School Boards

EPS Parents Fight Back Against Overreaching School Board

September 16, 2021

EDMOND

On Tuesday, a group of Edmond Public School parents filed a lawsuit against the EPS School Board seeking a temporary and permanent injunction against certain aspects of the district’s revised Covid-19 policy.

This lawsuit was the result of a groundswell of opposition from EPS parents against the draconian segregation of unvaccinated students that has occurred throughout the district ever since the school board announced the changes to their “Return to Learning” policy just prior to the school year.

Prior to the suit being filed, numerous parents reached out to Ignite Liberty to voice their deep concerns, and downright anger, at how their children were being unfairly discriminated against due to a personal medical decision.

Their anger stemmed from a change in district policy at the beginning of the school year that only required healthy, unvaccinated students to quarantine after contact tracing indicated possible exposure. Meanwhile, their healthy, vaccinated counterparts could continue to attend school with the rest of the students. According to Stephanie Brady, a vocal member of the Edmond Chapter of the Parent’s Voice group, within 5 days of this policy going into effect over 2,500 healthy, unvaccinated children were forced to quarantine.

It is the Edmond Chapter of Parent’s Voice that has become the focal point of the resistance movement. Ignite Liberty spoke with Margaret Best, who was narrowly defeated in her run for EPS School Board last April, who serves as an administrator for the group about the growth and support they have experienced over recent weeks.

According to Best, the group started over a year ago in response to the 2020-2021 Covid restrictions put forth by the school district. At the time they only registered about 15-20 active parents showing up to meetings. However, in recent weeks the Facebook group alone has surged to well over 800 members with over 250 active parents. Their meetings now average about 100 parents in attendance. Their next meeting is tonight, September 16th, at 7:00pm at Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler at 33 E 33rd St, Edmond, OK 73013.

It is that surge of support that gave the parents named in the suit the courage to fight the school district’s policies. Earlier this week, Ignite Liberty interviewed Michael Grande, a member of the group helping coordinate with their legal team, about the lawsuit against the district.

According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the parents allege as part of their grounds the data from Covid-19 studies that:

“suggest significant emotional and behavior changes during quarantine in children and adolescents. Common reactions of children and adolescents to disasters, including health-related disasters, depends on the child’s age and developmental levels. While younger children may regress in behaviors, older children may become more anxious, angry, restless, and withdrawn while in quarantine.”

Both Grande and Brady emphasized this point in their interviews, pointing out the huge increase in reported depression among children under age 18. Even KFOR reported in an article dated November 18th, 2020 that metro-area counselors are seeing a massive increase in mental health problems in children under 18 that are directly related to forced quarantines.

For the EPS parents, the district’s policy amounted to nothing less than medical segregation, which violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Equal Protection clause states, in summary, that all laws must apply to all citizens equally. A governing body cannot, then, pass laws or regulations that only affect one group of citizens…in this case, the healthy, unvaccinated students.

The suit also alleges that the district’s policy violates SB 658. While a portion of that law has a temporary injunction against it, the only part of the law restricted by that injunction is the part that specifically bans masks mandates issued by school districts (70 O.S. 1210.189(A)(3)). The judge in that case left the remainder of the law intact.

The alleged violation of SB 658 according to the parent’s suit against EPS specifically names a different part of the law not affected by the temporary order, namely 70 O.S. 1210.189(A)(1), which bans public schools from “requiring vaccination against Covid-19 as a condition of admittance or to attendance of the school or institution.”

The hearing on the Temporary Restraining Order is scheduled for this Friday before Judge Don Andrews at the Oklahoma County Courthouse. Ignite Liberty will follow this case and provide updates as they are available.

District Cracks Down on Teachers

In addition to the change in policy for students, a number of concerned EPS teachers contacted Ignite Liberty earlier this week to inform us that their exemption forms for the district’s mask policy were being ignored. When we asked about any deadline or timetable for completion of the exemptions, they told us the district had not given one.

