, the RFI that was sent out. I believe the memorandum was added. I believe you had that last time. So we wanted you to get the whole, have the information in front of you there, as believe we tabled it or, or we, whatever. We kicked it to this board meeting. So let's happy to discuss or answer any questions we can from from that. 

Deatherage  43:25  
Thank

you, Superintendent Walters, I would ask, I am going to make a motion here in just second. But is there some documentation, when we talked about the qualifications of the vetting of these, that the qualified vendors, I see that they're on here, but could we get a copy of the vetting process and what was used to vet these and the scoring system and how that went about? I would greatly appreciate that. I've done quite a bit of research and had conversations with the legislation and and this all kind of evolves around Alyssa law. Well, it is Alyssa law. There's some movement at the capital and the legislator that are going to be moving funds from SDE to DPS and to So my understanding is that that's this contract that they're talking about with rave is going to be handled over there. So we're really talking about these vendors here that's going to be inside the school district. This be basically, if they wanted to go outside the scope of what the state provides, these vendors would be put on a list. Is that still your understanding? Superintendent Walters, 

Superintendent Walters  44:41  
yes, sir, that's that's my understanding. Okay. That's my understanding. 

Deatherage  44:43  
Okay, I would make a motion that we accept these and that they be added to the list. Superintendent

Superintendent Walters  44:51  
Walters, we have a motion. I'll second. We have a motion. A second. Any further discussion? I. Call the roll for us.

Kutmas  45:01  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mr. Van Dahan, yes. Mr. Tinney, yes. Mr. Deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  45:15  
Motion passes. Superintendent

Deatherage  45:16  
Walters, I don't know what the process would be getting a copy of that, but if email is fine with me, if it's coming to me in an email on that vetting, I don't know if that'll come through OEMs, or if it'll come through our off your office here, sir, or

Superintendent Walters  45:30  
Yeah, well, we'll make sure we can request it from OMS, but we'll, we'll make sure that you have all that information. So Miss London. Let's make sure we get an email to, well, if everybody else wants it, we can get it. Everybody just get that to the board of the all the the process scoring, just the whole all the documentation around that. Thank you. Superintendent Walters, yes, sir, let's look so next we have accreditation standards and board and Becky, I'm imma go ahead and kind of start from beginning. Since that you were gone for this one. But we had a district man for public school district that requested a waiver they went below the 165 days. They didn't intentionally go below the 165 days. They had the fires that really put them out for a while. And they did a great job. By the way, there's a great story there of them moving school sites, making sure that the kids had a place to go. I mean, it was really a tremendous effort there. But again, they were not able to hit the 165 days of school being in session for all sites, and so they requested a waiver. We've been working actively with them. There was a little bit of information we needed to receive. We try to make sure all of our T's are crossed and eyes are dotted with that. There can sometimes be federal issues with that. We don't see any issue here. They've met every criteria, both by the state, both by the federal government. So the State Department of Education, we would recommend for Mannford public school district that we give, we give them their waiver to go under 165 days of school this year. That would be our recommendation.

Deatherage  46:58  
Superintendent Walters, I'd make that motion, yes, sir,

Van Denhende  47:01  
a second,

Superintendent Walters  47:04  
we have a motion. A second. Any further discussion? Okay, Miss London, you might call enroll for us. Miss

Kutmas  47:12  
Lepak Yes. Mister Van denhen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage Yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes. Motion passes.

Superintendent Walters  47:26  
Okay. Next, it looks like, next it looks like we have discussion and possible action to move into executive session with the board Council. Mr. Kutmas, is there anything you want to say before we open up to that item? Okay,

Van Denhende  47:45  
so I'll make a motion. We move into Executive Session.

Superintendent Walters  47:50  
Second motion. A second. Any further discussion? Miss

Kutmas  47:54  
London, yes. Mister Van denhen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister death rich Yes, Miss Carson, yes, Superintendent Walters,

Superintendent Walters  48:04  
yes, okay. Motion passes. We'll go into Executive Session. I would bring your binders with You. You

Uh, okay, I believe we've got everybody back here in open session, so I think, do you think we need to vote to come back in officially? So we have a motion to come back into an open session.

Deatherage  2:36:12  
So moved

Lepak  2:36:14  
second, got

Superintendent Walters  2:36:15  
a motion a second, any further discussion? Ms. London do you mind calling roll for us?

