KFOR has been waiting 100 days for an OSDE Open Records Request - how can a state agency do that?
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • last year • 16 commentsBy: Kaylee Olivas/KFOR (KFOR. com Oklahoma City)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)- As of Friday, News 4 has been waiting 100 days on a single Oklahoma State Department of Education Open Records Request. State law allows it with vague language.
Since before Ryan Walters was elected the Oklahoma State Superintendent, he campaigned on there allegedly being pornography in the classroom. He still stood by that Thursday night.
"There shouldn't be a single classroom in the state that has pornography in front of our kids or shouldn't be in a single classroom in the state that has indoctrination in the form of education to our kids. And so I'm going to continue to work until that's all eliminated," Supt. Walters told KFOR.
News 4 has been asking the State Department of Education since at least March 29 for evidence indicating there was inappropriate reading material found in schools since he took over office.
We wanted to know what specific schools have been found in violation, who the teachers are facing disciplinary action for having such books in their classrooms, and what districts are potentially facing a downgrade in accreditation for allowing the books to be present.
An OSDE spokesperson, Justin Holcomb then called News 4 with a response that morning.
He explained over the phone inappropriate reading material had been found in Oklahoma City and Tulsa Public Schools.
Holcomb added Superintendent Walters' administration has found several books children should not be allowed to read while in school.
News 4 asked that information be sent via email for quoting purposes.
Holcomb proceeded to say he thought a phone conversation would be suffice, but that he'd send a written statement to fulfill the request.
"The books mentioned were found throughout Oklahoma, primarily in Tulsa Public Schools. The introduced rule will make it to where parents get to decide which books are allowed in school," said Holcomb via text.
News 4 hopped back on a call with Holcomb to ask why a list of specific schools were not provided.
Holcomb said OSDE didn't want to rehash the past and "drag them through the mud" since everything had already been handled.
He claims the books have since been turned over to OSDE.
He did provide News 4 with a few other districts including Oklahoma City, Owasso, Bixby, and Stillwater.
Holcomb then suggested News 4 do their own research to find the answers to our questions since what we were looking for has already been "riddled" through the press.
He added it would be a "waste of taxpayer dollars" for him to do a deep dive into News 4's request.
Holcomb suggested News 4 also research the information online because it was publicly available.
He sent News 4 an article from July 2022 that was written by a Tulsa news station not affiliated with KFOR.
News 4 is unable to cite information found by a non-affiliated media outlet and Holcomb was made aware.
Even then, the news article did not present specific schools in violation, just school districts. The article was also dated to before Walters was elected into office.
The request was ultimately not fulfilled after going back and forth with Holcomb. A formal request was then submitted through OSDE's Open Records Request portal online that same day.
Since then, News 4 has tried contacting the OSDE Open Records Coordinator, Marley Billingsley for updates on this request.
"That request is awaiting approvals. I hope to have approvals completed in the next week. Thank you for your patience and understanding!," said Billingsley on May 2.
On May 10, News 4 asked Billingsley for another update on the request, but she said, "For any updates and/or additional information regarding your pending requests please reach out to Justin [Holcomb]."
News 4 has reached out to Holcomb, an OSDE spokesperson, numerous times about not only this request, but also another request.
Throughout several text messages, Holcomb doesn't respond. When he does, the response is with a press release about a different subject.
News 4 attended Supt. Walters' public forum in Norman Thursday night. As he opened up the floor to questions, we asked what the hold up on the request was.
"Tomorrow (Friday), it will be 100 days since I filed an Open Records Request with your office. Does that spark you as transparent? Why have I waited 100 days?," asked News 4 Reporter, Kaylee Olivas.
"I've responded to more open records requests in the six months I've been there than Joy Hofmeister did her entire second term," responded Supt. Walters. "Kaylee. I'll tell ya. I'll check on it tonight. I wasn't familiar with it. I'll go check on it."
Supt. Walters was unable to provide examples of schools where pornographic material was found after the Norman meeting on Thursday.
"I would have to go look. I don't remember the precise school that it was in. Those digital catalogs are important to this, to when you give access on a digital catalog, you're enabling multiple kids across multiple schools inside a district to have access to those materials. And that's where it is important that the physical books, there's no access, but it's also important that these digital copies aren't sitting there in libraries for kids to check out. Transparency is key. Parents need to have access to all the materials their kids have, and our schools have to clean up their bookshelves," stated Supt. Walters.
