Playground insults shouldn't win arguments; Walters needs to go

I support Mid-Del Schools Superintendent Rick Cobb in standing up for the district's use of federal funding to maintain operation and continuity of services for students. As reported in The Oklahoman on Jan. 25, Superintendent Cobb dissected in detail the blatant slander state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters hurled at the district in response to being questioned by a legislator about slow release of federal funding. Mr. Cobb was detailed and professional in his protest and ended it with a justified defense of all Mid-Del employees.

In response, Ryan Walters actually called him a liar. It still boggles my mind that grown men and wannabe "leaders" win arguments with playground insults. Get ready, his next response will be, "I know you are, but what am I?" Please Oklahoma, whatever it takes, we need to remove Ryan Walters from any public position.

— Lori Mitchell, Midwest City

Blame on both sides of mistake?

It sounds like there is blame to go around to each side of this situation. I can agree that the state did not do their due diligence in qualifying the correct teachers that would receive the bonuses, however, the teachers that received these bonuses knew the rules and should have checked the legitimacy of the payments before spending the money. The Education Department may have been wrong for not checking teachers' credentials, however, maybe these teachers cannot be trusted for accepting monies that they should know are suspect. I know when the IRS makes a stupid mistake like this, they do not forgive you for taking and spending the money.

— Gene McElvaney, Bethany

Walters once again passing blame

Not that long ago, hundreds of thousands of dollars were given to parents during the COVID school shutdown to cover “educational expenses.” Too many of those dollars were spent for TVs, outdoor grills, etc. and other items clearly having nothing to do with education. But it was not the fault of our state Department of Education, to hear Walters tell it. He passed the buck to another entity.

Teachers have been given bonuses to which they are now told they were not entitled and asked to repay the money. Apparently the bonus program confused many local school officials (and Education Department officials!), and the teachers found it difficult to communicate with the department. When is the state Education Department going to take responsibility for its actions, its expenditures and budget, and essentially get its act together?

Walters is again blaming someone else for problems in his department; this time it is the media and the press for publicizing the teacher bonus situation. I don’t quite follow this; it seems to me that the confusion is caused by mistakes by those in charge of the program.

— J.A. Robison, Edmond

Everyone deserves own opinion, 'just be kind and not hateful'

I can see the point clearly. Our culture has become a complaining culture. We find fault in everything and say so. Many of the political leaders, starting with Trump, have brought forward an aggressive, bullying attitude which many Americans like. So, they join in on the aggressive, bullying language wherever they can post it. We have gotten away from accepting that everyone has an opinion and should be considered. But the aggressive-bullying attitude is critical and cruel and from what I have read and herd, low IQ.

We should have the grace to discuss any difference without being cruel, but it appears to always “be right” has moved our culture to simply be adversarial.

I saw this coming with the arrival of Trump and the MAGA movement, to be aggressive, hateful and, in my opinion, wrong.

Fear has caused our culture to push their agendas at any cost, especially in the political arena.

I think people can disagree with being hateful, unfortunately, our “One Nation Under God” has moved away, at this time, from that.

Everyone deserves their opinion, just be kind and not hateful.

— Sam Bass, Yukon

State leaders need DEI training

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are dirty words in Oklahoma. That’s because our Republican leadership prefer the opposites: sameness, unfairness and discrimination. These are the same people who refused to wear a mask to protect their community from a deadly disease. They exalt their “rights” above all else while chiseling away at our rights: women’s right of jurisdiction over their own bodies, our right to know the truth of our own history and our right to express who we really are.

Heaven forbid we should celebrate our diversity. Instead, our leaders want to shine a light on their myths, their religion and their beliefs. They operate like colonists, believing they know best, imposing their “way” on everybody. If we are not allowed to study history, we never learn about the damage this attitude has done. They keep a lid on the truth out of fear, fear of losing control over power and the narrative. In doing so, they prevent Oklahomans from reaching their potential and being able to flourish. Nobody in this state needs DEI training more than the leaders of Oklahoma.