The problem this raised was that the teachers were not being allowed to come back into the classroom until the exemptions were signed, unless they were willing to put on a mask in the interim (which, they believed, would have risked their exemption being approved).

Instead, they were forced to take a personal, unpaid holiday for every single day they were forced to remain at home. Meanwhile the district simply hired substitute teachers to take their place. Conveniently enough, according to our reports the substitute teachers were not eligible to submit an exemption to the mask policy.

When we asked some of the teachers if they considered resigning and moving to another school district, they informed us that because of the structuring of their contracts it was impossible. If they resigned over the district’s mask policy EPS would still hold their contract, making them ineligible for employment in any other school district in the state.

Upon receiving these reports, Ignite Liberty reached out to Randy Decker, the HR Director for Edmond Public Schools, to inquire as to the district’s policy regarding the handling of exemptions. While Mr. Decker did not take our call, in our message we left him we inquired as to why many of the teacher’s exemptions had still gone unsigned, forcing them to stay home without pay while the school district hired substitute teachers in their stead.

Though Mr. Decker never returned our calls, those same teachers reached out to us on Wednesday to tell us that their exemptions had finally been approved only after our call to Mr. Decker.

Ignite Liberty will continue to monitor the developing situation at Edmond Public Schools and report on any new developments in this matter.

Ignite Liberty Exclusive: First Interview With Suspended OKCPS Teachers

August 27, 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY

Over the last month, several school boards around Oklahoma have openly defied the newly passed SB 658 by implementing mask mandates for students and teachers. Six teachers from Oklahoma City Public Schools have taken a principled stand and refused to comply with the unlawful mandates. Those six educators have now been placed on administrative leave with a recommendation for termination.

In an Ignite Liberty exclusive, two of these 6 teachers sat down for an interview to share their side of the story. These educators have worked for Roosevelt Middle School for a combined total of twelve years. Yet, over the last two weeks, they have been ostracized for the simple offense of following state law. We hope their stories shed light on the truth of what is happening inside the school districts across the state and the struggle that many teachers are battling with.

Jason Widener

Widener stated that the storm within Roosevelt Middle School began nearly a week before August 13th, when the superintendent announced the mask mandate. In that week leading up to that Friday, Widener stated that his Principal, Mr. Farley, had told the teachers and staff that the superintendent was planning on violating state law.

Friday, August 13th, Superintendent Sean McDaniels, announced that starting Monday, August 16th, all students and staff would be required to wear a mask to attend school. Widener stated that he arrived at school on Monday with the intent of “not making a big deal” about not wearing a mask and just intended to go about his day. A short time after arriving at school, he was advised that Mr. Farley wanted to speak with him.

Once in Farley’s office, Farley asked Widener if he was going to wear a mask? Widener responded with “that he would not”. When Farley asked him why Widener responded by saying, “I am not going to violate state laws,” a decision that he came to over the weekend since the Superintendent’s announcement.

Widener said it was then that Farley told him that he needed to leave the school and that he was being placed on paid administrative leave. He was also told that he would need to submit to an “Investigative Interview” at a later date. After leaving the school, he contacted his attorney, who has been advising him legally since his “suspension.”

During the interview, Widener leveled explosive allegations against the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teacher’s unions in the nation. He stated that there had initially been twelve teachers that were going to be placed on administrative leave, but due to a lack of representation by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) investigative interviews, Widener believes six of those twelve were pressured into caving to the illegal demands by the school district. According to Widener, the AFT failed to provide an attorney for any of the teachers they supposedly represented.

Interestingly enough, Widener stressed that the mask itself wasn’t a big issue for him.”I followed the mandate when it wasn’t against the law.” It became an issue when the district chose to violate state law, a point he emphasized when he stated, “No employer should mandate an employee to break the law.” Widener had been wearing masks for the entire previous school year.

Widener is not the only one in his circle that has been impacted. He stated that it has been “stressful” for his family coupled with the concern of losing “healthcare for his family”. When asked about exemptions regarding masks, Widener advised that only students were given a full range of exemptions; on the other hand, staff were only offered a medical exemption.