He did mention Owasso Public Schools allegedly having an inappropriate book on their shelves and refusing to take it down as of Thursday night.
Supt. Walters also pointed the finger of blame to outside vendors providing inappropriate reading materials to school libraries, so we asked who's to blame: the school or the outside vendor?
⏩ Find more Top Stories from KFOR.com
"Let me be clear. It's all the above. School districts will be held accountable in my administration for pushing pornography, for allowing access to inappropriate materials. They will be held accountable. It is unacceptable. They have to get them out of the classroom. They are responsible for what goes on their shelves and what goes in their classrooms. I will continue to support the efforts of our schools to clean themselves up. And I appreciate the ones that are. But school districts have to clean it up. Vendors will clean it up or they won't do business with the state of Oklahoma. And so we have got to continue this fight to make sure that we have got our schools off of indoctrination entirely and focus on academic outcomes for kids," explained Supt. Walters.
Holcomb told KFOR their department has received nearly 350 records requests since January.
"All but 30 of those requests have been executed (fulfilled), with the remaining requests currently being processed. We've provided your outlet with many responses and we will continue to do so as quickly as possible," said Holcomb.
The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office told KFOR its received "multiple complaints" that OSDE is not filling open records requests in a timely manner.
"The law requires a responsive government that is open and transparent. Attorney General Drummond will take all appropriate action to ensure full compliance," said the AG's Office.
OSDE Chief Policy Advisor, Matt Langston said the department was working on pulling the information together for our request.
He explained the reason behind a 100-day waiting period is dependent on the type of request, the volume of requests that are received, and the staffing to pull the requests.
The Managing Editor for The Frontier and Freedom of Information Oklahoma President-elect, Brianna Bailey said their paper is having an issue with obtaining records from OSDE as well.
"We have reporters on our staff that have also faced lengthy delays in getting records back from the State Department of Education. And it's very frustrating because we're just trying to do our jobs. And, you know, some of these requests are just even for pretty basic stuff that would be easy to fill," stated Bailey. "It is a lack of transparency. You know, our state government works for us. We pay our state officials and we deserve to know how our tax dollars are being spent and how the people we voted for are doing their jobs. Our government, we deserve open and transparent government. The leaders of the State Department of Education, you know, on up to Ryan Walters should be held accountable for that. We want to know actually what is going on, like, how do we accurately report the truth if we don't have the documents to do so?"
Bailey said there is no current state law that requires Oklahoma agencies to fulfill records requests within a certain time frame.
Oklahoma Senator, Julia Kirt (D-Oklahoma City) told KFOR on Friday Oklahoma faces a challenge because the law states records must be fulfilled within a "reasonable" time, but there is no definition for how long "reasonable" may mean.
"That means government interprets it all kinds of different ways. So like, you could go a year without getting your records response, you could go weeks and weeks. You might never hear back. So what is prompt and reasonable has all been decided by the courts, and that is a concern. My constituents kept asking about accountability. How are we making sure there's not corruption in government, that transparency is needed? People need to know that they can trust the government," said Sen. Kirt.
She's concerned with the 100-day wait on an Open Records Request.
"That's just way too long. I mean, 100 days. Think about how much time that is in a student's life. That's half the school year. That's really dangerous to me. Now, some requests might take a while to put together if it was a statewide detailed request. I can see why it takes a while, but for something to take 100 days, especially when it's about our schools and what's happening with our kids like that concerns me," added Sen. Kirt.
Sen. Kirt has previously pushed for a change in law when it comes to deadlines.
Senate Bill 89 was introduced in February 2023. If passed, there would have been a 10-day deadline. It passed the Judiciary Committee, but didn't go any further.
She based the bill off of researching how other states handle open records requests. For example, Delaware law says a request must be completed within 15 business days. Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana must complete requests within three business days.
16 states, including Oklahoma do not have a set time frame.
"If the governmental group couldn't get the records requests together in that time period, they could give a notification to the person who asked and then put it off. But I mean, I had a lot of people pushing back, especially from small communities that might not have a lot of staff. They were saying that was too much for them," explained Sen. Kirt.
