Tulsa Public Schools’ District 3 candidates largely oppose State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ push to get Oklahoma students to disclose their immigration statuses.
Walters and the state Board of Education in January passed a rule requiring public school districts to record how many students don’t provide proof of citizenship or legal immigration status. The rule must be approved by the state Legislature and the governor before it goes into effect.
The rule was passed as TPS suffered a sharp decrease in enrollment, which the school board president claims was mostly Hispanic students.
Three of the four candidates — Kyra Carby, Dorie Simmons and Eartha McAlester — each oppose the rule to varying degrees. Carby and Simmons spoke against the rule at a McClain High School candidate forum Tuesday night.
“We have a very diverse district, and one group in particular that will be targeted makes up a large portion of our district, and they need to be protected at all costs,” Carby said.
“When we require students to provide birth certificates and proof of citizenship to come into our school system, we have a problem,” said Simmons.
The grassroots group Protect TPS gave McAlester a poor rating on immigration after she claimed in a survey that the district already gathers proof of citizenship and that she approves. Protect TPS labels McAlester as having “an inaccurate understanding of existing policy and affirmative support for the proposed immigration requirement,” according to an email from the group.
McAlester later said she thought the group was referencing having students’ birth certificates on file.
“I think (the immigration rule) is very political, and I’m trying to stay out of that, and I don’t think it’s the correct thing to do,” she said. “I think that we’ve allowed certain groups of people to be in the United States, and now that we don’t want these people here or there’s a need to remove them, whichever that is, there has to be a better way to go about it.”
Candidate Brandi Joseph has not spoken publicly about the immigration rule and did not show at the forum. Joseph has been endorsed by Republican State Rep. Gabe Woolley, who has authored similar legislation to the state school board’s rule.
KWGS tried to reach Joseph multiple times following the forum.
District 3 encompasses virtually all of north Tulsa and its outer limits. It’s currently represented by school board member Jennettie Marshall, who is not seeking reelection.
The primary election for the district is Tuesday. The two candidates with the most votes will compete for the seat if no one earns more than half the votes in the primary.
To see if you live in the district, visit the Oklahoma Voter Portal.