Kutmas  2:36:19  
Certainly. Miss Lepak, yes. Mister Van denhen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent

Superintendent Walters  2:36:29  
Walters, yes, okay, we are back into open session. Do we have any motions coming out of Executive Session?

Speaker 1  2:36:40  
Yes, I would like to make a motion on agenda item 7b and I will move to summarily suspend teaching certificate and certificate number of Dylan snow and refer that matter to a hearing officer, and the suspension will be pending not hearing.

Superintendent Walters  2:37:04  
We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second? We have a motion? A second any further discussion? Miss London, you might call and roll for us. Miss

Speaker 2  2:37:14  
Lepak, yes. Mister van de Han Yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  2:37:24  
Motion passes. Any further actions coming out of Executive Session? Yes, I'll

Lepak  2:37:31  
make a motion on agenda, Item 7b to summarily suspend the teacher certificate and certificate number of Jonah Davis, pending resolution of the matter by hearing officer and referring such to hearing

officer. 

Van Denhende  2:37:47  
Second 

Superintendent Walters  2:37:48  
we have a motion and a second any further discussion. Miss Lennon, you might calling roll for us.

Kutmas  2:37:55  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de hen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters,

Superintendent Walters  2:38:03  
Yes. Motion passes. Any further motions coming out of Executive Session?

Speaker 1  2:38:08  
Yes, I'd like to make a motion with respect to agenda item 7b The motion is to summarily suspend this teacher certificate and certificate number of Alden Armstrong, and refer the matter to a hearing officer.

Van Denhende  2:38:23  
Second. 

Superintendent Walters  2:38:25  
We have a motion a second. Do you mind call and roll for us? Miss London,

Kutmas  2:38:29  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de hen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  2:38:39  
Motion passes any further actions coming out of Executive Session?

Speaker 1  2:38:44  
Yes, I'll make a motion with respect to agenda item 7b The motion is to summarily suspend the teacher certificate and certificate number of Samuel Melton and refer the matter to your hearing officer.

Van Denhende  2:38:56  
Second,

Superintendent Walters  2:38:58  
we have a motion and a second any further discussion? Miss London, you mind call and roll for us?

Kutmas  2:39:03  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister Van denhen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters,

Superintendent Walters  2:39:12  
Yes. Motion passes. Any other motions coming out of Executive Session? Yes,

Speaker 1  2:39:17  
I'll make a motion on agenda, Item 7b The motion is to table. This item with respect to Roger Jesse,

Van Denhende  2:39:27  
second

Superintendent Walters  2:39:28  
we have a motion and a second any further discussion. Miss London, you might call enroll for us.

Kutmas  2:39:33  
Miss Lepak Yes. Mister van de hen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters,

Superintendent Walters  2:39:41  
Yes. Motion passes any further actions coming out of Executive

Session? 

Lepak  2:39:45  
Yes, I'll make a motion with respect to agenda item 7c and the motion is to accept the voluntary surrender of the teacher certificates and certificate numbers of Justin wood and William Hale. 

Van Denhende  2:39:57  
Second,

Superintendent Walters  2:39:59  
we have. Motion and a second any further discussion? Miss London, you might call enroll for us.

Kutmas  2:40:05  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van dandy, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  2:40:15  
Motion passes. Any further motions coming out of Executive Session? 

Lepak  2:40:19  
Yes, I'll

Speaker 1  2:40:20  
make a motion regarding agenda item 7d and that motion is to ratify the board's previous decisions regarding the teacher certifications with respect to Patrick Cobb. Patrick McKenzie, Jason dowdy, Tyler, Frizzell, Ashley ferries and Joshua Foos.

Van Denhende  2:40:39  
Second, 

Superintendent Walters  2:40:40  
we've got a motion a second any further discussion? Miss London, you might call and roll for us.

Kutmas  2:40:45  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de hen, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  2:40:55  
Motion passes. Any further motions coming out of Executive Session? 

Lepak  2:40:58  
Yes,

Speaker 1  2:40:58  
I'll make a motion with respect to agenda item 7e and that motion is to grant the motion for leave to amend the application with respect to Philip coons.

Superintendent Walters  2:41:11  
Second, we got a motion and a second any further discussion.

Kutmas  2:41:21  
Recognize your choice.

Superintendent Walters  2:41:25  
Notification that just a second. Just

Kutmas  2:41:27  
give me one second meeting, and it's up to Superintendent Walters if he'll permit you to speak. So are you asking to speak? Yes,

Superintendent Walters  2:41:36  
please. I have no issue with that.

