Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters in prayer
Ryan Walters, the embattled superintendent of schools in Oklahoma, has ordered school districts across the state to show a video of him praying for president-elect Donald Trump.
The unorthodox and highly political mandate from Walters, who is facing a recall effort in the state, has met firm resistance from local school administrators, who received the video and accompanying order on Thursday.
Related:
At least seven large Oklahoma school districts said Friday they have no intention of showing the video, in which Walters discusses the goals of his new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism and ends with a prayer for the former and future president.
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
The highly partisan message directed at children blames the “radical left” for attacking religious liberty in schools and claims teacher unions have mocked patriotism.
“We will not tolerate that in any school in Oklahoma,” Walters says in the video. “We want our students to be patriotic. We want our students to love this country, and we want all students’ religious liberty to be protected.”
Walters ends the minute and a half video with a prayer for former President Trump.
“Dear God, thank you for all the blessings you’ve given our country. I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country,” Walters says.
Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald notified parents in her district on Friday that she will not interrupt her schools’ locally decided curriculum with Walters’ video.
Her district will continue “to teach the Oklahoma state standard and curriculum approved by our local school board that we have always taught. Any changes to that would be based on local decisions.”
“Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously ruled that we have the authority to make these decisions at the local level and we will continue to do so,” Grunewald wrote.
Midwest City-Del City Public Schools Superintendent Rick Cobb won’t show the video either, he told the Oklahoma Voice.
“We have seen the email and video sent yesterday by Superintendent Walters,” Cobb said on Friday. “We do not believe he has the statutory authority to require us to share this content.”
The Oklahoma attorney general backed up that claim with an opinion issued Friday.
“Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights,” Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Phil Bacharach said in a statement.
Newly sworn-in Democratic state Sen. Mark Mann of Oklahoma City, a former member of the Board of Education there, encouraged other districts to follow suit, The Oklahoman reported.
“When Oklahoma needs to make gains in reading and math scores, the last thing we need to be doing is pushing the superintendent’s blatant, self-serving political agenda,” Mann said.
Walter’s unenforceable order accompanies the Christian nationalist’s crusade to distribute 55,000 Bibles to Oklahoma schools. He posted a video the same day his prayer message went out, celebrating the first installment of 500 Bibles arriving in AP Government classrooms.
Walters’ budget request was tailored to one particular version of the Scripture: the so-called “Trump Bible,” which bundles the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution with the Old and New Testaments into a single Christian nationalist text. The initial purchase earned the incoming president $25,000.
Walters’ name has been floated as a possible secretary of education in Trump’s second-term Cabinet. Both men have called for the U.S. Department of Education to be abolished.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.
