Opinion: Oklahoma educators want to teach without fear. That isn't possible under HB 1775.

My gramps wasn’t considered a citizen of the United States until he was 4 ― which is about the time he was taken from his family and put in a boarding school to “kill the Indian and save the man.” In spite of having been taken from his family and deprived of his culture, he believed in the American Dream enough to change his birth certificate so that he could enlist in the military and be placed on the frontlines.

I had the privilege of growing up in Oklahoma with amazing public school teachers who continue to influence me every day. I never learned about the Choctaw people ― nothing outside of the Trail of Tears and that my people were “civilized.” I did not learn that the 19th amendment didn't actually mean all women could vote. The history I learned was quite Eurocentric, and my teachers were, too. I share this because it informs my belief system, my love for public schools and some concerning realities of my experience.

Public schools have long been supported in Oklahoma, and Oklahomans love our educators. We trust our children with them, we serve in civic organizations with them and we go to church with them. We know that teachers and support staff in schools are overworked and underappreciated. We know they’d give the shirts off their backs to students in need, and we know they’d lay down their lives if it meant saving the life of a student. Teachers, while mere humans, are often called upon to be heroes, and today they need our support.

While there are many ways in which the public school system has fallen short, and even failed children — both as individuals and as groups — those in education have intentionally worked to correct those mistakes and shortcomings. Every educator I know would tell you they never have a perfect day but are determined to be better each day. For every student. Part of this means sharing accurate accounts of history and opportunities for students to see themselves in the people who surround them each day.

House Bill 1775 became law in spring 2021 and resulted in two public schools receiving downgrades to their accreditation in July 2022. In the instance of Tulsa Public Schools, training on implicit bias was reported as offensive by one teacher. This training was provided to fulfill an accreditation requirement of the Oklahoma State Department of Education under the topic of Racial and Ethnic Education (OAC 210:20-19-2). (It is relevant to note that the Education Department found no concerns with the slides presented during the training but took issue with the accompanying words — and those spoken words were nothing other than a verbatim reading of the slides.)

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Educators tend to be lifelong learners who want to better understand the needs of their students and the realities of how they can improve their teaching and classroom management strategies in ways that help all kids. New information might make a teacher feel uncomfortable while they deal with the implications of their own behaviors and how those behaviors may have contributed to outcomes for students because students are always front of mind. HB 1775 attempts to legislate feelings about those facts and how people choose to internalize and deal with them. Our teachers want and deserve to be respected as the professionals they are and not live in fear of sharing a fact that might offend. In this time of historic teacher shortages, let’s come together and tell our public school teachers we support them — and not the subjective enforcement of rules that so easily can become weapons.

Stacey Woolley is the mom of five, a speech-language pathologist and dyslexia specialist who has served as president of the Board of Education for Tulsa Public Schools for the past two years.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Opinion: Under HB 1775, educators can't teach without fear