Speaker 3  2:41:39  
Yes, yes, sir, and I'll make it very brief. I know there's got a lot more to cover. I do have a concern, because this being an adjudicative matter, if my client was not provided with any notice of the change of the date of the meeting, we fortunately found out about it, which enabled me to be present here just a few hours before the meeting began. But because this is an adjudicative matter, it would be we suggest, I suggest more appropriate to table that motion until appropriate communication can be had with staff and with with counsel for the department, so that Mr. Coons due process rights are fully respected. There have been some other instances during the course of this matter where there's been some concerns raised about that. We're not here to talk about the merits right now, but just with regard to changing the nature of how the matter is presented. I have had some communication with counsel for the school board, for the state board, but our understanding was not in the in the nature of what this motion does. Our understanding was that we would ultimately be able to talk about the merits of his exoneration in the context of the appeal of his renewal. So hopefully that makes some sense.

Superintendent Walters  2:42:57  
Can I, just for my own sake, understand? So what you're asking today is for us to table this because of the time change of the board meeting, and it would give you and your client more time to be able to present

Speaker 3  2:43:10  
and work with board council to see if we can come to a consent agreement with regard to if and when any merits hearing is ultimately convened. Because, of course, Mister coons is also in both civil and criminal defense, which we fully expect that he'll be exonerated. But those haven't happened yet. It'll be several months before those come to trial or or or resolution. Otherwise it would be inappropriate for merits to go forward here when they're pending in state court.

Superintendent Walters  2:43:38  
Yes, sir. Okay, I think I understand. Do you have? Is there any legal concerns if we were to grant the motion to table this, this item on Mister Mister Koons, but if we table it, I'm just trying to think through the timeline here, if we tabled it to the next board meeting, in essence, nothing would would functionally change it correct

Kutmas  2:44:01  
and we tabled that this was on the last agenda table last time. And my recollection is,

Speaker 3  2:44:07  
and I would agree with that, because there's no hearing currently scheduled that would be a merits hearing before this body or before the board. And the appeal of the renewal decision, which was administratively and just mailed to him recently has been filed, but again, no hearing on that has been sent. So yes, there would be no prejudice to just bumping this one month so that we can have further conversations with the board Council.

Kutmas  2:44:31  
I think in fairness, probably the State Department of Education probably needs to speak to that, since you've speak and spoken.

Superintendent Walters  2:44:40  
Yeah, go ahead, if you would. Jackie,

Phelps  2:44:42  
so, thank you. So it is my understanding and correct me, if this is incorrect, that the there is a dismissal of the suspension, and then that, and then the denial has been appealed and is in the appellate process. Is that correct? Not

Speaker 3  2:44:58  
quite close, but not quite. Right? So a complaint to suspend and revoke sure was ordered in 2024 we're not certain if that was adequately served, but we're not here to argue that today, sure and then, essentially, ex parte suspension occurred. Mister coons then timely submitted his license renewal, sure I became involved in defense at this body, we communicated my representation, and it seemed like we had a tacit agreement to let this remain on hold while his civil litigation played out. But then the rejection of his renewal application came, and then the application to amend the original complaint came. When reread it looked like it was not to dismiss it. We've had a conversation about that. That was the intention to dismiss the replication complaint and just rely on yes decision about renewal. That's correct, but anyway you slice it time to do the hearing on that is slow, not now

Phelps  2:46:03  
it is, yes, it's my understanding that a hearing on that, an administrative hearing, has already been set.

Speaker 3  2:46:11  
Now, respectfully, we've received no notice of it, which is obviously required. Sure.

Phelps  2:46:15  
Yeah, absolutely. So I think that with this, it's up to the superintendent, obviously, but I don't think that our side would have a problem with resetting that hearing to allow your client with adequate notice to be heard, because obviously, we absolutely want your client to have his his due process. That's

Speaker 3  2:46:38  
all that we ask for, and I appreciate you entertaining the interjection.

Superintendent Walters  2:46:43  
Well, thank you. Thank you for being here today and presenting that very clearly. Board members happy to entertain any discussion. I don't, I don't have an issue. To the to the gentleman's ask to table it. If we don't, we don't feel like it has an issue with any timeline, and and we think that we can move forward it. I'm happy to hear kind of you have a perspective on it if I'm missing something with it.

