Criticism for Ryan Walters intensifies after 3 days of bomb threats at school in retweeted video

A Tulsa elementary school received bomb threats for a third consecutive day Thursday after an altered version of a librarian's back-to-school TikTok video was shared by a far-right TikTok account, Libs of TikTok. It was later retweeted by State Superintendent Ryan Walters with the promise to "stop" woke indoctrination in schools.

The continued threats against Ellen Ochoa Elementary School, which Tulsa police are investigating, have intensified criticism against Walters, whose polarizing rhetoric since entering office in January has raised concerns over the safety of teachers and students.

State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, tweeted Thursday: "And yet another bomb threat today in Tulsa. 3 days of threats based off of a doctored video of somebody being “woke” shared by RW. I once again call on the Republican leadership of the state to denounce the behavior/actions of Supt. Walters & his ilk, and end this. Now."

Another Democrat called for Walters to be impeached.

"Due to Ryan Walters' persistent weaponization of his office, three bomb threats have been made against an Elementary school, putting innocent lives at risk," Rep. Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City, tweeted. "I call upon @SpeakerMcCall and@Sen_GregTreat to immediately start the impeachment process and let us vote to remove Walters before irreversible harm is inflicted."

Walters' did not respond to requests for comment from The Oklahoman, but in a statement to KOKI-Fox 23 his office said:

“The issue here is the employees actions. That's why Supt. Walters commented on it. Supt. Walters will continue to do what voters elected him to do — hold schools and their employees accountable for educating young Oklahomans.”

More: 'Do not test me.' Ryan Walters demands quick improvement in Tulsa schools; accreditation approved

Walters under fire after retweeting video cited as cause of bomb threats

Kirby MacKenzie, an elementary school librarian in the Tulsa area, created the video that included a lip sync of a Ludacris song and text on the video images read "POV: Teachers in your state are dropping like flies but you are still just not quite finished pushing your woke agenda.”

The video's caption on TikTok read: "My radical liberal agenda is teaching kids to love books and be kind."

That original caption was cut out of an altered version shared by Libs of TikTok Monday.

More: Ryan Walters under fire after retweeting video cited as cause for school bomb threat

The next morning, Tulsa police responded to Ellen Ochoa Elementary just before 9 a.m. after bomb threats against the school were emailed to Tulsa media outlets.

Outlets reported they received an earlier email Tuesday from a sender disguised as 'Made John.'

“The innocence of children is sacred," the email said, "that is a fact that has been known for the entirety of human history and the end of civilizations such as in ancient Rome are often marked by normalization pedophilia and child abuse. I’m not going to stand by as you (expletive)  continue to indoctrinate and prey upon our children. This is why we placed a bomb in the school. You will evacuate the building so nobody dies.”

Police searched the campus with bomb-sniffing K-9s, news outlets reported, and the all-clear came shortly after so classes could begin at 10:30 a.m.

About the same time the threat was made, Walters retweeted the post on Tuesday to his superintendent account, with the caption stating "Woke ideology is real and I am here to stop it."

In an email shared with news outlets, the threat made against Ellen Ochoa Elementary School in Tulsa appeared to be in retaliation against MacKenzie’s public TikTok post.

News station KFOR reported it received an email Wednesday from a sender disguised as ‘Yesyy.’

“We placed a bomb at Ellen Ochoa Elementary,” the author wrote. “You will stop pushing this woke ideology or we will bomb every school in the union district.”

Critics blame incendiary rhetoric, call for impeachment

Though many replies on Walter's tweet shared support for him and his policies, most replies voiced frustration with Walters for taking a school employee's joke too seriously, or as a deflection from other education issues in the news.

Some blamed Walters directly for the bomb threats.

State Rep. Monroe Nichols D-Tulsa tweeted:

"This started with Ryan Walters calling (Oklahoma Education Association) @okea a terrorist organization. Now his words are radicalizing individuals and endangering children. Threats of domestic terrorism have no place anywhere, especially in Oklahoma. The dangers of extremism are real. It must be stopped."

Former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters tweeted:

“When threats of violence turn into physical harm to children and teachers, will Oklahoma’s leaders with the authority to remove him from office or prosecute him continue to sit on their hands?”

Meanwhile in Tulsa, students, parents and educators at Ellen Ochoa Elementary School dealt with the bomb threats as the furor over Walters’ tweet swirled.

John Federline, deputy superintendent of Union Public Schools said Thursday the situation is “unprecedented” in the school district.

The district has been in constant communication with local police, Federline said.

The district has not issued lockdown orders but instead has a “shelter in place” policy during which police conduct sweeps for bombs, he said.

Students have not been sent home, Federline said.

“We tell parents we’ve received the threat and they have the right to pick them up if they want,” Federline said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Criticism of Ryan Walters grows after 3 days of bomb threats at school