Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, thanked Chaya Raichik at the state Board of Education’s monthly meeting, taking time to shout out the culture warrior he’s brought on to help steer education policy.
Raichik runs the X account @LibsOfTikTok, on which she posts information about LGBTQ educators.
Walters in particular thanked Raichik for sharing the social media posts and comments of people who said that they wished Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump and shot him in the ear, had better aim.
At the monthly meeting, Walters’ first agenda item, ahead of school accreditation standards, was teacher expectations regarding political content surrounding the Trump assassination attempt.
Many of the subjects of Raichik’s posts faced disciplinary action or were fired from their jobs, including Alison Scott, a high school teacher from Ardmore, Oklahoma.
Ardmore commented on a Facebook post saying she wished Crooks “had a better scope.” After Raichik posted about her, she was investigated by her employer, Ardmore High School.
“We cannot allow these individuals to continue to teach in the state of Oklahoma,” Walters said after referencing Scott’s comment. “I want to thank Chaya Raichik who brought this first to my attention of what she found online to show this hateful, nasty rhetoric.”
Through @LibsOfTikTok, Raichik has been connected to over 20 bomb threats across the country.
In response to Raichik’s initial tweets about Scott, Walters said that Scott would “no longer be teaching in Oklahoma” and that he had investigated the situation.
At the school board meeting today, the board voted to enter in an “executive session” to discuss revoking Scott’s teaching certificate. While in the closed-door session, Walters shared his post to X.
“It appears Oklahoma’s state superintendent has taken to X while in an executive session,” Oklahoma education reporter Murray Evans said on X. “He’s done this at least a couple of times before.”
Though Walters takes cues from Raichik when it comes to his duties, the two also work together officially: he appointed her to the Oklahoma Department of Education’s Library Media Review Committee in January.
Walters is also currently suing the Biden administration for its expanded Title IX rules and recently required that all Oklahoma public schools teach the Bible, a topic Walters also had on the agenda for the meeting.
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