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. Tensions between board members and Walters have heightened over the past month. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — A monthly meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education has been abruptly canceled after weeks of significant tension between board members and the head of the panel, state Superintendent Ryan Walters.
The board was meant to meet Thursday morning for the first time since conflict erupted during their meeting last month, when two board members reported seeing explicit images on Walters’ office TV. The Oklahoma State Department of Education posted a cancellation notice Wednesday morning, a day before the board’s scheduled August meeting.
Board members Chris Van Denhende, Mike Tinney and Ryan Deatherage said they were given no reason for the cancellation. The Education Department’s interim general counsel sent the board a brief cancellation notice, Van Denhende said, the same one the agency posted publicly on its website.
Van Denhende and Tinney said they have asked for further explanation but so far have received none. The cancellation is “very frustrating because there are important matters that need to be addressed,” Tinney said.
Agency spokesperson Quinton Hitchcock told Oklahoma Voice the meeting was canceled because of the “transitioning staff and legal team.”
The board’s attorney, Chad Kutmas, has departed in recent weeks after three board members called for his replacement.
“There are several big items facing Oklahoma education and we want to make sure that the board meetings are conducted properly and efficiently,” Hitchcock said.
Walters has announced major changes to state policy in recent months, including an overhaul of Oklahoma’s state testing methods, without seeking approval from the board.
The Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office is still reviewing evidence from a law enforcement investigation into the incident with Walters’ office TV. Both the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation looked into the matter.
Walters’ administration initially sought a $100,000 contract with an Oklahoma City defense attorney for “pre-charge criminal defense” and for legal advice “to minimize the likelihood of criminal charges being filed, as well as preparing for the possibility of charges,” according to records Oklahoma Voice obtained from the Attorney General’s Office.
The Education Department’s interim general counsel, Jacki Phelps, later contacted the Attorney General’s Office on Aug. 14 to withdraw the contract, records show.
The state Board of Education was in the middle of a private portion of its July 24 meeting when two members saw images of naked women on the TV in Walters’ office, they later told news reporters.
Walters called a news conference days later to deny the allegations. He suggested they were a set-up orchestrated by Gov. Kevin Stitt, who appointed every board member except the state superintendent.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said a “bizarre accident” likely caused the incident.
An investigation by Hilbert and other state officials found that the Samsung TV in Walters’ office automatically plays a Samsung movie channel. That channel happened to be showing the 1985 Jackie Chan film “The Protector” at the time of the meeting, Hilbert said after requesting information from Samsung.
Images from “The Protector” seem to match descriptions the board members gave of what they saw on the office screen. The movie includes multiple scenes involving nude women.
Walters, who had said the board members’ allegations were false, has yet to comment on Hilbert’s findings.
Under Oklahoma law, the state Board of Education is meant to meet once a month, but occasionally meetings are canceled or postponed. The Education Department did not answer a question from Oklahoma Voice of whether the August meeting will be rescheduled.
A major vote on annual school accreditation is still awaiting board action. These votes typically take place in July, but yearly accreditation still has yet to appear on a state board agenda.
Van Denhende also called for a special meeting to discuss the board’s authority versus the state superintendent’s powers. He made the request during the July 24 meeting while pointing out that the Education Department removed the board’s secretary, Amy London, without discussing it with the board.
Kutmas, the board’s attorney, shut down Van Denhende’s request for a special meeting.
Since then, Van Denhende, Deatherage and board member Becky Carson emailed the Attorney General’s Office to ask for Kutmas’ removal, according to records Oklahoma Voice obtained. The Attorney General’s Office has control over state agency contracts with attorneys.
“Mr. Kutmas appears to believe he is Superintendent Ryan Walters personal board attorney and in that regard is obstructionist in his behavior and legal guidance,” Van Denhende wrote in an email. “I request that you review, remove and or cancel his contract so that the State Board of Education can engage with legal counsel that will provide appropriate guidance in matters of the whole board.”
The Tulsa World reported Kutmas’ law firm, Norman Wohlgemuth Attorneys at Law, voluntarily withdrew from representing the board on Aug. 12.
This week’s meeting could have been the board’s first opportunity to vote on hiring its next lawyer.
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