Despite the Attorney General’s opinion, the State Council of Education still opposes legislators’ oversight of closed meetings

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After two chaotic weeks of education news, members of the State Council of Education met today and voiced opposition to a new opinion from the attorney general that requires lawmakers to attend closed-door discussions in most cases.

In addition, board members took action against the withdrawal of 14 different teacher certificates, in a meeting without a closed session.

The advisory from Attorney General Gentner Drummond, released late Wednesday afternoon, directs state legislators to follow a law in almost all situations that allows lawmakers to attend closed meetings of agency governing bodies when a lawmaker serves on a legislative committee that oversees that agency.

“It undermines credibility and common sense that a legislator would be excluded from the executive session of a state agency they oversee,” Drummond said in a press release accompanying the opinion. “The law is clear: Legislators have broad oversight authority, whether an agency or board likes it or not.”

The closed-session controversy stems from meetings of the State Board of Education in June and July, during which members refused to allow state lawmakers to attend the closed sessions.

Although board members did not meet in closed session on Thursday, they did discuss and express frustration with Drummond’s opinion, which is generally considered binding on state officials and agencies unless a court rules otherwise.

Board member Sarah Lepak, the longest-serving board member and a law degree from the University of Kansas, said Drummond’s decision effectively means closed-door discussions are no longer confidential.

“We (…) take very seriously the reasons for being in closed session, including matters such as protecting the identity of minors and protecting their private information,” Lepak said.

The board members ultimately took no action in response to the attorney general’s ruling and the closed-door meeting’s questions, but they did appear to be open to a possible future lawsuit on the issue.

The board’s lawyer, Cara Nicklas, said Drummond had created “confusion” with his opinion and suggested the board had lost its power as a result of the development.

“Yesterday, boards and agencies had the ability to go into closed session as a public body and receive privileged communications with their counsel in the circumstances that the law allows,” Nicklas said. “That ability was revoked yesterday and that is the issue that needs to be examined.”

Nicklas, whose contract with the council was extended Thursday, said she had relied on a 1978 opinion from the attorney general to bar lawmakers from attending closed-door meetings in June and July. Drummond’s new opinion included a rescission of the 1978 opinion, and Nicklas said the council could seek a final resolution of the issue from a judge.

“The concern is that you have a number of individual proceedings and you need a private session to seek legal advice, which is considered privileged communication,” Nicklas said. “So if you just go ahead, you’re just going to be recognizing that you don’t have the benefit of a private session for your individual proceedings in your desire to seek legal advice.”

In his new opinion, Drummond said the 1978 legal guidance, offered in response to a question from then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Leslie Fisher about lawmakers attending closed portions of local school board meetings, construed Title 25, Section 310 too narrowly.

“It is not the content of the closed session item and the action of the state agency related to it that determines whether Section 310 applies, but whether the committee on which the legislature sits exercises general supervision over that state agency,” Drummond wrote.

Drummond opposed the State Council of Education’s discussion in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“The State Board of Education may not like the law, but its members must still abide by it,” Drummond said. “This provision has been in effect for over 45 years, and I know of no other state entity that has a problem with allowing legislators into closed session.”

After the meeting, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said he was not opposed to lawmakers attending closed meetings, but said he was “trying to make sure we stay above board legally.”

“What I want is legal clarity,” Walters said. “When you act on the advice of legal counsel, you actually have a legal opinion from the person who is legally representing you, saying, ‘I don’t think these legislators should legally be in this room.'”

Five lawmakers attended Thursday’s meeting:

• Senate Education Committee Chairman Adam Pugh (R-Edmond);
• House of Representatives Subcommittee on Education on Budgets and Appropriations Vice Chairman Dick Lowe (R-Amber);
• Rep. Mike Osburn (R-Edmond), who serves on the House Education Subcommittee on Budget and Appropriations;
• Rep. John Talley (R-Stillwater); and
• Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman), who serves on the House Common Education Committee.