When asked what action he believes should be taken by OKCPS Superintendent McDaniels, he stated,”he should step down after this. Right is right, and wrong is wrong.”

Dr. James Taylor

Like Widener, Taylor has been employed by Roosevelt Middle School teaching US History and Geography for a total of eight years. During this time, he has become a well-known figure and advocates for students and their education. Unfortunately, he is among the six teachers who are facing termination over refusing to follow the unlawful mandate.

Taylor’s story starts the exact same as Widener, with McDaniels instituting the mask on Monday, August 16th. By the time of the announcement, Taylor stated that he had already made up his mind on where he would stand. “I had determined I was not going to break the law.”

When Taylor arrived at school on Monday, he received a text message from Widener saying that he “was being sent home”. When he arrived at school, he was immediately told that Farley wanted to see him. A security guard escorted him to see Principal Farley. Taylor described the interaction by saying that “Mr. Farley had his mask below his nose and the security guards was on his chin.”

Farley asked Taylor the preposterous questions during the conversation, “do you care about the kids?” “Will you wear it for them?”. To Taylor, this was an absurd assumption, as he has cared for those children for eight years. He felt like the district placing him in the position between choosing the kids and doing what was right, was morally wrong. Like Widener, he was asked to leave and was placed on paid administrative leave.

Taylor said that a short time later, he was contacted for his investigative interview. He attended the interview, where OKCPS attempted to intimidate him just as they had 11 other teachers. During the interview, they told Taylor that they had to have a decision done by Friday because they will need to decide if they will need a teacher. Taylor snapped back, saying, “you had a teacher. You sent me home!”. Taylor was advised that the interview was recorded. During his interview, he requested a copy of the recording; however, he has not received it at the time of this writing.

Taylor stated that the school board is, “Painting the suspended teachers as villains that do not care for the students. But that’s not the truth.” Taylor continued, “Last year there was a state of emergency, and I complied with the mandate. This year [I] complied with the law and [I am] being punished.”

When asked about what impacts this had on Taylor’s family, he stated that it has actually “strengthened our marriage”. He said that his wife is very supportive of what he is doing.

A Principled Stand

At the end of their respective interviews, both Widener and Taylor reiterated the powerful, principled stands that should be made by all Oklahoma teachers. Widener stated, “Principles are just empty words if a person is not willing to risk everything they have for it!” Dr. Taylor closed by simply saying, “No matter what [OKCPS says], it is still against the law.”

Unfortunately, as of Wednesday, August 25th at 3:00 PM, all six of the teachers that were placed on administrative leave have been recommended for termination. Ignite Liberty has received notification that some of the teachers will be pursuing Wrongful Termination Suits and other forms of civil litigation.

On August 13^th, Ignite Liberty reached out to the Oklahoma State School Board Association for comment on the illegal mandates, but have not received a response.

Since our interview with Dr. Taylor and Mr. Widener, the Oklahoma Attorney General has announced that he will be suing the school districts that have violated SB 658 by implementing mask mandates. It remains to be seen what impact that suit will have on these six OKCPS teachers.

Ignite Liberty will continue to monitor this story as it develops and the impacts that it will have on the educators of Oklahoma.

– Jonathan Hewitt

Furious Parents Set To Descend On Edmond School Board Next Monday

April 28, 2021

Edmond, OK

After a year of distance learning, blended learning, social distancing in schools, and mask mandates, furious parents of Edmond Public School students are set to descend upon the Edmond School Board meeting next Monday to demand an end of the school district’s mask mandate policy for teachers and students.

Tulsa’s Dr. Jim Meehan (center) to speak at the May 3rd Edmond School Board meeting.

Chris Theissen, the event’s organizer and a frequent protester at school board meetings over the last year, confirmed the details with Ignite Liberty yesterday during an exclusive interview. Theissen has planned this event in coordination with Dr. Jim Meehan, the Tulsa physician who gained notoriety for suing the city of Tulsa last year over their mask mandate.

