{"id":1458024,"date":"2022-04-29T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1458024"},"modified":"2022-04-29T12:00:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T16:00:55","slug":"oklahoma-republicans-fight-back-after-rogue-school-board-refuses-to-enforce-bathroom-use-by-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-republicans-fight-back-after-rogue-school-board-refuses-to-enforce-bathroom-use-by-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Republicans Fight Back After Rogue School Board Refuses To Enforce Bathroom Use By Sex"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foklahoma-republicans-fight-back-after-rogue-school-board-refuses-to-enforce-bathroom-use-by-sex%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1458024&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-billow-5338294-scaled-e1651172913978.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Oklahoma House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stwnewspress.com\/news\/school-bathroom-bill-passes-in-oklahoma-house-heads-back-to-senate\/article_6778cde4-c771-11ec-a595-131ec9daac40.html\">passed<\/a> a parental rights bill on Thursday mandating that public schools allow parents to inspect and object to teachings on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also requires students to use bathrooms that correspond with their sex. <\/p>\n<p>The amendment specifying bathroom use was a last-minute addition by Republican Rep. John Talley of Stillwater and Republican Rep. Kevin West of Moore in response to the Stillwater School Board\u2019s refusal to back down from letting students use whichever bathrooms they want. <\/p>\n<p>Despite pressure from the state\u2019s Secretary of Education Ryan Walters and Attorney General John O\u2019Connor, the Stillwater School Board insists that letting students use whichever bathroom they please is protected under the Biden administration\u2019s proposed version of Title IX.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an issue that has concerned parents for months and put the nearly 50,000-person college town at the center of the culture war.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Protect Our Daughters\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Riley Flack, whose 12-year-old daughter attends school in the Stillwater school district, first learned about the bathroom policy from a friend whose grandaughter goes to the same school as his daughter and was friends with a boy who now says he\u2019s a girl. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been stressful just because we know that it\u2019s crazy. And our kid is in the middle of it,\u201d Flack told The Federalist. <\/p>\n<p>Flack said he\u2019s been skeptical of his school board for years, but the icing on the cake was when his friend was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/1157718610\/videos\/684107829462527\/\">physically removed<\/a> from a school board meeting about the bathroom issue for sharing a Bible verse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some downhill consequences from this that are pretty clear \u2026 like<br \/>abolishing the definition in the meaning of what a girl and a female is, it\u2019s to the point of absurdity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Ed Gallegos, another parent in the Stillwater Public School District, said he believes the school board and administration \u201cseem to have embraced woke agendas at the expense of the common good.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur daughters have a right to privacy, and we, as parents and a school district, have an obligation to protect their health and safety,\u201d he told The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>Gallegos spoke at multiple school board meetings but said his concerns were shrugged off by the administration. That\u2019s when he helped create <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stillwaterparents.org\/\">Stillwaterparents.com<\/a>, a website dedicated to \u201cshed light upon policies and practices taking place in Stillwater public schools so that parents and guardians are fully informed.\u201d The website features <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stillwaterparents.org\/_files\/ugd\/fe3abd_f9df31cfbda14009acf91e67d6a7c19e.pdf\">fact sheets<\/a> breaking down the Stillwater district\u2019s responses to parents and even a petition to \u201cProtect Our Daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe school board tried to disavow that they had knowledge that it was taking place in schools in the district.\u00a0After the issue was brought to light, they tried to not take ownership of the policy by stating that they were tied to the policy by court precedent and state school board mandate.\u00a0 Neither of which have proved true,\u201d Gallegos said.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Oklahoma Not Wokelahoma\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Under Title IX, schools and other educational institutions that receive funding from the federal government are prohibited from discriminating based on sex. President Joe Biden signed an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/FR-2021-03-11\/pdf\/2021-05200.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executive order<\/a>\u00a0in March of 2021 that specified his intent to rewrite the federal rule and expand its definitions to include so-called gender identity. It\u2019s an overhaul that is strongly opposed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/parents-groups-urge-cardona-not-rewrite-title-ix\">nearly 30 parents\u2019 rights organizations<\/a> and one that Walters says is wrongly interpreted by the school board. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is far-left woke extremism that has targeted this one school district and found a weak board,\u201d Walters told The Federalist.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"uhxiR0Zqzgfaj6DwmykU7dOB\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I asked this morning for an emergency State Board Meeting to respond to the Stillwater School Public School Board.