Ryan Walters calls to revoke certification of Norman teacher who resigned over HB 1775

The governor’s education secretary and candidate to become Oklahoma’s chief of public schools called to take away the teaching license of a Norman High School teacher who resigned in opposition to House Bill 1775. 

Ryan Walters on Wednesday asked the Oklahoma State Board of Education to revoke Summer Boismier’s certification immediately.  

He falsely stated Boismier had been fired from Norman Public Schools after a parent complained of the teacher’s objections to the law, which bans certain race and gender concepts from schools. 

“There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom,” Walters said in a letter posted to social media. 

Revoking a teacher’s certification is a grave penalty often reserved for educators who commit criminal wrongdoing. 

Walters is the chief education adviser to Gov. Kevin Stitt. He won the Republican nomination for state schools superintendent and will face Democrat Jena Nelson, a former Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, in the Nov. 8 general election. 

“Fellow Oklahomans, this is the Republican candidate for State Superintendent,” Boismier said in a message to The Oklahoman on Wednesday. “His words speak for themselves. Please vote accordingly.” 

Nelson called HB 1775 an “ambiguous” law that frightens teachers. 

“I think it is a very dangerous bill and can open the doors for us to harm schools, to harm teachers,” Nelson said last week. “I feel that it is another way that we are showing disrespect for the profession. We are not treating educators like the professionals they are. I feel that it’s truly disrespectful.” 

State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, the head of the state Board of Education, declined to comment on Walters’ call to revoke Boismier’s certification. 

A parent complained after Norman’s first day of classes Aug. 19 about a display in Boismier’s classroom and of comments the teacher made against HB 1775. 

Boismier, an English teacher, had covered all of her classroom bookshelves with red butcher paper that read, “books the state doesn’t want you to read.” She also posted a QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library, which gives students online access to banned books. 

The teacher said she told her students HB 1775 is a “bigoted effort to legislate feelings.” 

“I can’t think of a single example in history where the folks who have been banning the books turn out to be the quote-unquote good guys,” Boismier previously told The Oklahoman. “I am wholesale opposed to restricting access to information. If I am forced to do that very thing, then I want to make sure students understand that this is not a conviction that I hold." 

Opinion:Former Norman teacher: Do you choose a politics of inclusion or exclusion?

HB 1775 prohibits schools from teaching eight concepts on race and gender, including as a person is inherently racist or oppressive because of their race or sex, that people bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by others of their same race or sex, and that individuals should feel discomfort on account of their race or sex. 

The Oklahoma law recently caused a significant downgrade in accreditation for Tulsa Public Schools and Mustang Public Schools.  

The state Board of Education punished Tulsa after a teacher complained of an implicit bias training. It demoted Mustang because a student felt uncomfortable being asked in a team-building activity whether anyone in the room had experienced discrimination. 

Since Tulsa and Mustang’s penalty, Norman implemented new rules for classroom books in light of “the serious legal consequences for teachers and districts regarding HB 1775,” district spokesperson Wes Moody said.  

The policy required Norman teachers to verify they had either read every book in their classroom or could provide two professional sources confirming each title’s age and content appropriateness. 

Boismier covered her bookshelves rather than remove each title until it could be reviewed. Norman administrators met with her about the display, but she was never suspended nor was her job ever in jeopardy, Moody said.

Walters claimed students might have accessed inappropriate content through the Brooklyn library QR code. 

“Ms. Boismier’s providing access to banned and pornographic material to students is unacceptable and we must ensure she doesn’t go to another district and do the same thing,” Walters wrote in a letter to the state Board of Education. 

Walters is a high school history teacher and executive director of the pro-school-choice organization Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, as well as serving on the governor’s Cabinet. 

He was a leading voice against allowing transgender students to play the sport and use the restroom that matches their gender identity. Both practices are now banned in Oklahoma public schools. 

An ardent supporter of HB 1775, Walters won the GOP superintendent nomination with a platform opposing “woke ideology.” He frequently took aim at teachers unions, calling them the source of “left-wing indoctrination.”

Walters' comments against Boismier are “problematic” and the cause of unneeded controversy, said Katherine Bishop, president of the state's largest teachers union, the Oklahoma Education Association.

“Instead of wasting his time on creating a political spectacle, we ask that he spend more time resolving the real issues facing the students of Oklahoma, such as the growing educator shortage crisis and the broadening resource gaps created from underfunding our public schools who serve every child, not just some,” Bishop said in a statement.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Katherine Bishop, president of the Oklahoma Education Association.

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. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.