Theissen reached out to Meehan shortly after the doctor’s speech at the Health Freedom Rally in Tulsa a couple of weeks ago. Stirred by Meehan calling out the Edmond Public School Administrator’s for her refusal to honor an exemption he had written for a student, Theissen began coordinating with Meehan to hold a rally and protest at the Edmond School Board meeting on May 3rd.

Even though Meehan was incorrect in attacking the Edmond Public School Administrator (it was actually the Deer Creek School Board that denied his exemption), Theissen believes that this rally will serve as a lightning rod for public school parents across the metro area who are tired of having their voices ignored by the school boards.

“They have left parents out in the cold for a very long time,” Theissen said. “We’ve been the ones who have had to foot the bill for tutors over the last year to help make up for the lousy education our kids have gotten because of the ridiculous remote and blended learning schedules. They refused to listen to us when we told them our kids were suffering. Well, we’re going to show up in force this time and let them know we’re sick and tired of being ignored.”

When asked about the main argument they plan to make against the school board, Theissen made a similar argument that Edmond attorney Frank Urbanic made last year when he successfully sued OKC Mayor David Holt on behalf of three area bars and restaurants that the Mayor tried to force closed at 11:00pm. “They have overstepped their lawful authority. They are not doctors or physicians. They do not have the right to force medical decisions on our kids against our will.”

His argument, though different from the one that Meehan has made over the last year, is a solid one. If public schools lack the statutory authority in Oklahoma to force children to be vaccinated against the parent’s wishes in order to prevent communicable diseases, then by the same logic they absolutely lack the authority to force students to wear masks against the parent’s wishes in order to prevent communicable diseases. At some point, the powers that be have to be forcefully reminded that their statutory authority has limits that cannot be tossed aside because of a “pandemic.”

The Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act

In fact, the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act (63 O.S. § 81) outlines the steps that the state, and subsequently municipal authorities, can take in the event of a declared public health emergency. When laying out the guidelines, the act is careful to point out that, “the rights of people to liberty, bodily integrity, and privacy must be respected to the fullest extent possible consistent with maintaining and preserving the health and security of the public during a catastrophic health emergency.” (63 O.S. § 81-6102.9)

The Statute further clarifies what actions fall within these guidelines as listed within the purposes of the Act (emphasis added):

4. To grant state and local officials the authority during a catastrophic health emergency to provide care, treatment, and vaccination to persons who are ill or who have been exposed to transmissible diseases, and to separate affected individuals from the population at large to interrupt disease transmission;

5. To ensure during a catastrophic health emergency that the needs of infected or exposed persons are properly addressed to the fullest extent possible, given the primary goal of controlling serious health threats; and

6. To provide, during a catastrophic health emergency, state and local officials with the ability to prevent, detect, manage, and contain health threats without unduly interfering with civil rights and liberties. (63 O.S. § 81-6103.4-6)

Nowhere in that statute is the State or municipalities given the authority to take action against healthy, uninfected individuals. As such, the school boards forcing students to wear masks against the express wishes of the parents is absolutely in direct violation of state law, with or without a medical exemption from a doctor…a message that desperate parents are hopeful that the Edmond School Board will finally get.

Change Expected…Slowly

While it is expected that the event will have a large turnout, Theissen said the deck is stacked against them. “They are controlling the lineup of speakers very tightly, and are likely to front load it with teachers, students, and medical professionals in favor of masks…just like the city council did when they passed their mask mandate.” Theissen said he expects that EPS will move to masks-optional for summer school, then return to in-school 5-days a week with masks optional in the fall.

Anyone wishing to speak before the school board had to have signed up by this past Monday night. The meeting will start at 6pm. The rally, which will feature Dr. Meehan and Tyson Gabriel from Premiere Risk Management in Phoenix, will start in the parking lot of the EPS Administration Building at 5pm. Those who wish to attend are encouraged to show up early as parking is likely to be at a premium. Seating inside will be extremely limited due to “social distancing” and EPS is requiring anyone entering the building to wear masks…despite the City of Edmond having rescinded its mask mandate earlier this month.