Latest news with #OMES
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Concerns of breaking state law prompt state Board of Education to cancel meeting
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, center, speaks at the head of the table where the Oklahoma State Board of Education meets on Feb. 27 in Oklahoma City. The board abruptly canceled its March meeting Thursday. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma's top school board abruptly canceled its monthly meeting Thursday over concerns of a violation of the state's public meeting law. An agenda for the meeting was posted online 19 minutes late Wednesday, though it was physically posted on time at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, where the meeting would have taken place at 1 p.m. Thursday, state Superintendent Ryan Walters confirmed. The Oklahoma Open Meeting Act requires public meeting agendas to be posted online and at the meeting location at least 24 hours in advance. Some members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education 'expressed reservation due to a potential Open Meetings Act violation,' though their attorney advised the meeting could continue, Walters said in a statement through a spokesperson. 'Out of an abundance of caution the board meeting for March will be scheduled for April 24th, 2025, which is the next scheduled board meeting date,' Walters said. Walters' statement appears to point blame at another state agency. He said the agenda was sent to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services for posting ahead of the deadline. It is 'dishonest and misleading' to characterize this as an OMES error, agency spokesperson Christa Helfrey said. The OMES employee responsible for posting agendas for the state Board of Education is embedded within the state Department of Education and 'is managed by OSDE daily,' Helfrey said. Education Department staff emailed this employee only six minutes before the final deadline for the agenda to be posted, Helfrey said. The employee posted the agenda 20 minutes later. 'It's important to note, 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,' Helfrey said. Canceling a public meeting over concerns of an untimely posted agenda is in compliance with state law, the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office said through its spokesperson, Phil Bacharach. The state superintendent serves as chairperson of the state Board of Education and decides which matters the board will discuss during meetings. His control of meeting agendas caused friction with recent appointees to the board and prompted legislation that could affect all school boards in Oklahoma. The state House passed a bill on Wednesday allowing two members of the state board, and on any district school board with five or more members, to place an item on a meeting agenda by submitting a written request. The state board's March meeting agenda included potential votes on waiving regulations to allow six districts to have under the minimum number of 165 school days next school year. Another two districts requested permission to employ substitute teachers for an extra number of school days. Among other administrative matters, the board would have considered whether to suspend multiple teacher certifications, the agenda shows. But, the agenda doesn't include any items new board members requested. Chris Vandenhende, who took office in February, said at the board's Feb. 27 meeting he wanted to schedule a vote to 'suspend all activity related to immigration.' Vandenhende made the request in response to Walters' and the board's proposal of a rule that would require schools to report students' immigration status. Gov. Kevin Stitt vocally opposed the suggested rule, calling for Walters to be held accountable, and replaced three board members with Vandenhende, Ryan Deatherage and Mike Tinney. The Oklahoman reported Vandenhende, Deatherage and Tinney had requested numerous other items for the board to discuss on Thursday, which Walters didn't include in the meeting agenda. Deatherage didn't immediately return a request for comment from Oklahoma Voice, and attempts to reach Vandenhende and Tinney were unsuccessful. The newspaper reported board members emailed Walters to ask for another review of the academic standards for social studies that they approved on Feb. 27. Without publicly posting or acknowledging any changes, Walters' administration added language to the new social studies standards that suggest there were 'discrepancies' in the 2020 presidential election. The new standards are now in the hands of the state Legislature for review. So far, the three new board members have shown a willingness to question and contend with the state superintendent that no other members have displayed in public since Walters took office in January 2023. Deatherage cast the board's first 'no' vote in over two years against an item Walters proposed. He did so when voting against the social studies standards, saying he hadn't had enough time to review them fully. The governor said he didn't give the new appointees specific marching orders as they joined the board, which he shook up over complaints of poor academic results and too much 'political drama.' 'There's no instructions on what we're going to do,' Stitt said during a media briefing Wednesday. 'But it's like, hey, let Washington, D.C., play politics. Let's just focus on making Oklahoma the best state for education. So that's really my only direction to these folks.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Governor Stitt bans DeepSeek from state-owned devices
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma Governor's Office this month announced a ban of DeepSeek on all state-owned devices. According to Governor Kevin Stitt, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) conducted a review of the program DeepSeek and released its findings regarding its use on state devices. Drummond seeks legislative support for government transparency, accountability 'We're not going to take chances when it comes to protecting Oklahomans' data,' said Governor Stitt. 'DeepSeek has too many security risks, and we're not about to let foreign adversaries have access to our state's information. This is about keeping Oklahoma safe and making smart decisions for our future.' The decision to ban DeepSeek stems from several key concerns noted Gov. Stitt: Security Risks: DeepSeek collects extensive user data, including chat history, uploaded files, and IP address information, all of which is stored in China. This violates the state chief information officer's data storage standard and presents a serious cybersecurity threat. DeepSeek has also been the target of significant cyberattacks, exposing sensitive information. Regulatory Compliance Issues: Many state agencies are required to follow strict data protection regulations, including FERPA, HIPAA, IRS Pub 1075, and others. DeepSeek's lack of compliance features creates a risk of non-compliance, potentially exposing state data to bad actors within the Chinese Communist Party and violating Executive Order 2024-11. Susceptibility to Adversarial Manipulation: DeepSeek-R1 has demonstrated a high vulnerability to adversarial manipulation, making it possible for bad actors to bypass safety measures and generate harmful content. Lack of Robust Security Safeguards: DeepSeek does not have a layered security architecture, leaving it open to security breaches and ethical violations. Additionally, the app contains weak encryption, increasing the risk of data leaks. Read full letter from OMES here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New legal challenges filed against latest OSDE proposal for Bible-based lessons