Lepak  2:47:08  
 I

Speaker 1  2:47:09  
mean, I would maybe just clarify one thing and cut me off if I'm not supposed to. But we haven't. This board has not reached any decisions on the merits and this matter correct. So I just want to make sure you knew that, because I wasn't sure if you were aware of that, but

Unknown Speaker  2:47:24  
you're actually aligned in that position, yeah.

Speaker 1  2:47:27  
So, yeah, I, I mean, I'm fine with tabling it. So just

Superintendent Walters  2:47:31  
functionally, do we have a motion and a second on the board right now? Miss London. We don't Okay, so we don't have an okay. So could we what would be appropriate table? It take no action on it? Would that give us the appropriate time to to work with council for the next meeting? You have a deferred to say

Phelps  2:47:51  
board on Yes. So just again, my understanding of the situation is that there has been some contact with assistant county, assistant general counsel regarding this matter, and so we're, I don't think we're totally off off the page here. I think we're all kind of in the loop, but I don't think that it would be a problem to put a reasonable, a reasonable delay to the administrative hearing. We certainly want to make sure that everybody that comes before this board is given their due process and has their right to be heard.

Superintendent Walters  2:48:28  
But just to be clear, for the purposes of what the board would vote on, we could take no action, or, I mean no action, and then we could continue, you could continue to consult with our council board, council right? Would that be my

Speaker 3  2:48:42  
appropriate? My contemplation would be that once the other litigation involving coach coons resolves, that will be the point at which this body can readily make its decision without stepping in front of the jury trial or other resolution of those matters. The the only

Phelps  2:49:04  
problem that that it that we would have with waiting for the complete resolution of the criminal trial is that, as you know, they can take years and years and years I

Speaker 3  2:49:19  
double check currently scheduled to go in September this year

Phelps  2:49:25  
again the and I hear you and I understand that, but part of our issue is making sure that, I mean, the number one thing that we have to do as an agency is just making sure that we're doing our due diligence and making sure that, and I'm not saying anything about your client in any way, shape or form, but I just want to make sure that I don't think we can postpone it through the completion of the trial, because, as you know, then there would there's potential for an appellate process, which is another time period. There's a potential for post conviction relief, which is another time period. So I say all that to say this. Yes. The other thing that that I want to be clear is that in our hearings, we don't need a reasonable doubt standard of proof, and so I can't, I can't, in good conscience, say that we will wait until the completion of the criminal trial.

Kutmas  2:50:19  
Okay, let me just

jump in here. Is there any prejudice? And I'm asking on behalf of the Board to sort of their lawyer to be able to give them advice. Is there any prejudice to either side in delaying this until the next meeting so you guys can talk about this outside of this board meeting.

Speaker 3  2:50:39  
Next meeting would be a perfectly fine interval, as far as I'm concerned. Okay,

Superintendent Walters  2:50:44  
I have no issue with that. If, if the board any further. I've talked the whole time. So is there anybody in my

Deatherage  2:50:50  
superintendent? Oh, oh. So moved.

Superintendent Walters  2:50:52  
Okay, so we have a motion to table till the next board meeting. Do we have a second? 

Lepak  2:50:59  
Second

Superintendent Walters  2:51:00  
We have a motion a second any further discussion. Miss London, you might call enroll for us.

Kutmas  2:51:08  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de hand, yes. Mister Tinney, yes. Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  2:51:17  
Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you for

Speaker 3  2:51:20  
tolerating my interruption. Thank you for being here. Counselor.

Superintendent Walters  2:51:26  
Any further motions coming out of Executive Session? Yes,

Speaker 1  2:51:29  
I'll make a motion on agenda item 7f and that motion is to direct the OSDE to provide the entire record of the proceedings below to the board for our review with respect to the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Recommendation from the hearing officer for Kelly Bacot, second,

Superintendent Walters  2:51:52  
we have a motion and a second any further discussion. Miss London, do you mind control for us?

Kutmas  2:51:58  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de hen, Yes, Mister Tinney, yes. Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters,

Superintendent Walters  2:52:07  
Yes. Motion passes. Any further motions coming out of Executive Session? 

Lepak  2:52:13  
Yes,

Speaker 1  2:52:13  
we're going to take no action with respect to agenda item 7g. And so I have motions with respect to agenda items 7h, and I, and that motion for both, can I do these together? I'm assuming, can I do can I do H and I together? Okay, so the motions for agenda items 7h, and I are to authorize board council to negotiate a mutually agreeable resolution consistent with the privilege discussion that we had an executive session today with respect to the cases listed in those agenda items.