She plans to still push for open records request related legislation during the 2024 session. She said KFOR's struggle to obtain records is part of the reason why there should be a deadline in place.
"I've been following this. We need to know if there's pornography in schools. Absolutely. My kids are in public schools. My neighbors are in public schools. I don't think that's true. There's not pornography in public schools. Show me the records. All we've seen are these generalized statements. There has to be a record if we're going to make claims like that. Otherwise, it's dangerous to our kids and it's dangerous to our teachers," she stated. "Something like a claim about pornography in schools should be backed up immediately. That should not be something that waits, something about safety should be dealt with very quickly now."
Sen. Kirt told KFOR the excuse of being understaffed doesn't cut it. She said she has a constituent who runs a four person agency, but they respond to records requests within two to three days.
"They feel bad if they take longer than two days because they feel like it's their responsibility. They're a public, they're a state entity. They feel like it's their responsibility to respond quickly," said Sen. Kirt. "I think it's our responsibility. I think a lot of times as the legislature, we get to see things the public doesn't get to, and I don't think that's fair. Our records should be available to the public as well, because I want the public to know that their government's doing the right thing. And when we're not, we need to fix it."
She said it's not just Supt. Walters who should be held accountable for what happens at the OSDE. She said the State Board of Education should be just as much in the hot seat.
"We have to look at who all is responsible for what's going on right now. The Governor can hold the State Superintendent accountable for some of these things," said Sen. Kirt.
As of Friday night, News 4 has submitted yet another request through the OSDE asking for proof of the nearly 350 records requests.
Tags
Who is online
501 visitors
Ryan Walters is rowing Oklahoma up Stitt Creek!
I've been in a lot of classrooms over the many years I've been alive and I have NEVER seen any pornography there. I've never been in a classroom in Oklahoma though so... Maybe it's an Oklahoma thing.
No it is not. Ryan Walters is full of shit...
So yes, he is full of shit.
Remember he did say that Tulsa Race Riot wasn't about racism so how in the world can anything this dipweed says be taken seriously.
He said, "“I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of your color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist.
“That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals. Oh, you can, absolutely. Historically, you should: ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’
“But to say it was inherent in that … because of their skin is where I say that is critical race theory. You’re saying that race defines a person. I reject that.
“So I would say you be judgmental of the issue, of the action, of the content, of the character of the individual, absolutely. But let’s not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined it.”
He may be inarticulate, he may be an asshole and he may be ignorant but he didn't say that the perpetrators weren't racists.
I'm well aware of what he said and this is part of what he said.
If skin color didn't determine the Tulsa Race Riots what did? Does he think that they were celebrating an Oklahoma football win. If he doesn't believe that race doesn't define a person in this instance he really needs to get his head out of his ass. The blacks of Tulsa were maimed and killed their home and businesses burned to the ground because they were BLACK and the killers killed them because they were white the twisted logic used to excuse this asshole and downplay Tulsa is mindboggling.
Maybe he meant that not all white Tulsa residents didn't participant, only the most racist ones did.
What percentage of white residents participated in the massacre?
Please, you're now stretching the bounds of any credibility.
Enough to destroy over 1250 homes and businesses, enough to destroy a large part of Greenwood. Enough to overwhelm armed blacks trying to protect their property and lives. Enough to kill 300 blacks.
In other words, ''MORE THAN ENOUGH".
How so? Wasn't the KKK percentage of white residents then about 4.5%
I wouldn't know, that seems to be your area of expertise. Perhaps you could give us a breakdown of KKK, non KKK but known racists, just plain racists and white trash in Tulsa.
Sounds a lot like to 2020 "summer of love" liberals touted as "mostly peaceful".
Difference is, Greenwood is only one city...liberals tried to destroy several blue cities.
Wrongo, again! Not even close. Quit lying!
OK so how about letting our members know exactly what I was "lying" about (BTW...calling someone a liar is a violation).
My guess is you will either use a meme or some far left source to prove your point.
A point that will inevitably be wrong.
That wasn’t a question on the 1920 Census. I read estimates of 3000 armed white men participated which is a about the same number of estimated KKK in the city at the time.
Damn, looks like OK learned how to slow walk stuff from our very own Biden JD!