State BOE suspends, but doesn't revoke, license of former teacher who pushed back on critical race theory law
The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted unanimously to suspend Summer Boismier’s teaching license Thursday, but did not revoke it, the latest move in a two-year fight between the former Norman High School teacher and state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters.
The board voted for the license suspension even though an assistant attorney general, during a hearing last June about the issue, ruled the Oklahoma State Department of Education “failed to prove” Boismier had violated any state law.
The state board twice voted against Boismier on Thursday. The first time came after the board emerged from an executive session and voted unanimously to deny Boismier's request that state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters be disqualified from both prosecuting the matter and then voting. Walters cast one of the six votes against the disqualification request.
The board then went back into executive session for 3 1/2 hours, then voted again on the order to suspend her license and hold a revocation hearing next month. The board essentially rejected the assistant attorney general's findings and ordered its contracted attorney, Cara Nicklas, "to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law based exclusively on evidence presented during the course of the hearing or previously filed briefs of the testimony of witnesses taken under oath that reflect a decision to revoke the teacher certificate" of Boismier. Walters has claimed that Boismier violated a code of conduct for teachers.
Nicklas, who was not present at Boismier's hearing last June, "will be directed to present findings of fact and conclusions of law at the next board meeting," scheduled for July 25, according to the motion approved unanimously by the board.
Why the board was considering revoking Summer Boismier's license to teach
Boismier has faced a revocation hearing for almost two years. In 2022, Walters said Boismier was attempting to indoctrinate students with a “liberal political agenda" and called for her teaching license be permanently revoked.
Walters took the action because Boismier pushed back against House Bill 1775, a controversial state law that targeted the teaching of critical race theory. In 2022 Boismier covered the bookshelves in her classroom with red butcher paper.
She added a sign that read, "books the state doesn't want you to read” and posted a QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library, which gave students online access to a wide variety of books, including many questioned by school authorities. Although Boismier did not endorse any particular book, Walters and others said some of the books in the library catalog contained explicit sexual content and racist concepts.
More: Oklahoma school officials 'failed to prove' teacher violated state law in hearing Wednesday
Walters said Thursday that Boismier "admittedly was breaking state law to push inappropriate material on kids. We have heard from parents all over the state — they do not want activist teachers in classrooms. I believe it is of the utmost importance that we continue to protect our kids from indoctrination and that we show all parents that the actions of this individual do not align with Oklahoma values and this board will continue to uphold state law and state statute."
Boismier resigned from Norman High School in August 2022 and now works for Brooklyn Public Library in New York. She did not attend Thursday's Oklahoma board meeting.
Case likely to play out in court, Boismier's attorney says
Thursday, following the vote, Boismier issued a short statement, saying the outcome of this board's vote sends yet another chilling message to teachers, students, and the entire state of Oklahoma.
"Regardless, I will continue to defend the freedom to read and thus the freedom to be, because free expression should be accessible to all. And all means everyone," Boismier said. "The Board’s action today means that this fight for free expression will soon move to the courts, where I am confident our rights will be restored and the Board’s wrongs rectified. Unfortunately, the cost will be borne not just by me but by all Oklahomans through further waste of taxpayer money and a worsening of the notoriety state leadership has earned for its ongoing hostility to educators and education, a reputation that is eradicating opportunity for generations to come."
Boismier’s attorney, Brady Henderson, said the vote to suspend Boismier's license was expected.
“We anticipated just such a move,” Henderson said. “The next step is district court. There's nothing surprising here. There never was anything beyond a political statement. We've expected to be in court."
Henderson said more than a year after Boismier prevailed in her administrative hearing, the state continues to try and take her teaching license.
"Her accuser failed to prove that she had broken any law (and) a group of political appointees chose to disregard that result and use their power to make a second attempt to revoke Boismier’s teaching certificate regardless of there being no legitimate factual or legal basis for doing so," Henderson said. "The State Department of Education currently has a fox in charge of the henhouse, and we should not be surprised that Oklahoma’s educational system remains in a comically tragic freefall as a result."
Last year, Boismier sued Walters in federal court. In her lawsuit, she said posts published by Walters on his public accounts on X ― formerly Twitter ― when he served as Gov. Kevin Stitt’s secretary of education, contained “false and misleading statements,” including the statement that Boismier had been fired from Norman Public Schools, that she had distributed pornography to students and that she had “sexualized her classroom.”
In April, a federal judge denied a request by Walters to dismiss the defamation lawsuit. That ruling, by U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Jones, means the case can move forward.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma board suspends Summer Boismier's teaching license
