News report: Ryan Walters loses chief of staff, latest agency defection

A local television news station has reported a third executive-level staffer working for state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has left the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

News 4 Oklahoma at KFOR reported Friday it has been told by numerous sources Jenna Thomas, chief of staff at the agency, resigned from her post earlier this week. The Oklahoman was unable to independently verify the report.

When asked by The Oklahoman on Friday about Thomas' possible departure, Dan Isett, the education department's director of communications, replied, "We do not talk about personnel issues, nor are there any changes for the top roles at the agency."

At least two other top employees at the agency, the leaders of the accreditation and legal divisions, also have left in recent weeks. Isett has refused to provide copies of resignation letters submitted by employees who have departed the agency, even though those are considered public documents under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. The Oklahoman has nine outstanding open-records requests filed with the agency and hasn’t had any such request filled since last October.

Thomas did not return a text and email message from The Oklahoman on Friday and efforts to reach her Saturday were not successful. State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, told The Oklahoman on Friday he had received an email from Thomas' work address that morning, an indication she was working at the agency that day.

If Thomas indeed has left, her resignation will have been the latest high-profile departure to have impacted Walters' administration since he took office at the start of 2023 and the third since just the beginning of this month.

March 1 was the last day of work for Ryan Pieper, the agency's executive director of accreditation. He previously confirmed to The Oklahoman both he and the agency’s general counsel, Bryan Cleveland, were stepping away from their posts.

Asked about the agency's departures this week, state Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said he's "watching" what's happening with interest.

"I don't have a lot of insight as to what led to those," Treat said. "But I'm watching it, because one of the most critical things we do is public education and that agency's extremely important to delivering that product."

Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said turnover in institutional knowledge in any organization is concerning "from the outside looking in. ... For myself, it's important. We spend time insuring we maintain the best people possible, because these state agencies and these institutions, having institutional knowledge, helps the functionality, helps the institution meet its mission."

McCall said Tuesday that he hadn't spoken to Walters about the departures.

"We have talked regarding some other issues this session regarding education," McCall said. "He's not mentioned any concern to me that he has regarding (agency departures)."

Walters' administration currently is involved in numerous controversial issues.

McCall said March 18 lawmakers would consider putting limits on the ability of Walters' agency to spend state funds for personal promotion, following a report it spent $30,000 to hire an outside public relations firm to set up national media interviews for the superintendent.

Walters' agency also is defending itself against a lawsuit filed against Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education on behalf of a Moore Public Schools student who seeks to change their pronouns in school records.

The student's request violates a policy the state board approved in January that prohibits school districts and local schools from “altering sex or gender designations in past student records" without its authorization.

Meanwhile, Walters' legal team was turned away this month from participating in a case before Oklahoma's Supreme Court that seeks to overturn the creation of Oklahoma's first religious charter school. His agency has unsuccessfully sought to be allowed to enter arguments into the case three times.

An advocacy group known as the Human Rights Campaign also recently started a "Remove Ryan Walters" campaign, featuring a website that opposes his administration.

Should Thomas' departure raise concerns about the agency's direction under Walters?

While turnover is routine any state agency when its elected leadership changes, the number of departures at the education department have been surprising, especially those this year.

Pieper's role as the agency's executive director of accreditation and Cleveland's role as the agency's general counsel handled significant responsibilities that impact both the agency the school systems it serves.

If Thomas too has left, that means the agency has lost the CEO that runs its daily operations until the post can be refilled.

Just through September of 2023, about 86 employees had left the agency since Walters took office.

While it wasn't clear if they quit or were fired, what was clear was they represented a broad spectrum of positions, departments and seniority levels.

Those who left during Walters' first year on the job included Terri Grissom, who wrote applications for competitive federal grants for the state Education Department for five years and Michelle Strain, whose work focused on crisis counseling, suicide and bullying prevention, school climate, homeless student services and more.

“I would think that it has a direct impact on the type and amount of services you can provide to schools,” Strain said about the resignations, after she had left her post last year.

“I don’t know all the positions that have been vacated, but I can tell you that when we lost people in our department even before I left, for any reason, it meant a reduction in service.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters chief of staff at Oklahoma education department has resigned, report says