Yesterday, Oklahoma State Secretary of Education Ryan Walters asked the Oklahoma State Board of Education to revoke the teaching license of Summer Boismier, who was recently fired from Norman Public Schools for sharing with her students a link to the Brooklyn Public Library (which has recently made access to their digital collection free to teens across the US as a way to help mute the impact of various book-banning efforts at public school libraries). Here's a copy of his letter:
Even if I'm not impressed with the substance of his letter, the structure of it is pretty nice--worthy of emulation, even. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to use only slanted language without any argument or explanation or clarification, so I couldn't get myself to follow the form of the letter exactly. Even so, I was able to get pretty close. Here is the result.
Oklahoma Voters:
In light of recent events leading to the subsequent firing of Norman High School English Teach Summer Boismier, I am asking the voters of Oklahoma to revoke Ryan Walters’ capacity to further damage public schools and undermine the quality of education in Oklahoma. There is no place for a politician with a radical anti-education political agenda in any political leadership position in Oklahoma, let alone in such positions as Secretary of Education or Superintendent of Public Schools (Walters currently holds the former appointed position and is running for the latter).
Ms. Boismier providing the link to a collection of books in the Brooklyn Public Library system, available free to all teens, is evidence of a good teacher's interest in expanding young minds through access to quality books. Ryan Walters representing this act as a case of “providing access to banned and pornographic material to students” is an unacceptable misrepresentation, and his call to have Ms. Boismier’s teaching certification revoked is evidence that he cares more about using his power to deprive students of access to ideas that don’t conform to his narrow ideology, while instilling a culture of fear among teachers, than about the quality of education in Oklahoma. These actions must be dealt with swiftly and with respect to all our kids and parents.
Teachers are one of our state’s greatest assets and it is unfortunate that one of our state leaders overseeing education would use his power in draconian ways to pursue an extreme agenda, causing quality teachers to be fired and driving others out of the profession at a time when we are experiencing an unprecedented teacher shortage. This type of behavior will not be tolerated in Oklahoma and I speak for students, teachers, parents, and concerned citizens across the state who are demanding swift and immediate action.
Eric Reitan
