Ryan Walters calls for Ten Commandments in every classroom, promotion of 'Western culture'

[Polds4OSU]

Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters called for a series of steps Thursday to promote Christianity and “Western heritage” in every classroom, including a display of the Ten Commandments.

Walters discussed recommendations from a group calling itself the Oklahoma Advisory Council on Founding Principles during Thursday’s state Board of Education meeting. The council offered three recommendations, which Walters endorsed:

• Hold a minute of silence at the beginning of the school day with the following announcement: “We now pause for a minute of silence in which students and teachers may use this minute to reflect, meditate, pray or engage in any other silent activity.”
• Display a “durable poster or framed copy” of the Ten Commandments in each public school classroom.
• Require a “Western civilization” course for graduation “to strengthen the heritage which was integral to the nation’s founding and its western culture, as well as to foster gratitude and informed citizenship.”

Oklahoma schools already hold a moment of silence to start the day but the other recommendations are not currently required.

Walters said he would explore options for implementing the two additional recommendations but did not provide any details.

"We will be coming back soon with actions around the other recommendations," Walters said after the meeting. "We are looking at all options."

More:State Board of Education meetings have become theater of political conflict

Ryan Walters said liberals are trying to destroy religion​

Walters said the promotion of faith in classrooms was a way to restore morality and combat his political opponents.

“The current national left-wing indoctrination is attempting to destroy religion as a way to destroy our entire country,” Walters, a Republican, said during Thursday's meeting.

The Oklahoma Advisory Council on Founding Principles sent Walters its recommendations in a Feb. 14, 2023 letter, which included a masthead that said “God in Public Schools,” and asked the superintendent to “take every action possible to allow corporate prayer and expressions of faith in God back in our public school system.”


Walters said the council was independent of the state Department of Education but he asked them to make recommendations.

The 11-member committee includes Jackson Lahmeyer, a Tulsa pastor who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate last year and launched an organization called "Pastors for Trump." Other committee members include Stephen Hamilton, Michelin Butler-Lopez, Derwin Romani, Masood Abdul-Haqq, Wade Burleson, Howard Hatcher, Aiya Kelley, Bob Linn, Jesse Leon Rodgers and Silvie Tacker.

 

[Stillwater Townie]

Walters is WRONG! It's against the Oklahoma Constitution to post the Ten Commandants in every public-school classroom. Let the churches worry about posting the Ten Commandments in their Sunday School classrooms, if they want. Who knows how many churches don't see fit to do that, though? The state certainly shouldn't have to account for the churches that don't do it.

Needed far more is a law to require posting the Bill of Rights in every public-school classroom. All ten are still highly relevant. They also need posted in the Oklahoma State Capitol, considering how often unconstitutional bills are passed in there.

 

[Well]

Needed far more is a law to require posting the Bill of Rights in every public-school classroom.

I'm kinda in agreement with this. But if you do this, then also post the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence,

 

[Backin82]

I can see this ending poorly for most everyone involved for a variety of reasons. Imagine a state instituting equivalent passages from the Quran...

Isn't this also a clear violation of the Constitution, or is there some way they skirt around the 1st amendment?

 

[Pokey]

I can see this ending poorly for most everyone involved for a variety of reasons. Imagine a state instituting equivalent passages from the Quran...

Isn't this also a clear violation of the Constitution, or is there some way they skirt around the 1st amendment?

They know it’s unconstitutional, but scores points with the crazies. Problem is every year we pay millions fighting in court for things we’ll lose in the end. One would think we’d vote these people out, but alas, we’re the reddest of the red.

 

[Stillwater Townie]

They know it’s unconstitutional, but scores points with the crazies. Problem is every year we pay millions fighting in court for things we’ll lose in the end. One would think we’d vote these people out, but alas, we’re the reddest of the red.

Surely their legal strategy is to take the religious right for the government to post the Ten Commandments in public schools all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, along with the religious right to fund the establishment of religious schools with tax dollars. They hope the Supreme Court will rule that the passage in the Oklahoma constitution that forbids the state from supporting religious things is against the U. S. Constitution. They probably think the first part of the 1st Amendment somehow gives them adequate interpretive head room to justify a lot of religious stuff on public property, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Just needed is a far enough Christian Right Supreme Court who agrees.

Interesting that it seems that no church wanted to take possession of the Ten Commandments monument when it had to be removed from outside the Oklahoma State Capitol. Instead, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank, took it to display on their lawn. Maybe no church wanted the monument because commandment #2 reads in part, “You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth".

 

[Polds4OSU]

Surely their legal strategy is to take the religious right for the government to post the Ten Commandments in public schools all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, along with the religious right to fund the establishment of religious schools with tax dollars. They hope the Supreme Court will rule that the passage in the Oklahoma constitution that forbids the state from supporting religious things is against the U. S. Constitution. They probably think the first part of the 1st Amendment somehow gives them adequate interpretive head room to justify a lot of religious stuff on public property, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Just needed is a far enough Christian Right Supreme Court who agrees.

Interesting that it seems that no church wanted to take possession of the Ten Commandments monument when it had to be removed from outside the Oklahoma State Capitol. Instead, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank, took it to display on their lawn. Maybe no church wanted the monument because commandment #2 reads in part, “You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth".

yet they want to bash and complain and demand that people of Jewish or Muslim faith Never interject their religion into any Govt or lawmaking.

 

[Polds4OSU]

Meanwhile in Texas…

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[andylicious]

Meanwhile in Texas…

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He's not wrong.

 

[Polds4OSU]

He's not wrong.

