Today’s meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education looked different than it had during the tenure of departed Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters: Open blinds welcomed sunlight, empty halls lacked protesters, and the public and board members were no longer separated by a physical barrier.
Changes to the interior of the board meeting room were intentional, according to Oklahoma State Department of Education interim communications director Tara Thompson, who said they were meant to signify the new administration’s approach to the media and the public.
“We just want to signal that we are open and transparent and willing to answer questions and have people come and be part of the process of turning education around in our state,” Thompson said.
Rhetoric at the meeting changed as much as the decor. At the head of the board’s table for the first time, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindel Fields, appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt on Oct. 2, acknowledged the board members’ commitment and voluntary status, marking another early departure from the combative relationship Walters had maintained with the board.
“I would like to remind everybody that the board members are volunteer — volunteer positions,” Fields said. “We will move through things as efficiently as we possibly can, but recognizing that these are very important items and we will give them the discussion they deserve.”
Before tackling a backlog of nearly three dozen teacher certification items, Fields welcomed Wes Nofire and Brian Bobek, who were also appointed by Stitt on Oct. 2, to the board. Both mainstays of Stitt’s administration, Nofire had served as the state’s Native American liaison before joining the board. His appointment as Native American liaison drew controversy owing to past comments about tribal sovereignty and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. Bobek rejoined the board after a previous stint on it from 2019 to 2023, and he has also served in Stitt’s administration in other capacities, most recently as director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Bobek also served on the Statewide Charter School Board and was one of the three members who voted to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
With a six-page agenda consisting of housekeeping items, ranging from library media service waivers to accreditation warnings and teacher certification suspensions, the board began the turnaround process by working through a backlog left by Walters — work that Thompson said will likely continue for the next few meetings.
After a roughly three-hour executive session, the board took action on items absent from the last meeting’s agenda. Those omissions had raised the temperature at Walters’ final board meeting Sept. 25, when board member Chris VanDenhende questioned why there were no teacher certification actions on the agenda. Walters fired back that he controlled the agenda and suggested the board members run for his seat themselves if they wanted to set the agenda. Thompson told reporters during an informal press briefing on Oct. 7 that Fields would allow board members to add items to the agenda.
Some Walters-pushed complaints dismissed, 4 licenses suspended
The board approved the suspension of teacher certificates for four teachers, putting them on track for a hearing in front of an administrative law judge. Under the same agenda item, the board approved a motion to set hearings in front of an administrative law judge for two other teachers, Valerie Hartless and Anthony Arnold Sr., without suspending their teaching certificates.
The four teachers whose licenses were suspended were:
- Nadeena Lavarnway, who coached cross country at Kiefer High School and resigned at the end of the 2024-2025 school year;
- Andrew McGann, who is accused of killing a couple at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas and was certified to teach in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas and had recently been hired to teach in Arkansas at the time of the killings;
- Forrest Mazey, a McAlester football coach who is charged with pointing a gun at another coach in McCurtain County and with embezzlement in Pittsburgh County; and
- Treva Thompson.
The board also unanimously accepted the voluntary surrender of eight teachers’ certificates:
- Jacob Doshier, a Putnam City West teacher, who is charged with 11 counts of second-degree rape and one count of “pattern of criminal offenses in two or more counties;”
- Dakota Keys, who coached at Woodall Public Schools;
- Seth Oberlander, who taught fifth grade at Newcastle Public Schools;
- Karl King, a former Glenpool math teacher who was suspended before being allowed to resign after allegations of inappropriate contact with a student, according to a Sept. 10 lawsuit filed against King. King allegedly slapped the butt of a female fifth-grade student and told her “good job” after turning in an assignment, according to KTUL;
- Courtney Walker, a former Moore Public Schools athletics facilitator, who is charged with six counts of embezzlement in Cleveland County. Walker embezzled $61,000 and gambled with it, according to KOCO;
- Patrick Northrip, who taught at Harding Fine Arts Academy;
- Ryan Matthias, a former instructor at Central Technology Center in Sapulpa, who is charged with two counts of procuring, producing, distributing or possessing child pornography, one count of procurement or attempted procurement of child pornography, violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act and unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance; and
- Isileli Ofiu Jr.