Van Denhende  2:52:51  
Second 

Superintendent Walters  2:52:52  
we have a motion and a second any further discussion. Miss London, do you mind call enroll for us?

Kutmas  2:52:58  
Miss Lepak, yes. Mister Van denhen, Yes, Mister Tinney, Yes, Mister Deatherage, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, Yes.

Superintendent Walters  2:53:10  
Motion passes, any further actions out of Executive Session? 

Lepak  2:53:15  
Nope. 

Superintendent Walters  2:53:17  
Okay, so that concludes the motions coming out of Executive Session next. Let's move into public comment. I have a list here in front of me. The first person is Keith Olson. Keith, as you're making your way to the front, just remind everyone we've got one minute. Jackie, can you do the timer for me? Please be respectful. So everybody has an opportunity to speak, and we'll have a timer that goes off. So Keith Olson is Keith, so here, I'm not seeing anybody. Let's go to Lena Stark. Elena Stark, no, okay. Bonnie Demar Demartini, I think. Sorry. My paper smudged. Bonnie Demartini, Ashley Hall,

Peggy Howe so

Speaker 4  2:54:20  
tough situation, good afternoon or good evening. My name is Peggy Howe, and I'm so excited to see new board members, I thought I would today, because the board members are new. I just wanted them to know about a website that Oklahoma Appleseed has on Ryan Walters, oops. It goes through everything that Ryan. Walters has done in the last two years that he has been a superintendent, and it is very interactive and friendly. It's called the gross misconduct of Ryan Walters and his misdeeds, and it's divided into several sections. The first is the failures of Walters and the department that he runs, oh my gosh. The second is the incompetence of his leadership actions that has overstepped his authority, personal misconducts and Miss spendings of public dollars, inflammatory statements and actions that is done. The second part is efforts by the legislature to do certain things, statutory constraints, legislative subpoenas, calls for impeachment, the loft investigations, Peggy,

Superintendent Walters  2:56:04  
I am sorry I did it. Did. I know it was quiet, but did go off. So can you, can you kind

Speaker 4  2:56:07  
of wrap anyway, all sorts of information, if you don't know anything about him or or much about him, gives you a lot of great information. Thank

Superintendent Walters  2:56:17  
you, Peggy. And we'll, we'll turn the volume up. Thank you for for being patient with us. Peggy on that one. Next we have Mike Howe,

Speaker 5  2:56:33  
honorable Mr. Walters, esteemed members of the board. We hope that all Oklahoma parents are aware that our land legislature lacked the courage to stop the social studies standards that Mr. Walters, Mr. Walters altered, then forced the board to pass without allowing public comment on the changes. The Senate refused to vote for the resolution that would have sent the standards back to the board. Now included in Oklahoma schools will be curriculum that is clearly indoctrination. As parents, we have the right for our children to attend public school without the danger of someone trying to impose their beliefs on them. We hope that anyone hearing this will make sure they demand learning environments free of indoctrination, partisan propaganda and conspiracy theories. We support our teachers, and we hope our parents will support them as they focus on reading, math, science, the arts, physical education and history, as Mr. Walters has always told us, parent rights are important in our schools, and as a parent, you have the right to opt out from any part of any curriculum in our schools. You can do so at your schools, your child's school, or at the Board of Education of your school. In conclusion, we also understand that unpopular ideas sometimes get backlash. As we have been found out over the years, couple years that we've been doing this, we've been called woke. So I'd like to share with you the definition that our new pope, Leo, the 14th

Superintendent Walters  2:58:16  
we did go off. But look, can we this is concluding,

Speaker 5  2:58:19  
okay, being woke means awakened by compassion, guided by truth and committed to justice, not for some, but for all. So please keep calling me woke. Thank

Superintendent Walters  2:58:35  
you. Thank you. Mike. Next, we have Jennifer, Daughtery I

Amy London  2:58:47  
words matter. You say, prepare children for jobs, as in working as children. Prepare children for jobs in Oklahoma, only in Oklahoma, maybe having so many emergency certificate certificate teachers that aren't mandated to have any training is pushing us to the rate rating of 49th out of 50 in education. Your job is to mandate that training incentivize real teachers. Train real teachers. You're doing the opposite. The Trump administration has made it clear that they love the uneducated, and you are ensuring they get what they love. You are not the children. You're not here for the children or their future. Please stop lying to people's faces. If it is your opinion, is it your personal or is it your professional opinion? Ask that of lawyers. My opinion is, well, lawyers need to differentiate. Is it their personal or their professional so make sure that people on this board are being truthful to you. Do not trust but verify of everything that's happening here. Thank you.

