School officials 'failed to prove' teacher violated law by helping students get books, prosecutor says

The Oklahoma State Department of Education "failed to prove" a teacher acted unlawfully in a controversial case about teaching gender and critical race theories, an assistant state attorney general ruled Wednesday.

Assistant Attorney General Liz Stevens said in a recommendation issued after a hearing that state school officials had not proven that former English teacher Summer Boismier violated state law when she covered her classroom bookshelves with red butcher paper that read, “books the state doesn’t want you to read.” Boismier also posted a QR code to Brooklyn Public Library, giving students online access to banned books.

“I find that the State Department of Education has failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that (Boismier) has willfully committed an act of moral turpitude and then violated the standards of performance and conduct for teachers,” Stevens said.

While no decision was made on the status of Boismier's teaching license Wednesday, state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has said he intends to finalize her license revocation in August.

Walters had ordered his staff to investigate a few teachers for “indoctrinating” students and has been publicly calling for Boismier's license to be revoked since last year.

"Four of the five teachers in revocation hearings have voluntarily surrendered their teaching licenses. Boismier is the only one that is contesting her license," Walters said Wednesday in a statement provided to The Oklahoman, a member of the USA TODAY Network. "I appreciate the transparency today and we will be finalizing the revocation of her license in August. Accountability is tough and we will not have indoctrination in the classroom."

Teacher had covered bookshelves, provided QR code to Brooklyn Public Library

Boismier was an English teacher at Norman High School who resigned after a parent complained about her classroom display.

Rather than remove the book collection until every title could be reviewed as required under a controversial Oklahoma law that prohibits certain concepts on race and gender from being taught in schools, Boismier covered the shelves days before the Aug. 19 start of school.

“Brooklyn Public Library stands with Summer Boismier and all the librarians and educators who champion intellectual freedom," Linda E. Johnson, president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library, said in a statement Wednesday. "Limiting access or providing one-sided information is not just cowardly, it is a threat to democracy itself and we will not sit by while books rejected by a few are removed from the shelves for all.”

Although Stevens said state school officers had failed to prove Boismier broke the law, the Oklahoma State Board of Education "has full control, no matter what the recommendation is," Education Department press secretary Justin Holcomb said, and does not need to abide by Stevens' recommendation.

Revoking a teacher's state license requires a vote of the state Board of Education, which Walters leads.

What books were discussed at the hearing?

Boismier resigned from Norman schools last year and now lives out of state.

“As far as ideology goes, I do believe the classroom is an inherently political space,” Boismier told The Oklahoman last year. “I do not mean partisan. Speaking is political, but silence is also political. If I had no choice but to be political, I’m going to err on the side of compassion and inclusivity. I couldn’t promise the district that I wouldn't do it again.”

Much of the hearing revolved around discussion of the book, “Gender Queer,” Maia Kobabe’s autobiographical graphic novel about exploring sexuality and gender, which has topped lists of “banned books” nationwide. Some of the memoir’s explicit content has been derided by critics, including Walters, who accused Boismier of providing “pornographic materials” to students, an accusation Education Department attorney Bryan Cleveland echoed Wednesday.

Following an exchange with Boismier that her attorney later described as “contentious,” Cleveland argued for Boismier’s license to be revoked, saying she deliberately promoted “sexually explicit material” and “critical race theory” to her students.

“With respect, I would suggest that she’s been fighting my questions and resorting to false denials because she knows that if she admits the truth, she has no defense,” Cleveland said. “‘Gender Queer,’ she clearly endorses and promoted to her students as appropriate.”

During the hearing, Boismier said she did not have “Gender Queer” within the roughly 500 titles on the shelves of her classroom library, had never used excerpts from the book in class, and did not own a copy of it.

She also stated that the QR code provided an online link to an application for an eCard to the vast Brooklyn Public Library, not any specific book.

'It's nothing more than fill-in-the-blank bigotry'

Still, Boismier reiterated her opposition to House Bill 1775, which she believes will make it difficult for teachers to cover topics and ask hard questions about history and literature.

“It is nothing more than fill-in-the-blank bigotry, targeting our marginalized communities, specifically Black, Indigenous, persons of color and members of the queer community,” Boismier said. “This is not about books.”

Brady Henderson, Boismier’s attorney, said the claim that “Gender Queer” being on Boismier’s shelf relied on the testimony of one adult and that no other witnesses were heard to corroborate the claim.

He also said no evidence was presented of alleged instruction of “Gender Queer” to students.

“Even on its face, if we assume everything that the state says is true here, we would be down to really a complaint of possession, and saying, ‘You possess a book we don’t like,’” Henderson said. “This is the essence of exactly the problem in aggressive censorship and book bans.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: School officials 'failed to prove' teacher violated book law, AG says