Board takes more action for teacher certification

The agenda for Thursday’s meeting was presented before Drummond delivered his opinion and did not give board members the opportunity to hold a closed session, although it did include many topics, such as teacher certification, that members often discuss behind closed doors before a public vote.

Instead, members relied on the information they received at the meeting and voted on teacher certification measures without much discussion.

After months of delay, board members took action on the now-expired teaching certificate of Summer Boismier, a former Norman High School English teacher who in August 2022 drew Walters’ ire by covering her classroom library with red paper and writing on it “books the state doesn’t want you to read.”

Board members approved a motion authorizing Walters to “sign” a proposed order from a hearing officer regarding Boismier. Walters told reporters after the meeting that the order was to revoke Boismier’s certification, despite the fact that it had expired on June 30 itself.

“She broke the law,” Walters said. “I’ve said from the beginning, if you have a teacher who breaks the law, says she broke the law, says she’s going to continue to break the law, you can’t do that.”

Boismier resigned just days into the 2022-2023 school year after making headlines by covering her books in the classroom and posting a QR code that linked to the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned webpage.

The exhibit was apparently in response to a new NPS policy requiring all teachers to check their personal classroom libraries to make sure the books don’t violate House Bill 1775, Oklahoma’s alleged ban on “critical race theory.” Parts of that law were recently invalidated by a federal judge.

Walters, who was then campaigning for state superintendent, called for Boismier’s certification to be revoked and initiated proceedings to do so after he took office. Walters made numerous social media posts and other comments about Boismier at the time, leading her to sue him for defamation. She has since moved to New York and did not file a request to renew her Oklahoma teaching certificate this year, dynamics that have led some to allege Walters is simply waging a political feud.

On Thursday, board members also approved an amended request to revoke the certificate of Edmond Memorial High School English teacher Regan Killackey, but left his license intact in the meantime.

The board members had submitted an initial request to revoke Killackey’s certificate to a hearing officer at their July meeting.

The action against Killackey is based on a photo he posted on Facebook in 2019. The photo, one of a handful he posted with his children at a Halloween store, shows Killackey and his son with his daughter, who is wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump. Killackey and his son are pointing fake swords at the Trump mask in the photo.

Board members have suspended teaching certificates pending formal hearings on revocation of:

• Nicholas Plank; and
• Phil Koons.

Koons, a former Ringling football coach, faces a criminal charge of “outraging public decency” in Jefferson County District Court and a federal civil lawsuit related to his alleged abuse of team leadership.

Board members also forwarded requests to revoke six teacher certificates to a hearing officer, but their licenses have remained intact so far:

• Sarah Butterworth;
• Sean Vink;
• Patrick McKay;
• Thomas Lenard;
• Roger Carroll; and
• Jayme Stepp, who is facing charges of assault and battery over allegations involving a special education needs student in Norman.

For four other teachers, board members approved amended requests for revocation of their teaching certificates, after having previously approved an initial request for revocation:

• Scott Renken, a Guymon Public Schools teacher who became embroiled in a bit of a social media controversy in 2023 for posting about student vandalism while teaching in Perryton, Texas. Months later, he lost his position as the school’s basketball coach;
• Anthony Deason, who was charged in March in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma with attempted sexual exploitation of a minor;
• Alison Scott, a former Ardmore Public Schools teacher who posted on Facebook that she wished the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump had been successful; and
• Regan Killackey.

The board members have accepted the voluntary surrender of the teaching certificates of:

• Amanda Bristow, who was fired from Deer Creek Public Schools after allegedly giving students sleeping pills without their parents’ consent; and
• Donald R. Holt, a former teacher at Stigler High School, is accused of child pornography.

Board members have agreed to dismiss the lawsuit against William Mooney, a former Catoosa Public Schools teacher who was recently removed from the profession by court order in a settlement proposal to end allegations that he inappropriately groped at least 10 girls.

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