Members of the State Board of Education denied three Oklahoma legislators — including two attorneys — access to observe its full executive session during a meeting today despite a state law that grants lawmakers that power. The unusual event, which unfolded largely outside of the public meeting room, marked the second time in two months that the board has denied entry to legislators.
The questionable action, which could draw attorney general opinion requests or legal challenges, came as board members took the controversial step to initiate revocation proceedings against two educators over their Facebook posts.
“It was a little disappointing that we sat there for that long and explained why we were there to participate in the executive session, and then to just not hear anything back was pretty disappointing,” said House Rules Committee Chairman Mike Osburn (R-Edmond).
Osburn, who also serves on the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee for Education, attempted to observe the executive session owing to concerns about an agenda item to suspend the educator certificate of Edmond Memorial High School English teacher Regan Killackey, who is set to begin his 18th year at Edmond Public Schools in August. Although the board ultimately declined to suspend Killackey’s certificate Wednesday, it did send a revocation application to a hearing officer to begin such proceedings.
According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ comments to board members at the beginning of the meeting, the proceedings against Killackey stem from a photo he posted on Facebook in 2019. In the photo, which was one of a few he posted with his children in a Halloween store, Killackey and his son can be seen with his daughter, who is wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump. Killackey and his son are both holding fake swords in the photo.
“We had images of knives being held to President Trump’s throat, things like this. Look, here in the state of Oklahoma, that’s just unbelievably inappropriate,” Walters said during the meeting. “We’re not going to tolerate adults that we entrust with our kids going out and making comments in a threatening manner, in a joking manner, that the president of the United States — former President Donald Trump — should be assassinated.”
Reached Tuesday about the situation, Killackey declined to comment. He is a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging House Bill 1775, the state’s controversial law that supporters claim banned “critical race theory” in Oklahoma schools. A federal judge recently issued a preliminary injunction against parts of that law.
Osburn told NonDoc he was briefly allowed into the executive session along with Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman) and Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman) to explain why they felt they should be allowed to observe the closed-door portion of the meeting. After the three legislators answered those questions, Osborn said they were asked to leave but told someone would let them know what the board decided.
“They said we will discuss this and we will let you know what we decide,” Osburn said. “They did not.”
Osburn said it was a total surprise to EPS leaders and Killackey when the longtime English educator’s name appeared on the State Board of Education agenda Tuesday.
“It does seem pretty unusual to accuse somebody of something publicly — to have an elected official and an administrative board basically accuse somebody of something publicly before they have had a chance to put it into context,” Osburn said. “Superintendent Walters is a duly elected official who has been charged with leading a state agency that has a lot of power in Oklahoma. Some of the things that I hear and see seem to be politically motivated in an effort to seek attention to political matters that don’t have anything to do with running the agency. And I wish that was different.”
EPS public information officer Jeff Bardach said after the meeting that neither the district nor Killackey had received any information from the State Department of Education about an investigation into the English teacher.
Killackey has been with the district since 2007. EPS teachers have the option of being represented by the Edmond Association of Classroom Teachers.
Osburn called EPS “one of the best” districts in Oklahoma and expressed frustration that some of Walters’ recent actions — including a failed attempt to remove books from EPS libraries, which resulted in the district prevailing in front of the state Supreme Court — have taken up time and resources.
“I honestly don’t think they’re helping at all, and I think some of these things are real deterrents for places like EPS and every other school district in Oklahoma who are experiencing the teacher shortage and who are continually looking for good people to come teach,” Osburn said. “What we need is a champion to explain how working with and teaching in Oklahoma public schools is a destination — is a place you want to be. And it doesn’t seem like some of the rhetoric is designed to do that, and in fact maybe sometimes quite the opposite.”
Prior to Wednesday’s development, Boren was also denied entry to the board’s June executive session. In a statement, Boren called Wednesday’s incident “disturbing.”