— Maureen Harvey, Choctaw

More conversations

Reader calls for Justin Humphrey to resign as state representative

I am deeply concerned by Rep. Justin Humphrey's proposed House Bill 3133, which explicitly calls for Hispanic gang members to be classified as terrorists. While he has stated he intends to amend the language, in interviews with the news media he has doubled-down on the intention for this legislation to target Hispanics. He has thinly veiled this attempt by swapping the term “Hispanic” with “undocumented,” while publicly insisting his target remains the same. As initially filed, his proposed legislation was explicitly racist and the intent behind it has not changed.

After receiving blowback from his own constituents, he apologized — which he immediately undercuts by insisting on his unwavering commitment to the initial proposal. This proposed legislation (along with his Furry Bill) has brought national attention to this state — for all the wrong reasons. Rep. Humphrey should right this wrong by resigning.

Both our state and our nation have a painful history of race relations. The protections against the worst atrocities of our past are only made possible by a commitment to the principle of equal protection under the law. This is why both our state and federal constitutions prevent legislation from being motivated by racial animus; whether it is overt or disguised. Rep. Humphrey’s stated goal is to target Hispanics. If successful, his efforts would be a regression to a darker point in history.

In sum, Rep. Humphrey’s conduct is unbefitting for an Oklahoma representative. His own constituents recognize it, communities throughout Oklahoma recognize it; this incident has embarrassed the state of Oklahoma. History has shown the consequences of racist legislation disguised by euphemism. Rep. Humphrey is similarly attempting to pass off his explicitly racially motivated legislation with altered wording.

— Mariano Gonzalez, Oklahoma City

Poor political etiquette

What has happened to etiquette in Oklahoma? Political etiquette, to be more direct. As a Baby Boomer, I am embarrassed constantly over the antics of our obviously immature and arrogant state superintendent of public instruction. Time and again, he shoots off his mouth in official meetings of the state Board of Education, calling people names, attacking their character and trying to paint himself as the only one with a clue as to what is going on in education in the state of Oklahoma.

This week, Mr. Ryan Walters called Mid-Del Superintendent Rick Cobb a liar. Walters has a tendency to call people names and make claims as to events he says happened, later to be proved false. Only a little less rude, our governor seems to be unaware of the importance of the sovereign Indigenous nations within the state. The contributions of the tribes are incalculable to the present levels of health care and education, among other things in Oklahoma. It seems that the governor can't insult, overlook or disregard the tribes enough, even though he claims membership in the Cherokee tribe.

My point in all of this is, what is going on in Oklahoma? Why the friction between young bucks in politics and the established leaders of the state?

One thought keeps coming to mind while trying to understand what is happening; and this was a hard personal lesson for me to learn. Never assume that something that is being done "the way we have always done it" is totally foolish. The fact is that everything is done the way it is done for a reason. Find out what that reason is before you mess with it. Many monumental mistakes have been made assuming somebody didn't know what they were doing.

Let's go back to being polite, considerate, willing to see the other person's side. Let's stop political feuding, gamesmanship and hyperbole. It's time we taxpayers got our votes' worth from those who should be public servants instead of public spectacles.

— Jim Kettler, Edmond

Education administrative rules belong in place of worship not as administrative policy

A number of proposed new administrative rules and rule changes for the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) are currently open for public comment.

One of the new proposed rules is 210:1-1-1: Declaration of Foundational Values. It states that “Truth, goodness, and beauty are objective moral virtues … whose ultimate author is our Creator.” It goes on to say, “Good and evil are real and universal rather than relativistic concepts.” Finally, it states that when this new rule goes into effect, “The State Department of Education is hereby directed to use its full authority to propose rules, maintain standards, and ensure accountability and transparency in such a way that most fully upholds and protects” these proclaimed values.

This suggests that state agency bureaucrats would define truth, goodness and beauty. (So much for beauty being in the eye of the beholder!) While the proposed rule declares that they are “objective” concepts, it would empower OSDE to base public education policy on their own biased definitions of truth, goodness and beauty, framed in terms of good vs. evil, and to evaluate schools accordingly.

This language belongs in a house of worship or in a Philosophy 101 class debate. It does not belong in administrative rules governing state education policy.

I encourage Oklahoma taxpayers to submit their public comments on this and other OSDE rules that are pending the approval process. Details are available on their website.

