Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has already made headlines for the mission unframed porn to his fellow MPs. Now he is accusing one of the school districts under his jurisdiction of supporting the exposure of children to what he describes as “pornography” in schools. What horrible, degenerate, pornographic display of hedonism is the Walters administration accusing teachers of hiding in libraries? by Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner, and the memoirs of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle.
Yesterday, Edmond Public Schools petitioned the state Supreme Court to rule on a threat by the Oklahoma Department of Education, led by Walters, to remove the two books — or face consequences. The dispute between Walters and the school district is just the latest in a long list of culture wars waged by the “anti-woke,” porn-obsessed superintendent.
Last month, the school district received a letter by the state board of education which ordered them to remove the two books — the titles of which were identified by KOCO5 News — from the high school library shelves. The letter threatened to downgrade the district and school's accreditation if it did not comply. In a letter to parentsEdmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald said Tuesday the district's “Board of Education voted unanimously to petition the Oklahoma Supreme Court to determine whether the rules were approved and enforced by the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education and State Superintendent Ryan Walters is valid under Oklahoma law.”
“We strongly believe in local control for school boards in Oklahoma and we defend the laws passed by the State Legislature that guarantee that control,” Grunewald added. “Simply put, we argue that this is a case of overreach where the State Department of Education has improperly removed the locally elected School Board from making decisions about education and facilities within our district.”
In a video statement explaining the letter, Grunewald said school administrators could not just “come in and just remove these books from the library,” as the district could be violating federal law and district policies governing the removal of material . The other option would have been to refuse to remove the books but risk reprisals from the Department of Education – something he was keen to avoid. “We decided to go to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, based on legal counsel, and ask them to make a decision and decide what we should do.”
“We don't have pornography in our libraries,” Grunewald said. “If you hear that, it's not true.”
Walters was the main person pushing the claims that the Edmond school district is “leading the charge to bring pornography back into schools.” Both The Kite Runner and The Glass Castle deals with themes of sexual assault and trauma, but in no way glorifies, endorses or presents the material in a pornographic manner. Despite this, Walters accused Edmond's administration of creating “a legacy more in line with Hugh Hefner and promoting pornography, rather than focusing on academic excellence.”
Walters conveniently omitted direct references to the two titles in his video addressing the Edmond School petition — because the two highly regarded novels are not clearly considered pornographic by the general public.
Walters has made a name for himself as a culture war-focused school principal who is weaponizing right-wing cultural grievances to reshape the state's education system. Last year, Walters announced that the state had authorized a partnership with the conservative media company PragerU — without submitting the material to a state curriculum review. In August, he sparked a firestorm of criticism after a video posted by the right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok targeting a Tulsa-area elementary school librarian was promoted. In the days after the post went viral, several schools in the Tulsa area received bomb threats.
Last month, Walters tapped TikTok creator Chaya Raichik's Libs to serve on the state Department of Education's Library Media Advisory Board. The appointment sparked widespread backlash, as Raichik has no educational background and has been repeatedly accused of inciting hate and harassment against teachers, doctors, hospitals and others who support the rights of the LGBTQ community and the need for comprehensive education on issues of race, gender and sexuality.
The anti-LGBTQ integration policies supported by the Walters administration have also drawn extensive scrutiny after the death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary Oklahoma student who died the day after a fight in a school restroom. Benedict's family he told the Independent that they had been bullied because of their gender identity. While the death remains under investigation, the LGBTQ advocacy group Freedom Oklahoma described Benedict's death as a “possible hate-motivated attack.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ryan-walters-pornography-book-ban-challenged-oklahoma-schools-1234972816/