The board dismissed applications to suspend and revoke teaching certificates for five teachers, including Regan Killackey, an Edmond teacher who Walters sought to decertify after a five-year-old photo depicting his son holding a plastic sword above a Donald Trump mask resurfaced, and Alison Scott, who drew Walters’ ire after a social media post about the attempted assassination of Trump in July 2024. Scott had posted, “Wish they had a better scope.”
The board approved a petition to vacate a prior order and set a new hearing for former Elk City Public Schools teacher Rick Dillinger, who is accused of felony embezzlement. Dillinger previously had an application to revoke his certificate sent to a hearing officer in January.
The board also dismissed an application to suspend and revoke the certificate of former Ringling High School football coach Phil Koons, as it is “moot.” According to reporting from Oklahoma Voice’s Nuria Martinez-Keel, Koons’ license had expired. Koons, a former high school football coach, had been accused of bullying and abusing players. He had been charged with “outraging public decency,” but the charge was dismissed in August. A civil lawsuit filed in the Western District of Oklahoma against Koons, his two sons and Ringling Public Schools Superintendent Kent Southward is ongoing.
The board declined to dismiss applications to suspend or revoke teaching certificates for Cody Barlow, a former Wewoka middle school principal who was accused, and later found not guilty, of molesting students, and Jonah Davis, a former Haworth Public Schools coach who was accused of second-degree rape in McCurtain County before the charge was dismissed.
Formal reprimands were issued for two teachers, Rhonda Turley and Dillon Snow, in exchange for ending their certification suspension. The board declined to make such a move in the cases of former Sperry High School principal Richard Akin and former Sperry High School coaches John King and Robert Park. The trio’s certificates were suspended in January amid an investigation into the rape of a student and remain suspended.
‘Moving up’: Board promotes Western Heights accreditation status
At Thursday’s meeting, 16 school districts were eligible for accreditation warning updates. Board member Becky Carson raised concerns about the validity of the accreditation process because Walters had previously politicized some accreditation decisions.
“We were aware of some situations in which this particular item, or accreditation, was used as a tool to harm,” Carson said. “Going into this, I am just going to have good faith that these were done properly within the procedure of accreditation.”
Carson also raised concern about Grandview and Straight Public Schools, which she said had been paying teachers below the state minimum. The board tabled action on 15 of the 16 districts. At the suggestion of Bobek, the board unanimously voted to promote Western Heights to “accredited with warning,” rather than the probationary status the district had maintained.
“I want to applaud that district; they have been on probation, Lindel, since [2021] and this is the first time they are moving up,” Bobek said. “I applaud their leadership for what they have done, and so I would like to split them out. I want to make a motion to approve them today.”
The board unanimously approved waivers allowing flexibility in the use of state-appropriated textbook funds for 10 school districts. In their waiver applications, the districts outlined how the textbook funding would otherwise be used within their schools. While there was little discussion about the item itself, board member Chris VanDenhende questioned how much the state is spending on textbooks and asked to discuss the matter during the budget process. Bobek also questioned who has oversight of textbook funds. As a result, the item was approved with the caveat that the funds would be restricted to the reasoning stated in the respective districts’ waivers and that regional accreditation officers would be accountable for the funds.
Seven library media specialist certification exemptions were approved unanimously by the board, allowing the schools that had applied for the exceptions to hire library media specialists who do not currently meet the state’s certification requirements, which require specialists to either to have or be working toward a master’s degree.
“I am pleased [with] all seven schools that are on this list. They are actually putting people or have put people in place in those positions that are in the process of actually working toward their certification,” Carson said. “One of them is actually just waiting on the test.”
Although some schools asked for a three-year library media services waiver, which is often due to an inability to meet the expected number of library and media center hours, Carson requested that the board consolidate the waivers to one year only. The board unanimously approved the waiver for 65 school districts.