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) is facing new legal challenges over its latest proposal seeking to integrate Bible lessons into public elementary school social studies month, OSDE announced it was issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) 'seeking qualified suppliers' to create worksheets and assignments that would 'integrate biblical principles and character education' into social studies lessons for elementary students. $3 million could go from OSDE payroll to 55,000 Bibles OSDE announced the new RFP while in the middle of fighting a lawsuit over a previous Bible-related RFP issued last year, which sought a supplier to provide tens of thousands of Bibles for public school Luchenitser, Associate Vice President of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, represents a group of 32 Oklahoma parents, teachers, and faith leaders who filed the lawsuit.'It's unlawful to spend state funds on these purposes,' Luchenitser said. 'It violates the Oklahoma Constitution. It violates the religious freedom of parents and students. It should be up to parents to decide what their children learn about religion.'When OSDE announced the new RFP for Bible-based lessons, his group took issue with it. OSDE looking to buy Bible lessons for Oklahoma elementary students 'The State Department of Education have no authority to select and purchase specific instructional materials for school districts because under the state statutes, local school districts have the right to choose their curricula and their curricular materials,' Luchenitser said. 'The state doesn't have any right to choose those materials for them.'They have now added the new RFP to their lawsuit, filing a brief with the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday asking the court to issue a stay that would block OSDE from moving forward with the RFP for Bible also requested the court to grant a similar stay sought by the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES).OMES is the state agency responsible for implementing RFPs on behalf of state agencies. When a state department, like the OSDE, requests an RFP, OMES puts it out for bid and selects a in its own legal filing, OMES told the court it was concerned about assisting OSDE with any new Bible-related RFPs due to the ongoing lawsuit and the possibility of similar legal challenges. GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin: Letting Oklahoma public school educators teach the Bible is a 'slippery slope' OMES asked the court to issue a stay allowing them to hold off on helping with the Bible-based lessons RFP at least until the lawsuit over Bible purchases RFP is resolved.'I think where they're coming from is that they don't want to be in the position of doing something that might ultimately be determined to be illegal,' Luchenitser said. 'And that's certainly a very sensible and reasonable position for them.'The court has not yet made a Luchenitser says he remains confident his group's arguments will ultimately prevail in court.'These latest Bible and biblical instruction request for proposals are a clear violation of the Oklahoma Constitution,' Luchenitser said. 'They clearly violate the separation of church and state. They clearly violate the religious freedom of parents and students. And that's why we are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block these latest efforts to spend state funds unlawfully.'News 4 reached out to OSDE on Tuesday for comment from Superintendent Ryan did not respond. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'He's acting like a king': Lawmaker sues Oklahoma governor
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A lawmaker has filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt claiming overreach. The lawmaker is Representative Andy Fugate (D-Del City). It's in response to the governor's executive order that sent state workers back to the office and put a stop to remote work. 'He's acting like a king,' said Rep. Fugate. The lawsuit is looking for a preliminary injunction as soon as possible. It challenges the order, stating that Stitt 'simply doesn't have the power under the Oklahoma Constitution to make such a law. It's entirely within the purview of the legislature.' Gov. Stitt mandates state agencies to return to in-office work The order was signed at the end of 2024 but its due date to bring workers back to the office ended on February 2, 2025. 'The governor's executive order has a direct cost to taxpayers. It has a direct cost to human capital. And it is an erosion of the separation of powers established in our constitution,' said Rep. Fugate. In January, the Oklahoma Department of Health Commissioner Keith Lee told the Senate that the cost to bring back workers to the physical office would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lee also made it clear that they could try to find the funds through possible federal means if they could. News 4 reached out to DHS on Friday to see if they have the numbers on employees before and after the order's end date. They said they are working on getting that information. The lawsuit claimed that 'DHS (with more than 6,200 employees) had nearly half (44%) of its workforce teleworking in fiscal year 2024. This practice arose partly from early pandemic office closures and embedded social services placements across the state.' Fugate claimed that 'according to Oklahoma's Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) budget documents for fiscal year 2024, nearly 30% of their employees worked fully remote, and 60% were on a hybrid schedule. With the new order, these arrangements face curtailment.' News 4 reached out to OMES to confirm this and to see the fiscal impact. They responded that they have until March 31 to gather all of the agency's data surrounding this and are continuing to get responses from around the state. Governor Stitt responded to the lawsuit and said: 'Typical big government, democrat behavior by Rep. Fugate. Suing to let people stay home and not work? That's insane. State employees work for the taxpayer. The data is clear, employees are more productive and accountable when they are working in the office. For the good of the taxpayer, work from home is over.' 'He wants to make this into some partisan issue. It's not. If this is the right policy for the state of Oklahoma, the legislature can enact it. That's our job,' said Rep. Fugate in response. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
