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    • Ryan Walters orders Oklahoma schools to display videos of religious offices
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    Ryan Walters orders Oklahoma schools to display videos of religious offices

    Online Niel Posted on

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    At least two large school districts in Oklahoma said Friday they have no intention of running a video State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters discusses his state agency’s new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism, despite Walters saying it is needed.

    The superintendents of the Edmond and Mustang districts each sent a letter to parents and others saying they would not show the video. Attorney General Gentner Drummond supported them, saying, “There is no statutory authority for the superintendent of state schools to require all students to watch a particular video. Not only is this amendment unenforceable, it is contrary to parental rights, local control, and individual free exercise rights.”

    Walters’ emailed edict has been sent only hours after the agency he heads, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, issued a press release in which Walters said more than 500 Bibles had been purchased for Oklahoma public schools, specifically for Advanced Placement government classrooms.

    The ad and video — which did not provide specific details about how the Bibles were procured or how much the books cost — are the latest in a wave of movements de Walters as he works to raise his national profile.

    Republican President-elect Donald Trump is quickly filling out his new cabinet, and Walters’ name has been mentioned by some national news outlets as a potential pick for education secretary or adviser. Both Trump and Walters asked the U.S. Department of Education be abolished.

    “Right now, all I can do is laugh,” said state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, who just won re-election in a Republican-majority district while campaigning on a platform of fighting Walters. “Where has common sense gone? … The Republicans I know are not up for this kind of nonsense. They love their public schools and they understand local control and they listen to their (district) superintendents and they don’t want anybody telling them what to do.”

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    The email to district superintendents directed them to show Walters’ video

    Oklahoma public school superintendents received an email Thursday evening from Walters ordering them to show students the video, which lasts one minute and 24 seconds. In the email, which contained several grammatical errors, Walters wrote: “We are in a dangerous time for this country. Students’ rights and freedoms regarding religious freedoms are continually under attack.”

    He went on to say the new office within the state Department of Education “will work to prevent any attempt to disrupt the fundamental freedoms of our Oklahoma students.”

    Walters directed district superintendents to show the video to “all children who are enrolled” and to “send this video to all parents as well.”

    Walters ends the video with a prayer, noting that students are not required to participate. He specifically asked for blessings for “President Trump and his team as they continue to bring change to the country.”

    Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald told parents in a letter Friday that the district will continue to “teach the Oklahoma state standard and local school board approved curriculum that we have always taught. Any change to it will be based on local decisions.

    “Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided unanimously that we have the authority to make these decisions locally and will continue to do so.”

    Mustang Public Schools Superintendent Charles Bradley said in his letter to parents that district officials “do not intend to interrupt the instructional day to show or send this video.”

    “Mr. Walters, through his agencies, has the means to distribute this video if he chooses,” Bradley added.

    New state Sen. Mark Mann, D-Oklahoma City, who was sworn in Wednesday, encouraged other districts to follow suit in not showing the video. Mann is a former member of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education.

    “Ryan Walters needs to focus on doing his job and less on political theatrics,” Mann said. “Districts should ignore this request and rely on the guidance of their local school boards regarding the type of media and information they deem necessary and appropriate for students and their parents.

    “When Oklahoma needs to make gains in reading and math scores, the last thing we need to do is promote the superintendent’s blatant and self-serving political agenda.”

    Lawmakers also question Walters’ purchase of Bibles

    As the video controversy swirled, lawmakers also questioned the purchase of Bibles, which Walters presented in another video posted on social media on Thursday.

    “Today we purchased over 500 Bibles that will be in AP Government classrooms across the state,” he said.

    Walters said the move represented “the first acquisition of a Bible in the country expressly for use in schools as an academic and literary resource” and described the purchase as “the first step toward providing Bibles for every classroom in the state.”

    The procurement was separate from a previous request for proposal issued by the Oklahoma State Department of Education for 55,000 Bibles. The request was originally tailored to specific requirements that few versions of the Bible seemed to meet. One exception was the Trump-endorsed “God Bless USA” Bible, also known as the “Trump Bible.”

    The request was later withdrawn after it was criticized, but the agency said Thursday it expected to reissue a revised version soon. The initial request as well a mandate to teach the Bible previously issued by Walters, has drawn a lawsuit from 32 Oklahomans and is currently pending in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

    Dan Isett, a spokesman for Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education, said the order for “this initial purchase” of 500 Trump Bibles was placed Thursday and cost $25,000. He said the Bibles “will arrive in the coming weeks.”

    Isett did not respond to questions about the funding source for the Bibles or when the department received approval from the Legislature to spend money on the Bibles.

    State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore — the acting chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget subcommittee on education — answered the latter question Friday by saying the approval never happened.

    “I’m the guy who does the line items (for the state education budget) and there wasn’t one for Bibles,” McBride told The Oklahoman. “We never talked about Bibles. There was never a discussion of Bibles in the Education (Funding) Bill. None. Never grown. Never in their original proposal. It just wasn’t there.

    “I still go back to, where did the money come from? There was no allowance for Bibles. I don’t know that I have a problem with buying 500 Bibles…but where did you get the money? I just wish we could focus on reading, writing and arithmetic.”

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