Oklahoma’s controversial state superintendent is beneath investigation after state Board of Schooling members alleged they noticed pictures of bare ladies on his workplace’s tv throughout a closed assembly final Thursday.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, the fiery Republican decide main one of many nation’s lowest-ranked training methods, was in the course of a gathering throughout an govt session of the Oklahoma State Board of Schooling when pictures of bare ladies allegedly popped up on his tv display, two board members informed The Oklahoman.
One of many board members stated she may barely consider what she was seeing.
“And I was like, ‘Those are naked women’. And then I was like, ‘No, wait a minute. Those aren’t naked, surely those aren’t naked women. Something is playing a trick on my eye. Maybe they just have on tan body suits. This is just really bizarre’,” board member Becky Carson informed the outlet.
“I saw them just walking across the screen, and I’m like, ‘No.’ I’m sorry I even have to use this language, but I’m like, ‘Those are her nipples.’ And then I’m like, ‘That’s pubic hair.’ What in the world am I watching? I didn’t watch a second longer. I was so disturbed by it, I was like, ‘What is on your TV?’ I was very stern, like I’d been a mother or a classroom teacher. And I said, ‘What am I watching? Turn it off now!’”
Ryan Deatherage, one other board member, added that Walters was sitting along with his again to the tv, so he wasn’t capable of see the alleged X-rated video within the second.
“I am in shock and I’m not wanting to distract them. I’m trying to listen. Quite frankly, I didn’t know how to handle it. I was just in shock. I was being human and I didn’t know what to think. I kept thinking that it was just going to go away and so I quit watching it,” Deatherage informed the outlet.
Carson wound up having to inform Walters concerning the lewd pictures lingering on the display behind him, which he then shut off with none rationalization or apology.
Walters later issued a press release Sunday denying all claims as “categorically false.”
“These falsehoods are the desperate tactics of a broken establishment afraid of real change. They aren’t just attacking me, they’re attacking the values of the Oklahomans who elected me to challenge the status quo. I will not be distracted. My focus remains on making Oklahoma the best state in the nation, in every category,” Walters stated.
Different members of the board informed the outlet that whereas they didn’t see the pictures themselves, Walters appeared “shook up” and “flustered or embarrassed” by no matter Carson identified.
Walters, a staunch conservative, has beforehand made nationwide headlines for his stances and insurance policies in Oklahoma faculties.
He repeatedly sought to implement strict guidelines about what’s permitted contained in the classroom, together with restrictions towards LGBTQ+ college students which have come beneath hearth from critics on the left.
On the identical time, he’s loosened prohibitions on the separation of church and state by requiring the Bible to be taught in public faculties as a “historical document.”
Deatherage and Carson stated Walters ought to maintain himself to the identical requirements he enforces on educators, noting that the board has “suspended teaching certificates for less than this.”
It’s unclear who might have been accountable for the racy pictures and why they had been bizarrely featured on the federal government workplace’s system.
The investigation into the incident is being led by the Workplace of Administration and Enterprise Providers.
