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News from the South - Oklahoma News Feed

Education Department Seeks to Buy Bible Lessons for Elementary Kids

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oklahomawatch.org – Jennifer Palmer – 2025-02-21 21:04:00

Education Department Seeks to Buy Bible Lessons for Elementary Kids

While its effort to buy Bibles for classrooms is tied up in court, the Oklahoma Department of Education initiated a new vendor search to purchase materials containing Bible-infused character lessons for elementary-aged students. 

The department is looking to buy supplemental instructional materials containing age-appropriate biblical content that demonstrates how biblical figures influenced the United States. Additionally, the materials must emphasize virtues, significant historical events, and key figures throughout Oklahoma history, according to bid documents published Friday. 

The request for proposals doesn’t specify how many copies the state wants to buy, only that the vendor must be willing to ship directly to districts. 

Like the Bibles the department sought in the fall, this request could be challenged under the state constitution, which prohibits public money from being spent for religious purposes. 

“This RFP seems to be another constitutional violation,” said Alex Luchenitser, an attorney for Americans United for Separation of Church and State and one of the attorneys representing Oklahomans in the Bible lawsuit. 

“It seeks to inject the Bible into public school curricula, and only refers to the Bible and doesn’t refer to any other religious texts, so it’s clearly a move to push Christianity,” he said. 

The Education Department wants the character materials to align with Oklahoma’s new social studies standards, which have been revised to contain more than 40 references to the Bible and Christianity, compared to two in the current version. But the proposed standards haven’t been approved.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is expected to present the standards to the Board of Education at its next meeting, scheduled for Thursday. It will be the first time the board meets since Gov. Kevin Stitt replaced three members. If approved, the standards will move to the Legislature for consideration.

The standards review committee included several nationally prominent conservatives: Dennis Prager of PragerU, David Barton of the Christian Nationalist organization Wallbuilders, and the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts. 

While standards guide what schools are to teach, school districts have sole authority to choose curriculum and books. 

In November, the state abruptly canceled a search to buy 55,000 King James Bibles, an effort that attracted criticism for appearing to exclude all Bibles except an expensive version endorsed by President Donald Trump. 

Walters vowed to reissue that request, but a coalition of parents, students, teachers and faith leaders asked the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to block the purchase and Walters’ mandate to teach the Bible. 

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services, the state’s central purchasing agency, also wants to wait. It asked the court for an order allowing it to delay the new Bible request for proposals until the case is resolved. Two OMES employees are named in the lawsuit.

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The post Education Department Seeks to Buy Bible Lessons for Elementary Kids appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

News from the South - Oklahoma News Feed

Family sues Roblox, accusing them of failing to protect kids from predators

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www.youtube.com – KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 – 2025-09-02 23:17:25

SUMMARY: An Oklahoma family is suing Roblox, accusing the popular gaming platform of failing to protect children from predators. The suit centers on a 12-year-old girl allegedly groomed and sexually extorted by a man posing as a 15-year-old boy. According to court documents, the predator coerced the girl into sending explicit photos, threatened to kill her family, and manipulated her using Roblox’s digital currency. The family claims Roblox is a “hunting ground for child predators” and profits from these dangers. Roblox states it has safeguards and recently announced plans to better detect risks. The lawsuit does not specify damages sought.

Family sues Roblox, accusing them of failing to protect kids from predators

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News from the South - Oklahoma News Feed

Thousands of State Employees Still Working Remotely

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oklahomawatch.org – Paul Monies – 2025-09-02 06:00:00


Over 8,500 Oklahoma state employees work remotely at least part-time, mainly due to limited office space. Following Gov. Kevin Stitt’s December executive order mandating a return to the office, agencies show varied telework rates. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s remote work rose from 12% to 59% amid office renovations, while the Department of Environmental Quality reduced remote work from 30% to 1%, complying fully with the order. The Department of Human Services still has over 80% teleworking due to space shortages. Exceptions to the return-to-office policy include off-hours workers, field employees, and those needing additional office space. About 30% of state employees telework overall.

More than 8,500 state employees are working remotely at least some of the time, with the arrangement mostly from a lack of space at agencies. 

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services compiled the latest numbers after a December executive order issued by Gov. Kevin Stitt mandating a return to the office for state employees. 

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the Department of Environmental Quality went in opposite directions on remote work in the second quarter report. Just 12% of employees at the Corporation Commission were on remote work in the first quarter. That jumped to 59% in the second quarter. The agency has relocated as its longtime office, the Jim Thorpe Building, undergoes renovations. 

Brandy Wreath, director of administration for the Corporation Commission, said the agency has a handful of experienced employees in its public utility division who work out of state and were hired on a telework basis. Some other employees are working remotely because of doctor’s orders limiting their interactions. The agency got rid of space and offices in the Jim Thorpe Building before the renovations started. The building project is expected to be completed in the next six months. 

“At Jim Thorpe, we were right-sized for everyone to be in the office,” Wreath said. “Whenever we moved to Will Rogers, we are in temporary space, and we don’t have enough space for everyone to be in every day.” 

Wreath said the Corporation Commission uses the state’s Workday system that has codes for employees to use when they are logged in and working remotely. Employees also know they are subject to random activity audits. 

“We’re supportive of the idea of having employees in the workplace and willing to serve,” Wreath said. “We also realize the value of having employees in rural Oklahoma and still being a part of the state structure. Our goal is to make sure our employees are productive, no matter where they are working. We are supportive of return-to-office, and we are utilizing the tools OMES has given us to ensure the state is getting its money’s worth.” 

The Department of Environmental Quality now has just 1% of its employees working remotely. That’s down from 30% in the first quarter. Spokeswoman Erin Hatfield said the agency, with 527 employees, is in full compliance with the executive order. Seven employees are on telework, with all but one on temporary telework status as they recover from medical issues.  

There are three exceptions to the return-to-office policy: employees whose hours are outside normal business hours; employees who already work in the field; and when new or additional office space would have to be acquired at additional cost. 

The Department of Human Services continued to have more than 80% of its 6,060 employees on some type of telework, according to the second quarter report. The agency said those numbers stemmed mostly from a lack of available office space. DHS closed dozens of county offices or found other agency office space for its employees to use in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a huge shift to remote work.  

The latest telework report covers 29,250 of the state’s 31,797 employees. About 30% of employees were on some version of telework in the second quarter. Dozens of agencies did not submit quarterly reports to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or pmonies@oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies. 



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The post Thousands of State Employees Still Working Remotely appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This content provides a fact-based report on the remote work status of Oklahoma state employees following an executive order from Governor Kevin Stitt. It presents information from multiple state agencies with no apparent favor or criticism of the executive order or political figures involved. The tone is neutral and focuses on the practical reasons and outcomes of remote work policies, reflecting a balanced approach without clear ideological leanings.

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News from the South - Oklahoma News Feed

Test taker finds it's impossible to fail 'woke' teacher assessment

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www.youtube.com – KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 – 2025-09-02 04:17:31

SUMMARY: Oklahoma’s “America First” teacher qualification test aims to weed out “woke” educators from states like California and New York, focusing on civics, parental rights, and biology. However, many find it nearly impossible to fail. Test-takers, including independent publisher Ashley, report multiple attempts allowed per question, enabling passing regardless of knowing answers, often by guessing until correct. Average Oklahomans tested struggled with the questions, highlighting the test’s difficulty and questionable effectiveness. Critics say the test’s ease defeats its purpose of ensuring teacher knowledge. The state superintendent’s office was contacted for comment but had yet to respond.

Test taker finds it’s impossible to fail ‘woke’ teacher assessment

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