— Kevin Acers, Oklahoma City

Bill would limit voting methods

I am writing about the recent article about state Sen. Julie Daniels' bill to prohibit ranked choice voting in any Oklahoma elections. As a university mathematics professor, I would like to offer some helpful insight into what mathematics has to say about voting methods.

Mathematicians have been studying voting methods for at least the past three centuries. In that time, several voting methods have been proposed. They all attempt to deal with the difficulties presented by an election with three or more candidates. For an election with two candidates, it can be shown that majority rule produces an undisputed winner. However, with three or more candidates, it is possible for no candidate to earn a majority of votes. What can be done in that case?

In Oklahoma primary and statewide elections, we sometimes have runoff elections that pit the top two candidates against each other. This system has desirable properties, but it has flaws, too. In fact, no voting method is perfect. This is essentially what Kenneth Arrow proved in 1950. What is now known as Arrow's Theorem says that for an election with three or more candidates, no voting method has all of the desirable properties that one would want a voting method to possess.

The way that I (and many others) prefer to interpret Arrow's Theorem is that one should choose a voting method based on one's value judgment about the properties that are most desirable for a voting method to possess. This is dependent on the context. As both its supporters and critics admit, ranked choice voting has both strengths and weaknesses. However, its strengths may make it superior to other voting methods for elections in some jurisdictions.

If Sen. Daniels' bill becomes a law, then voters in those jurisdictions will not be able to use a voting method that is best for their elections. That would be a decidedly undemocratic outcome.

― Nicholas Zoller, Oklahoma City

The state where education goes to die?

I am writing this letter to address the complete lack of regard our state seems to have for education. It’s a systematic issue that starts at the top with Gov. Kevin Stitt and state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters. It seems as if our elected officials are more concerned with “owning the liberals” and creating faux outrage than with putting in the hours and the work that our state needs to improve from the downright embarrassing rank of #48 in the nation in education.

Not only are our teachers severely underpaid, but many public schools have been forced to go to a four-day-a-week schedule because they cannot keep the doors open due to funding issues. Meanwhile, the politicians brag about turning down grants and federal dollars that we as Oklahomans pay taxes for and deserve access to. Governor Stitt has touted vouchers that only benefit private schools and bragged about tax credits that, again, only benefit those who can afford to send their children to those private schools. But what about our public schools, the schools that the state is supposed to be looking out for?

As I am writing this, the Velma-Alma school board has released a calendar for the 2023-24 school year that includes only four days of in-person education with one day set aside for “virtual learning” each and every week. The immediate uproar on social media has been loud and vehement and yet, in today’s State Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Raymond Rice stated that an overwhelming 98% of parents approved of the schedule.

I wonder where he got that number considering no parents that I know of were asked in advance about the change prior to the release of the calendar.

If the year of COVID school closing taught us anything, wasn’t it that our children do not learn as much in virtual settings? A 2022 study on the matter showed students scored worse in mathematics and English after a year of virtual learning versus those who were taught in-classroom. This doesn’t even take into account the special needs students who already require extra attention, extra time and extra care. And yet, we continue to hear the narrative that flexibility and technology are the future of learning?

No. This isn’t about the good of the kids. This is about money, and so I pose these questions to the community.

Will teachers be taking a pay cut to adjust for the day they are not teaching? I highly doubt it since they’re already severely underpaid in Oklahoma as it is. What about parents who work full-time? Will they be receiving compensation for the lost hours they’ll have at their jobs or supplemental credits for the help they’ll need to hire to watch their children on those virtual days? What about the children who don’t have reliable access to the internet or even a home computer?

The only answer I can come up with is that nobody making this decision thought to ask these questions before revising the school schedule. They looked at the bottom line, a spreadsheet with dollar signs on it, and voted it through. And we, the public who entrust our children to this school system, are just supposed to accept that despite our own jobs and lack of teaching certificates that we are supposed to fulfill the unpaid role of teacher as well.

This community is in trouble if that is the case. This state is in trouble. And I must say, this country is in trouble if we continue to provide such poor resources to educate and empower our youth.

— Jess Bryant (on behalf of a collective of very concerned citizens), Velma

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Letters on Ryan Walters, teacher bonuses, being kind, Rep. Humphrey