The lawsuit was filed in Oklahoma County last week by a grandmother and guardian of two students formerly enrolled at Keys Public Schools in northeastern Oklahoma.
She alleged the district and local law enforcement did not appropriately respond to several instances of physical and verbal bullying, leading one of the students, a third-grader, to threaten suicide rather than return to school.
According to the suit, the grandmother filed a complaint last February with the state department about the district’s response. It took more than a year to resolve. The agency said it was a “local control” issue and closed it in May, 2024.
“Oklahoma is a local control state and as such, OSDE is unable to override the decisions of the local school district if it is a matter that is in district policy,” the agency said in an email to the plaintiff. “This includes how schools conduct investigations into bullying and the resolution of those situations.”
The lawsuit alleges the department was negligent in its responsibility to fully investigate the district’s compliance with the state’s Bullying Prevention Act, which prescribes a comprehensive process for districts to follow in bullying response and prevention.
A district found out of compliance with state law may be subject to a downgrade in accreditation status or revocation of staff teaching certificates.
According to the lawsuit, after the complaint was filed, its investigation was moved from the department’s accreditation division to its legal department, linked to the Awareity system. Awareity is a reporting system deployed by former State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister for community members to report concerns about school safety, bullying and other issues.
Lawyers for the plaintiff argue the department’s alleged lack of action and closing out of the case “appears to accomplish the operational objective of reducing the overall number of complaints sitting at that time in the Awareity system and thus reducing the investigator’s workload.”
“The fastest track to be able to claim operational success of Awareity and Superintendent Walters’ presumptive pro-parent administration would be to boast about the number of complaints resolved by OSDE,” the lawsuit reads. “The shortest way to accomplish that reduction would be to merely dismiss complaints as a local-control matter, forgo investigation and tell parents there is nothing more that OSDE can do.”
The lawsuit also alleges Walters’ “political distractions” hindered the investigation. Reporting by Oklahoma Watch and Fox 25 have detailed numerous media contracts and appearances geared at boosting Walters’ profile on the national conservative stage.
News coverage is regularly dominated by headline-garnering announcements, such as a classroom Bible mandate, the creation of an Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism and a mandate to show a video to students of Walters praying for President-Elect Donald Trump.
“Rather than administering OSDE programs, [Walters] has become the caretaker of routing out what he determines is politically incorrect using local and national media,” the filing said. “He therefore has prioritized creating a national media presence for himself to be able to speak to politically-charged ‘woke issues.’ His ‘anti-woke’ rhetorical campaign has distracted his attention away from his administrative responsibilities.”
The suit also cites a widespread talent drain at the department. During Walters’ tenure, at least 130 staffers have left or been fired. The plaintiff’s complaint was assigned to an investigator who left the department four months after it was filed. It took an additional four months for a new investigator to be assigned to the complaint.
“The evidence relating to Superintendent Walters’ dereliction of administrative duty is not limited solely to the high employee turnover and loss of critical senior management within OSDE,” the lawsuit said. “But includes evidence of where the Superintendent negligently committed his focus and OSDE resources during the 458 days during which the plaintiff’s complaint was pending, and the grandchildren were left needing relief.”
The department did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations.
Vol Woods, superintendent of Keys Public Schools, said in an email response to StateImpact the district “fully cooperated” with OSDE’s investigation, and the agency did not direct the district to take any actions.
“The district takes the safety and education of all students very seriously, and it has procedures in place to address student and parent concerns so as to provide a positive learning environment and quality education to all of its students,” Woods said.