Superintendent Walters  2:59:53  
Thank you. Jennifer, next, we have Robert heinman, you.

Okay, next we have Lindsey brew. Lindsey Brule.

Speaker 6  3:00:14  
Hi everybody, thanks for letting me speak today. I just wanted to oh yes, sorry. Just want to tell a little bit of who I am. My background is, I have a business degree from Oklahoma State University. I have a master of divinity from Perkins School of Theology. So I know, and I know a lot about government, so I know the proper place of each institution and that they don't work against each other. They're supposed to be working with each other. Um, so one of the things I just want to couple points I wanted to bring up is I don't know why we're doing prayers. We could be doing moment of silence, but in that prayer you said about the parents know best. Well, I want to send you some details and some data, and I'll email it to you that parents mental health is at an all time low. We're over exhausted trying to figure out what the best thing for our kids is on everything. I can't take over my doctor's surgeries, just because some doctors are bad and don't know what they're doing. And then as far as the workforce, there's more to it than just getting them ready for work. I spoke at the University of Arkansas recently. I was asked to come in because businesses are calling saying we're having a hard time. People are not thinking critically and are unwilling to work with difference, and I want to address that in our education, and I think that would make a big boost if we worked on the human spirit. Thank you for listening.

Superintendent Walters  3:01:30  
Thank you for that. Lindsey, next we have Sarah Lynn. Boren. Sarah Lynn, born,

Speaker 3  3:01:40  
I am a public school parent, and I want to thank our new board members for being a breath of fresh air for this board, it's obvious that you're all here to represent Oklahomans instead of being yes men, and thanks to you. Oklahomans are finally excited about what this board might accomplish. I'm so excited to speak today because I've been coming to these board meetings for almost two years. I've only made it into this room one time before today, and I've never been chosen to speak. In case you didn't know, when Ryan Walters became state superintendent, there was no limit on the number of public speakers. They could speak for up to four minutes, and they spoke at the start of the meeting before any votes happened. Once parents and educators began to speak against Walters, public comment was limited to 10 people. That's when people started camping outside of the building overnight to be able to get a spot to speak. Then public comment was moved to the end of the meeting after all the voting happens. Time was limited to three minutes before we moved to the lottery method of choosing random speakers. Now we only get 60 seconds to speak. Ryan Walters claims to champion parents rights and claims to stand for Oklahomans while he's actively doing everything he can to silence our voices. I know he's also doing everything he can to limit your powers, but I ask that each of you stand for us, our fellow Oklahomans, and push back on the limitations on public comment. Please push for a larger location so everyone can fit in the room, and push for our voices to be heard and to be heard before you've already voted.

Superintendent Walters  3:03:00  
Thank you. Sarah Lynn, that concludes public comment, and all we've got left is adjournment. Do we have anybody will make a motion?

Deatherage  3:03:10  
So I'll second

Superintendent Walters  3:03:12  
we got a motion and a second any further discussion? Miss London, can you call roll for us one more

Kutmas  3:03:18  
time? Miss Lepak, yes. Mister van de hen, yes. Mister Tinney, Mister deathridge, yes. Miss Carson, yes. Superintendent Walters, we're adjourned.

This is a proceeding. There has to be some decorum. My whole school district, please, very, very important.

Unknown Speaker  3:03:40  
The it very, very important.

Superintendent Walters  3:03:42  
Well, we just, we just, school district

has a $7.5 million lawsuit that land owners

unidentified speaker  3:03:49  
are having to repay. We wish that we would draw some attention from you and the governor to do something with this.

Superintendent Walters  3:04:00  
So, sir, I'll tell you this. I we're going to adjourn, if you'll hang around. Can you and I Okay, you and I will, we'll speak, yes, sir, we'll speak right now. I just, I know procedurally, we're, we're adjourning, but I'm happy. I'd like to get the information from you, sir, of course, I think I was the last vote, right? Okay, so I'll vote to YES to adjourn And thank you for being here.

Van Denhende  3:04:35  
Tell me applause.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
