OSBE meeting postponed last second after almost breaking the law
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The monthly Oklahoma Board of Education meeting was suddenly postponed Thursday after The Oklahoman reported that they were about to violate the law.
'They've always tried to get right up close to that line and see how far they can get to the line without getting in trouble,' Senator Mary Boren said after hearing the news.
The Oklahoman published an article Wednesday, not long after the Oklahoma State Department of Education posted its agenda for the next day's meeting.
The article pointed to the fact that the online agenda was posted around 20 minutes less than 24 hours before the meeting was to be held.
According to their reporting, OSDE responded by saying that 'the law's requirements had been met.'
Most comments submitted opposed to OSBE Social Studies standards
It hadn't.
When asked on Thursday, the Attorney General's Office told News 4 that a recent law requires the agendas to be posted at least 24 hours before both online and on the door.
On Thursday, another article published by The Oklahoman announced the sudden postponement of the meeting. They reported email exchanges where board members and the board attorney were concerned about the possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.
That article also reported on emails where board members wanted to discuss the Social Studies Standards again, but Superintendent Ryan Walters rejected that request.
Those standards are expected to be decided on next week by lawmakers.
News 4 reached out to OSDE spokesperson Grace Kim to ask for a response to the postponement.
Their department sent a statement that said in part, 'Due to a technical issue the OSBE agenda for March was posted on the internet 19 minutes late.' Then it read, 'The agenda was sent to OMES (Office of Management and Enterprise Services) for posting ahead of the deadline.'
In a video on Facebook, around 1 p.m. on Thursday, Superintendent Ryan Walters is seen staring at what looks to be notes and repeating the same response. The video was just over one minute long.
News 4 asked OMES if they were to blame for the agenda being posted online later than the law allows, and their reaction to OSDE seemingly blaming them.
OMES stated that, 'The employee referenced in these remarks is a technology employee embedded within OSDE and is managed by OSDE daily.'
The agency explained that six minutes before the deadline on Wednesday, OSDE staff emailed that employee. They stated that the employee posted the agenda by 1:20 p.m., less than 30 minutes after it was received.
'It's important to note, that OSDE is responsible for the development of its meetings and agendas and allowing enough reasonable time to post those agendas so that the public may receive notice and attend the open meeting. To characterize this as an OMES error is dishonest and misleading. We also did not receive any media inquiries related to this error before publication,' stated OMES.
Dozens of people showed up at the Oliver Hodge building ready to participate in the meeting. They told News 4 that they were the ones to let staff at the building know that the meeting had been postponed.
'I walked in, I asked staff if they knew and they were very shocked and told me that absolutely the meeting had not been postponed. But it had. I spoke to the troopers that were out here. They also had no idea,' said Preston Bobo of Defense of Democracy. 'There are parents here who drove from northeast of Tulsa to attend this meeting and that just feels offensive to me.'
The meeting was said to have been carried over to next month's April 24 meeting.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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