(Article by Darian Alexander republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com)
“The best and brightest and good teachers do not want to indoctrinate kids; that goes against the very fabric of what it means to be a good teacher,” said Oklahoma Education Secretary Ryan Walters according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“If that’s what a teacher is trying to do, they’re not a good teacher,” he continued. “In the state of Oklahoma, we want teachers that are there to empower students, not indoctrinate them or brainwash them.”
Oklahoma’s ban on CRT comes from HB 1775, a law that explicitly bars educators from teaching that a certain race or sex is superior to that of another.
“Great teachers don’t try to indoctrinate kids,” Walters said of the legislation. “We passed the bill to ensure that if that’s your goal, if your goal is to indoctrinate kids, you need to find another job. Our goal as a state is to empower parents and their kids’ education and to equip and attract the best and brightest into the teaching profession.”
Boismier reportedly posted a QR code next to a sign reading “definitely don’t scan this,” according to KOKH. Upon being read, the QR code routes students to the Brooklyn Public Library’s program for “Books Unbanned,” which grants access to books that were previously banned via the state’s law against racist classroom practices.
The former teacher of the Normal Public Schools was suspended from her job after a parent had complained about her QR code. She apparently was offered the ability to return, but ultimately decided to part ways with the district.
“I will say that the district did offer me back my job, allowing me back in the classroom as of tomorrow morning,” Boismier said to KOKH. “However, there were some fundamental ideological differences between myself and district representatives that I just couldn’t get past. HB 1775 has created an impossible working environment for teachers and a devastating learning environment for students. For the second year in a row, students at Norman High will be without a certified English teacher for a substantial amount of time. The fault for that lies with Governor Stitt and Republican state leadership.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) emphatically threw their support behind Bosimier in a statement to KOKH.
“The chilling effect on classroom curricula in Oklahoma created by the vagueness in the language of HB1775 will continue to impact the integrity of Oklahoma’s education system for years to come,” the group explained. “Every young person should be able to read and learn about the history and viewpoints of all communities.”
State Governor Kevin Stitt’s communications director Carly Atchinson weighed in on the matter and told reporters that Oklahoma is not the state for teachers who want to promote the racism of CRT.
“Parents should not have to worry about their child being taught in K-12 that he or she is inherently racist or sexist, that he or she should be discriminated against because of his or her race or sex, that he or she bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex, that he or she is required to feel guilty about his or her race or sex, that hard work ethic is racist, or that one race or sex is superior or another race or sex, all of which are banned concepts under the law,” Atchinson said to the Daily Caller. “Educators who choose to resign because they ideologically oppose banning these racist and sexist concepts from the classroom have every right to do so and probably should.”
Read more at: BigLeaguePolitics.com