Is Ryan Walters the 'Music Man' of Oklahoma? He has failed on every level to be a leader
“Trouble, oh we got trouble, right here in River City!
"With a capital 'T' that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for POOL!"
The central figure in "The Music Man" is Harold Hill, a con man who convinces the naive townsfolk of River City that playing billiards is influencing their young boys into a life of immorality. Once he creates fervor in the community, he pitches the con of starting a band to divert the youths from a life of sin. Upon arranging for the purchase of expensive band uniforms and instruments, he plans to skip town.
Substitute porn for pool, and it looks like state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters is selling a con to Oklahomans. Walters claims our schools are filled with groomers, and libraries full of pornographic books being proffered to our kids by the woke boogeyman. Walters' sales pitch is a solution in search of a problem, which has little to do with getting our schools off rock-bottom status. Even worse, his rhetoric has harmed children, teachers, public schools and our state. Inappropriate books in Oklahoma school libraries is not even a top 10 problem for our bottom 10 schools.
What’s Walters selling? It’s pretty simple. He’s selling himself to right-wing extremists and unknowing voters in Oklahoma to gain further power on a national stage. His list of priorities are all about speaking engagements, television appearances and riling Oklahomans to promote his brand of politics. The recent news of the Oklahoma State Department of Education spending tax dollars for a consulting firm to garner national TV spots for Walters points to a much different set of priorities than Oklahomans should desire. Putting aside a laundry list of harmful things he’s done, Oklahomans deserve to know what is being done to make our schools a better place for students to learn and grow and a place where teachers feel appreciated.
In spite of having approval ratings lower than Joe Biden among Oklahomans, Walters appears to be emboldened by the 17% of our state who think he’s doing a good job. Based on his performance and approval ratings, Walters deserves to be removed from office, and seems quite vulnerable to much more serious legal problems. This list of questionable behavior and antics is getting longer by the week. Meanwhile, the state Education Department is in shambles, with almost every key staff member having resigned since Walters took over, little more than one year ago.
While Walters seems to see pornography everywhere he looks, there is no leadership to be found in his administration. Our school superintendents have made it clear he is not in communication with them, and is completely out of touch with what’s happening in our schools. In the absence of leadership, our public schools will soon perish. Walters has become the main attraction in this circus, when we should be focusing on how to get our schools back to top 20 status, as was the case just 12 years ago.
More: Legislators, remove Ryan Walters. End his toxic crusade against Oklahoma teachers
It's time for our Republican legislators to realize Ryan Walters is their problem. This affects all of us and will leave a mark on our state for many years to come. Common-sense conservatives need to speak up. Walters has failed on every level to be a leader. There is no strategic plan to help Oklahoma schools prosper, and his rhetoric is making Oklahoma look like a rather backward and unwelcoming place to live. Walters and the ultra-right extremist agenda of his and other legislators will take our state to a place we don’t want to go. Oklahoma will be excluded from many future opportunities, by virtue of having the worst schools, being the worst state for women and by being one of the least inclusive states on the map. Walters, and others like him, will be responsible for these looming problems.
This performance will not end well for Oklahoma. Our leaders need to act, and have good reason to do so. The only viable option is a change of leadership at the state Education Department. For Ryan Walters, the music must stop.
Drew Williamson, a private wealth adviser, is a lifelong Oklahoman and graduate of Noble Public Schools and Oklahoma City University. He is an advocate for public schools, as a substitute teacher and a former trustee for Teachers Retirement Systems of Oklahoma.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters a problem; Oklahoma education leadership change needed