<\/p>\n<p>This is Oklahoma not Wokelahoma <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XWKFx6LeZE\">pic.twitter.com\/XWKFx6LeZE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary Ryan Walters (@sec_walters) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sec_walters\/status\/1516468015977619462?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 19, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/stwnewspress.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/3\/be\/3be8f7f0-b775-11ec-895c-2f9595273fc2\/62509242e4388.pdf.pdf\">letter<\/a> to the school board in early April, Walters said the school board holds an \u201cincorrect interpretation\u201d of Title IX and that the district has \u201cno right to allow men to use the girls\u2019 restrooms in our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe US Department of Education\u2019s rules, that your school board claims ordered this travesty, simply allowed school districts to choose their own path \u2014 and Stillwater has chosen poorly,\u201d Walters wrote. \u201cYou have chosen radicals over your students, ideology over biology, and \u2018wokeness\u2019 over safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Walters and AG O\u2019Connor penned <a href=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/stwnewspress.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/3\/be\/3be8f7f0-b775-11ec-895c-2f9595273fc2\/62509242e4388.pdf.pdf\">letters<\/a> to the school board demanding that they require students to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, the five-member school board asked for more <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sec_walters\/status\/1516468015977619462?s=20&#038;t=Aw6Z9y41hxtHJp69Xk55Vw\">clarity<\/a> from the Oklahoma Department of Education and state Board of Education, which Stillwater Superintendent Gay Washington\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocpathink.org\/post\/stillwater-transgender-bathroom-policy-in-place-for-years\">said<\/a> is responsible for issuing the broad, pro-LGBT bathroom guidance that has governed the district \u201cfor years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister, a Democrat candidate for governor, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocpathink.org\/post\/hofmeister-school-transgender-bathroom-policies-mandatory\">confirmed<\/a> that she believes the Stillwater School Board has \u201clegal precedent,\u201d which she said \u201chas addressed the need for equal access, including facilities,\u201d even after she admitted that \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/sde.ok.gov\/newsblog\/2022-04-28\/hofmeister-sets-record-straight-after-ags-letter-legislators-stillwater-bathroom\">no legal precedent on this topic currently exists in Oklahoma<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walters, who is a candidate for state superintendent, said Hofmeister is just stonewalling further state-level action on the issue by \u201cmuddying the waters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve issued guidance, I\u2019ve pushed, and what she has done is come in and undermined it and said, \u2018well, actually it is unclear,&#8217;\u201d Walters told The Federalist. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><\/figure>\n<p>Hofmeister did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>As far as Walters knows, Stillwater is the only district in the state that allows boys to use girls\u2019 restrooms and vice versa, but he said that doesn\u2019t excuse the school board\u2019s stalling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of fighting with parents who have clearly spoken, they\u2019re siding with a very small radical group because of just being fearful to actually stand up,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n<p>The school board\u2019s conduct was also condemned by several Republican Senate candidates vying to represent Oklahoma in U.S. Congress. T.W. Shannon\u2019s campaign told The Federalist that he believes, \u201cWe\u2019ve already seen the terrible consequences of the left\u2019s woke policies in cases where students have been sexually assaulted in school bathrooms and corrupt left-wing school boards have covered it up to protect their woke agenda, and their push to promote transgender ideology in classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luke Holland told The Federalist that the school board is \u201cchoosing woke politics over science\u201d in what has turned out to be \u201canother example of the radical left\u2019s never-ending attack on the core Christian values on which this great country was founded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGirls shouldn\u2019t be allowed in boys\u2019 bathrooms, and boys shouldn\u2019t be allowed in girls\u2019 bathrooms \u2014 it\u2019s that simple. It\u2019s biology. Whether it\u2019s sports or bathrooms or birth certificates, the\u00a0left continues to advance its anti-God agenda, but this is hurting our kids by adding to the troubles they face,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Dahm\u00a0said the school board \u201centirely failed to protect their students\u201d and lamented the state Senate\u2019s \u201c\u2019Republican\u2019 leadership,\u201d which he said \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to address these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey would prefer to leave it to local school boards so these wrong decisions can be made but they can brush it off as not their responsibility,\u201d Dahm said. <\/p>\n<p>The Federalist did not receive comment from candidates Markwayne Mullin or Scott Pruitt.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma House passed a parental rights bill on Thursday mandating that public schools allow parents to inspect and object to teachings on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":490,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1458024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1458024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1458024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1458024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1458024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}