“The superintendent and board continue to ignore the law that clearly allows legislators to observe their executive sessions, even after Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office has stated they must. In addition, they did not follow their published agenda. I believe a violation of the Open Meetings Act has occurred, nullifying those votes,” Boren said. “Following the law is not optional. They can certainly go to court, but they cannot simply choose to ignore the attorney general, as well as the Open Meetings Act, which is aimed at ensuring transparency and integrity in governmental proceedings.”
Wednesday’s board agenda featured separate executive session proposals for two main items: whether the legislators would be allowed to observe the executive session proceedings and whether to take action on the teacher certifications. Although the board moved to enter executive session to discus the legislator attendance question, no member made a motion to discuss teacher certifications. Typically, a public body must state what it is going to discuss in a closed meeting before entering executive session.
“I’ve got left-wing Democrats like Mary that want to come in and make it where we can’t remove pedophiles from the classroom,” Walters told reporters after the meeting. “So what she’s wanting to do, she’s wanting to disrupt that process. We’re looking legally, and it doesn’t appear that she has jurisdiction.”
Board initiates revocation proceedings against 3 other educators
After the executive session, board members took action to initiate revocation proceedings on Killackey’s certificate and three others. The board dismissed proceedings against two people.
Walters had announced his intention to suspend Ardmore Public Schools employee Alison Scott’s certificate July 16 after the Libs of TikTok Twitter account posted a screenshot of Scott’s comment on a Facebook post about the assassination attempt of Trump.
According to the screenshot of the comment, which no longer appears under the original Facebook post, Scott said “wish they had a better scope” about the shooter. Scott’s name does not appear on the Ardmore Public Schools website.
“I will be taking her teaching certificate. She will no longer be teaching in Oklahoma,” Walters said on Twitter in response to the Libs of TikTok post. Despite the forcefulness of his comments, Walters does not have the power to unilaterally revoke teaching certificates. Any certification action must come from a board vote.
Like Killackey, board members ultimately stopped short of suspending Scott’s certificate and instead began revocation proceedings against her.
“Ardmore City Schools is aware that a district employee made a statement on a social media platform appearing to condone violence against a political figure. The district has begun a thorough and swift investigation into the matter. At this time, the district cannot comment on what actions, if any, it will take as this is an ongoing personnel matter,” the district posted in a July 16 statement on its website. “Ardmore City Schools strongly condemns acts of physical violence and any words that seek to encourage it, no matter their target.”
At the beginning of the meeting, Walters discussed the upcoming teacher certification votes.
“We cannot allow these individuals to continue to teach in the state of Oklahoma,” Walters said during the meeting. “I want to thank Chaya Raichik — who brought this person to my attention of what she found online — to show this hateful, nasty rhetoric.”
Board member Donald Burdick made the motion “to refer the application to revoke the teaching certificate to a hearing officer,” for Scott, Killackey and two others, which the board approved by a unanimous vote. Typically, the board suspends teacher certificates while revocation proceedings are ongoing, but board members declined to do so in this case.
In addition to Scott and Killackey, board members initiated proceedings against the teacher certificates of:
- Scott Renken, a Guymon Public Schools teacher who was involved in some sort of social media controversy in 2023 for posting about student vandalism while teaching in Perryton, Texas. Months later, he lost his position as basketball coach at the school; and
- Anthony Deason, who was indicted in March in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma for attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.
Because of the lack of a suspension, all four educators will retain active teaching certificates while revocation proceedings against them are ongoing.
Board members also took action on the teacher certificates of five other educators.
Board members dismissed revocation proceedings against:
- Lauren Anderson; and
- Solan Harrison, a former elementary school educator in Moore who was indicted by a federal grand jury June 17 on one charge of abusive sexual contact against a minor under age 12. Harrison died nine days later, one day prior to the June State Board of Education meeting, where his certificate was suspended.
Board members also accepted the voluntary surrender of teacher certificates from:
- Michael Paul Allen, who was accused of sexually assaulting students at Little Axe Public Schools in the 1990s;
- Stephen R. Gent, whose certificate appears to have expired on June 30; and
- Johvanny Fiorina, whose employment at Southeast High School in Oklahoma City ended in the fall of 2023.
(Update: This article was updated at 9:20 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, to include additional information about Regan Killackey.)
