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

Cheyenne Derksen, The Oklahoman
·3 min read
2
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks about reading proficiency in Tulsa public schools during an Aug. 7 news conference about Tulsa Public Schools' accreditation at the Tulsa County Republican Party HQ.
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks about reading proficiency in Tulsa public schools during an Aug. 7 news conference about Tulsa Public Schools' accreditation at the Tulsa County Republican Party HQ.
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Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters is under fire for sharing a video after it appeared to have sparked a bomb threat against an Oklahoma elementary school.

In an email shared with news outlets, the threat made against Ellen Ochoa Elementary School in Tulsa on Aug. 22 appeared to be in retaliation of a librarian's public post on TikTok.

In the 16-second video posted this week, the librarian enters a classroom with books in her hand and laughs along in a lip sync of a Ludacris song. The caption on the video says, “POV: Teachers in your state are dropping like flies but you are still just not quite finished pushing your woke agenda.”

Far-right account Libs of Tiktok shared a stitched version of the librarian's TikTok on Monday, Aug. 21, where a screenshot of the woman's name and photo was added.

On Tuesday, Aug. 22, Tulsa police responded to Ellen Ochoa Elementary just before 9 a.m. after bomb threats against the school were emailed to Tulsa media outlets. 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 Tuesday to his superintendent account, with the caption stating "Woke ideology is real and I am here to stop it."

Teacher in original video has appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' show

The teacher who created the first video is Kirby MacKenzie, an elementary school librarian in the Tulsa area. She is also the assistant director of Gaining Ground, a grassroots literacy nonprofit created to support children living in economically disadvantaged areas.

In 2014, MacKenzie received a bookmobile and $25,000 from Ellen DeGeneres to support her efforts in giving students access to books in the summer. She also received her school's teacher of the year award in 2014.

In the caption of the original TikTok, MacKenzie writes, "My radical liberal agenda is teaching kids to love books and be kind."

More: Ryan Walters labels Oklahoma librarian's video an example of 'woke agenda' in Twitter firestorm

How did people on Twitter react?

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.

One user replied "It's a joke, y'all need to lighten up" while another pointed out that the TikTok creator isn't the children's book villain, "the Librarian from the Black Lagoon."

Some pointed out that by retweeting the video, the librarian's original caption about teaching children to love books and be kind was cut out.

Another user replied with a statement Walters wrote in a column appearing in The Oklahoman: "'Oklahoma should lead the nation in supporting our teachers. Our teachers need to feel respected, valued and cared for, and my administration will continue to do everything it can to ensure that happens.' -Ryan Walters (you)"

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters under fire after Libs of TikTok video tied to bomb threat