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State Board approves dozens of waivers and exemptions, issues accreditation warnings and schedules hearings
Summary
In a special Oct. 9 meeting the board approved textbook-fund flexibility waivers, multiple library-media exemptions and waivers for alternative education, issued an accreditation warning for one district, and took formal disciplinary steps including emergency suspensions, voluntary surrenders and scheduling of due-process hearings.
State Superintendent Lindel Fields convened the Oct. 9 special meeting and the board moved quickly through a range of deregulatory and disciplinary items.
On education-service waivers the board approved statutory waivers to allow flexibility in the use of state textbook funds for multiple districts (70 O.S. § 16-114a) after a motion by Board Member Brian Bobek. The board also approved district requests for exemption from library-media specialist certification (70 O.S. § 3-126) and a broad set of library-media services waivers under OAC 210 provisions, allowing alternatives such as trained paraprofessionals, shared media specialists across sites, partnership arrangements with public libraries, and short-term adjustments to service hours for the 2025–2026 school year. Waivers to permit abbreviated school days for alternative education programs and cooperative-agreement waivers for alternative education pursuant to Title 70 § 1210.568 were also approved for numerous districts.
The Office of Accreditation presented recommended accreditation warnings; the board voted to table items (1)–(15) to the next regular meeting and approved item (16), Western Heights Public Schools, for an accreditation warning under OAC 210:35-3-201 as recorded.
The board convened in executive session under 25 O.S. §§ 307(b)(4), (7), and (8) to discuss legal matters related to appeals, emergency suspensions and certificate-revocation proceedings, then returned to open session and took actions recorded in the minutes. The board approved several applications for emergency orders summarily suspending teacher certificates (including Andrew McGann, Treva Thompson, Forrest Mazey and Nadeena Lavarnway) and set hearings before an administrative law judge for listed matters. For two other named educators (Anthony Arnold Sr. and Valerie Hartless) the board set matters for hearing without summary suspension. The board accepted multiple voluntary surrenders of certificates and granted or denied OSDE dismissal motions as reflected in the roll-call votes.
The board also set due-process hearings where appeals had been filed (Tyler Kimrey, Miranda Currier, Bryan Till) and accepted findings of fact and conclusions of law from the administrative law judge in Russell Bailey’s case. Several items were tabled for future meetings as noted in the minutes.
