A bookshelf at Norman High School in Oklahoma. Provided by a Norman High School staff member The Oklahoma Education Secretary wants to revoke a high school English teacher’s license. The teacher said she’s received a large amount of support for giving students access to banned books.
The secretary said “there is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom. ” The Oklahoma Secretary of Education wants to revoke the license of a high school English teacher who gave her students access to banned books. Secretary of Education Ryan Walters asked the Oklahoma State Board of Education to revoke Summer Boismier’s teaching license in a letter to the board on Thursday.
Boismier is a former English teacher at Norman High School who resigned last month after the school put her on leave when she told her students about UnBanned, a program out of the Brooklyn Public Library that provides access to free e-books of banned literature. “There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom,” Walters said in the letter. Walter accused Boismier of giving her students access to “banned and pornographic” material and said “we must ensure she doesn’t go to another district and do the same thing.
“The Board of Education did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment on Friday. Insider was first to report that Norman public schools put Bosmier on administrative leave after a parent reported to the district that she violated state law HB 1775. The district allowed her to return to work a day later, but she resigned.
Boismier told Insider that Oklahoma’s recent law is moving the state backward and making it harder for teachers to teach honestly. A classroom library covered that has been covered by a teacher who fears backlash over recent legislation that limits what can be taught in schools. Provided by a Norman Public School teacherThe law bans eight concepts from K-12 classrooms, including that one race or sex is superior to another, an individual is inherently racist, and that people should feel discomfort on account of their race or sex.
People who feel a school or teacher is violating the law because of how a subject is being taught or what materials are provided can submit a complaint. To protect themselves and the school district, some teachers in Norman Public Schools have removed their classroom libraries or covered books with paper, the former teacher said. A representative for Norman Public Schools initially told Insider that Boismier made personal, political statements and made a political display expressing those opinions in their classroom.
Brooklyn Public Library, which oversees the UnBanned program, released a statement condemning efforts to ban books. “Brooklyn Public Library stands firmly against censorship and for the principles of intellectual freedom—the right of every individual to seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction,” Fritzi Bodenheimer, a spokeswoman for the library, told Insider. “Limiting access or providing one-sided information is a threat to democracy itself and we cannot sit idly by while books rejected by a few are removed from library shelves for all.
“Bosmier told Insider on Wednesday that she has received a large amount of support since her resignation. “Yes, I have resigned,” she said. “And yes, I have received some hate, but overall, the support has far outweighed any negative commentary.
“Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/oklahoma-official-wants-take-license-teacher-over-banned-books-2022-9
