Pro-LGBTQ Oklahoma teacher says 'we have big, big plans ahead'

“A high school teacher who’s established himself as an ally for LGBTQ+ students said he’ll refuse to comply with the [transgender bathroom] law if he’s required to monitor bathroom use by his administrators,” Ari Fife reports.

Putnam City North High School teacher and Gender and Sexuality Alliance faculty advisor Aaron Baker said he’s seen most of his trans students opt to use private bathrooms in his three years at the school. Still, he acknowledged that this method of bathroom use isn’t ideal for those students. Baker said if there aren’t legal repercussions for doing so, he plans to refuse to report students to administrators, even if classmates claim they’re breaking the law. While he said he’s unsure whether it will be possible, he hopes that teachers, parents, and students at his school can come to an agreement that refusing to comply with the law is the right thing to do. “As a building and as a student organization, we’re seeing more success than ever before,” Baker said, citing a $10,000 grant from the It Gets Better Project that the school recently received to expand the reach of its Gender and Sexuality Alliance. “So we have big, big plans ahead regardless of what the legislature is planning on our behalf.”

Concerns over racism, porn lead to Tulsa school sanction

Ray Carter has the story.

'Privilege Walk'

A Mustang Public Schools parent is outraged after a controversial classroom activity, FOX 25 reports.

Pornography in Oklahoma public schools

"Unless the parent constantly checks their child’s iPad or Chromebook," UnWokable asks, "how would they know if their child checked out a pornographic book during the school day on their school device?"

Putnam City school gets Gay-Straight grant

"Putnam City North High School has received a $10,000 grant from the It Gets Better Project to expand 'the reach' of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance," Ray Carter reports.

Lankford denounces NEA as union touts its Oklahoma influence

"U.S. Sen. James Lankford has denounced a National Education Association (NEA) proposal to compile what he calls an 'enemies list' of groups that have opposed Critical Race Theory in schools and similar left-wing agendas," Ray Carter reports.

Eternal vigilance needed

Private schools are already subject to all manner of state and federal requirements. And as recent news from famously-school-choiceless Texas and New York reminds us, the government can try to pile on more regulations whether or not a state has school choice programs. "States already can and do regulate private schools," Matt Ladner and Ginny Gentles remind us. New York's proposed new regulations come "despite the absence of any choice program in New York."

Tulsa school board votes to continue Chinese Communist-funded program

School board member E'Lena Ashley, a black single mom with a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, was the lone "no" vote.

Tulsa blogger Michael Bates provides some valuable background information. "You may have heard of the Confucius Institute," he writes, "which established centers for the study of Chinese language and culture, funded by the Chinese Communist Party, on dozens of American college campuses, including the University of Oklahoma. Confucius Classroom is the K-12 arm of the same initiative: To plant Chinese Communist agents in schools across America to propagandize on behalf of the butchers of Beijing and shape the rising generation's perspective of the totalitarians that crush political dissent in Tienanmen Square and Hong Kong, enslave Uyghur Muslims, persecute Christians and other religions, and unleashed a deadly virus that shut down the world's economy."

At teacher union conventions, indoctrination eclipses education

OEA members are pictured here in 2019 with NEA president Lily Eskelsen García.

"As a teacher, I attended the National Education Association convention last week, and my worst fears were confirmed," Brenda Lebsack writes this week. For example, Mike Antonucci adds, convention delegates committed the NEA "to take a number of specific actions in support of abortion rights."

Meanwhile, "proposed resolutions under consideration at the annual convention for the American Federation of Teachers this week include vows to support critical race theory, classroom discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation, and demands for student loan forgiveness," Jeremiah Poff reports. Or as our communist friends over at People's World report: "Impeach three Trump Justices, and kill filibuster, AFT resolutions demand."

Mother sues Miami Public Schools for alleged violent actions against son

"A mother sues Miami Public Schools claiming an employee violently grabbed her son and dragged him across a classroom by his head," KOAM reports."Kendra Parker is suing the school district on behalf of her son. ... Court documents state her son was 7 years old and was previously diagnosed with autism. According to court documents, Parker alleges her child suffered severe and serious injuries while at school. She claims an employee 'negligently and recklessly used unreasonable and inappropriate discipline' against her child 'while he was entrusted to her custody, care, and control.' As a result, Parker alleges her son suffered severe and serious physical and emotional trauma."

Former Morris teacher pleads guilty to sex crime charges

The News on 6 has the story.

Former Marlow teacher pleads guilty to sexual battery of student

The press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma is here.

Parents have questions after incidents at Carter County school

Healdton police began an investigation last month, Lexy French reports, after a 25-year-old school employee "was found in a cleaning supplies closet with a 16-year-old special needs student."