A Moore Public Schools teacher and track coach who is the son of the mayor of Altus resigned from his position Nov. 15 after the district became aware of “Snapchat correspondence” with an eighth-grade girl.
Now, the Oklahoma State Department of Education has filed an application to revoke the teaching certificate of Nicholas Garrison, who remains under criminal investigation as well, according to the Moore Police Department.
An MPD official said no report is currently available because the department is still investigating Garrison, who had started his fourth year of teaching history and government at Central Junior High School in the fall. Garrison, 29, had also been an assistant coach for the track and cross country teams. He is still listed as a coach on the district’s website.
The alleged Snapchat messages included in the administrative complaint from OSDE, embedded below, do not include overt sexual language, but Garrison did express interest in dating the girl.
“I knowwwww you’re probably asleep or hanging out but I drank a few things and I just wanted to say damn I’m jealous I’m not 16-17 and could try to date you lol soreyyyyy,” Garrison wrote in one message.
Typically, a student in the eighth grade is 13 or 14 years old.
Using the Snapchat handle “coach garrison,” Garrison also sent the student a picture of his newborn child and captioned it with a request for the student to “hangout,” and he made multiple comments praising her appearance. In one message, he called her “gorgeous.”
“If you guys do let me know because I will come and hangout with you and [another student], if not I’ll just stay home,” Garrison wrote. “I miss you already 🙁 can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”
Garrison did not respond to a social media message seeking comment prior to the publication of this article.
For MPS, Garrison case follows Fagans charges
NonDoc requested a report from the Moore Police Department regarding the investigation into Garrison, but Lt. Wesley Yost said no arrests have been made and that no charges have been filed. Yost said the investigation is ongoing.
A spokesperson for Moore Public Schools confirmed that Garrison no longer works for the district but declined to comment further on the situation.
OSDE’s administrative complaint regarding Garrison is also an application for his teaching certificate to be revoked. According to the complaint, the State Board of Education will have the opportunity to conduct a revocation hearing, and the board chairperson will appoint the hearing officer.
If the department revokes Garrison’s teaching certificate, he will not be allowed to teach in Oklahoma.
Garrison, whose wife teaches at a separate district in the Oklahoma City metro, previously taught in Cache Public Schools until 2019. He is the son of longtime Altus Public Schools teacher Robert Garrison, who was elected to the Altus City Council in 2019 and became mayor in 2021.
Since resigning from Moore Public Schools on Nov. 15, Garrison has remained active on Twitter. Garrison’s tweets have been almost exclusively about sports, sometimes criticizing the decisions and actions of players and referees.
The Garrison investigation marks the second time a Moore Public Schools teacher has been caught making inappropriate Snapchat communications with students in 2022.
In May, former Southmoore High School teacher Renee Fagans was charged with two counts of soliciting sex from minors. She allegedly sent nude photos of herself to a pair of 15-year-old boys, one of whom was a Southmoore student and the other of whom was from Duncan.
Fagans allegedly asked the teenagers to have a physical relationship with her. The probable cause affidavit in Fagan’s case also says she masturbated on a video call with one of the boys on two occasions.
According to court records, Fagans is set to enter a plea and could be sentenced on Dec. 15.
(Correction: This article was updated at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, to correct reference to the specific junior high school where Nicholas Garrison worked within Moore Public Schools. NonDoc regrets the error. It was updated again at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8.)
Read the OSDE’s Nicholas Garrison complaint
https://nondoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Application-to-Revoke-GarrisonMOORE.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