I agree

 

[PF5]

too bad the state supt of ed doesn't focus on fixing education failures in okie land (are we still 49th?) spending per student (47th?) teacher pay (although they about to get paid...ha) at least we have too many administrators and too many school districts...no, we're worried about the 10 commandments and liberal grooming of children (question, if teachers could groom kids, wouldn't they groom them to respect, study, read, etc??)

 

[PF5]

Protecting Students from Leftist Social Experiments by Upholding the Law youtube

attaboy Ryan, show this video to take attention away from OK State Auditor Byrd's report of government malfeasance.
Was this video released as a distraction from the continual reports of OK state government corruption and incompetence?


Audit shows Oklahoma likely misspent millions in federal relief funds apnews
‘More of a systemic problem’: State audit claims millions in federal funds misspent kfor

 

[JTOSU]

Protecting Students from Leftist Social Experiments by Upholding the Law youtube

attaboy Ryan, show this video to take attention away from OK State Auditor Byrd's report of government malfeasance.
Was this video released as a distraction from the continual reports of OK state government corruption and incompetence?
I have a good friend who works at the school in video and they said this video is a propagandistic misrepresentation of what transpired.

Audit shows Oklahoma likely misspent millions in federal relief funds apnews
‘More of a systemic problem’: State audit claims millions in federal funds misspent kfor

What did transpire? Dr. Angela Grunewald (Edmond Superintendent) sent out a 4 minute video back in December about the incident and what she describes seems consistent with what the other video listed.

 

[PF5]

What did transpire? Dr. Angela Grunewald (Edmond Superintendent) sent out a 4 minute video back in December about the incident and what she describes seems consistent with what the other video listed.

ummmm, don't know...probably should not have put that part in (I'll take it out)...I have read that the school district did not know the one was a transgender, they 'assumed' female...for the record, if my daughter were attacked in a bathroom in similar incident I would be quite upset...side note: do schools have hall monitors that 'monitor' the bathrooms? I'm sure most schools have cameras, right? (outside of bathrooms)...I put this on, just because the timing seems convenient to take heat off of himself...that's all...

 

[PF5]

 

[andylicious]

ummmm, don't know...probably should not have put that part in (I'll take it out)...I have read that the school district did not know the one was a transgender, they 'assumed' female...for the record, if my daughter were attacked in a bathroom in similar incident I would be quite upset...side note: do schools have hall monitors that 'monitor' the bathrooms? I'm sure most schools have cameras, right? (outside of bathrooms)...I put this on, just because the timing seems convenient to take heat off of himself...that's all...

You can't really put an employee in the restroom, they will get accused of looking where they shouldn't whether they did or not.

 

[PF5]

You can't really put an employee in the restroom, they will get accused of looking where they shouldn't whether they did or not.

that's why I said 'hall monitor'... sounds impossible unless you don't allow students passes during class...which would bring up another problem of 'emergencies'...

 

[JTOSU]

ummmm, don't know...probably should not have put that part in (I'll take it out)...I have read that the school district did not know the one was a transgender, they 'assumed' female...for the record, if my daughter were attacked in a bathroom in similar incident I would be quite upset...side note: do schools have hall monitors that 'monitor' the bathrooms? I'm sure most schools have cameras, right? (outside of bathrooms)...I put this on, just because the timing seems convenient to take heat off of himself...that's all...

My guess is the victim is being used by the media to inflame the transgender issue and certainly Walters is to score political points. I take the Edmond Superintendent at her word. She said the attacker recently enrolled and said she was female. Schools don’t ask for birth certificates and neither have the resources to confirm nor should they.
The school had a policy of only using restroom matching your sex (which seems very reasonable). It would be different if the school actively encouraged the transgender student to use the girls bathroom…but they didn’t. Like a lot of policies at school, it is difficult to stop someone violating. I am certain they have policies against fighting, cheating, tardiness, and gum chewing and they get broken on a daily basis.

It sucks for the victim, but sounds like the school handled it appropriately afterwards.

 

[PF5]

Letter: State Superintendent Ryan Walters using his position to push a specific religion tulsa world

In a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the posting of the Ten Commandments in a public (government) place did not violate the Constitution, so long as it did not push (promote) religion.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters is calling for the posting of the Ten Commandments, which, according to the Christian Bible (Old Testament, also referred to as part of the Hebrew Bible, Torah and Talmud) were given directly to Moses by God, hundreds of years prior to the birth of Christianity.

However, Walters has stated the reason for his call is "to promote Christianity and Western heritage" in the classroom.
Apparently, Walters is openly admitting he is using his governmental position to promote (push) the oft-stated but constitutionally false claim that the U.S. is a Christian nation, which might make the posting of the Ten Commandments, supposedly received by Moses some time before the existence of Christianity, unconstitutional.

I guess we'll see.
In the meantime, I wish Walters would spend his time, expertise and energy to provide a high-quality public education to the 700,000 children enrolled in Oklahoma's public schools and less time acting like an evangelistic preacher attempting to co-opt Oklahoma's public schools to create conversion-ready souls to his version of religion.

 

[Polds4OSU]

ALARMING NEWS!!! According to Payton May at OKCFOX, many school districts have not received allocations of Title I money, although some have heard. In addition, IDEA allocations have not been received by any districts. Title I and IDEA grants come to the state through the OK State Department of Education automatically. The OKSDE then allocates the money to districts based on poverty levels and enrollment numbers and special education counts.

Typically, districts get a preliminary allocation of Title I allocations in April or May for planning purposes, with final numbers on July 1st and any adjustments based on enrollment on October 1.

Every year in the last week of June, the OKSDE has posted the approved budgets for special education (IDEA $) on their website. At this time there is nothing posted.

We are a month away from school starting and districts do not know what they can count on to hire Title I teachers that provide extra services in reading and math and teachers and paras to serve special needs students.