Oklahoma
Okla. Schools Boss Goes Around the Bend With New Conspiracy Theory
A Chinese-made Graco car seat is visible behind Oklahoma Superintendent for Public Instruction Ryan Walters as he sits in his vehicle, going full-out nuts in a video he would then post on X (formerly Twitter.)
“Good afternoon, Oklahomans, I’ve been looking more and more into what’s going on at Tulsa Public Schools, and it’s just been unbelievable to find out that they’re one of the only schools in the country taking money from the Chinese government,” he says in the Aug. 3 post first reported by Tulsa World and the Oklahoman.
Walters looks and sounds like a right-wing zealot as he alleges that the Tulsa Public Schools is accepting money intended to sabotage America.
“You have communist China that is giving money to Tulsa public schools in order to try to undermine our United States government, our country,” Walters continues. “It’s unbelievable.”
One reason it may be unbelievable is the fact that it does not appear to be true. The Tulsa Public Schools did have one high school teacher, Lin Tao, of Booker T. Washington High School, attend a professional development program at the International Leadership of Texas. The Texas entity partners with Confucius Classroom, which is linked to the Chinese Ministry of Education. But Tulsa Public Schools pays Tao’s salary. Not so much as a yuan comes from China.
“Tulsa Public Schools does not receive money from the Chinese government, as Oklahoma State Superintendent Walters has alleged without evidence,” the Tulsa Public Schools said in a statement to The Daily Beast on Monday.
When reached by the Daily Beast, Lin Tao sounded a lot less like somebody who is party to undermining America than a teacher who is what every kid in America should have.
“All I want to do is give the best to my students,” she said.
Tao sounded wary and ended the interview after that. She had good reason to be careful. Back in August of 2022, Walters called for a Norman high school English teacher named Summer Boismier to lose her teaching license for providing students with a QR code that linked to banned books via the Brooklyn Public Library. The teacher had already resigned, saying she did not think she could accommodate Oklahoma’s new anti-woke edicts.
And in recent days, Walters has been talking about stripping the entire Tulsa School system of its accreditation, at least ostensibly due to poor academic performance, but also because it perpetuates “radical left ideology.”
Walters has in the past described teachers unions as “terrorist organizations.” but he is the one who is scaring teachers across Oklahoma. Jamie Lee, a U.S. government and history teacher in the Tulsa suburb of Bixby, told The Daily Beast that she and her colleagues are required by state law to cover the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Holocaust, but are also required to do so without talking about race or making the subject matter controversial. And they know that their ultimate judge is Walters, who caused a stir last month by insisting that the Tulsa Race Massacre was not about race.
“And so then it’s just a constant fear of someone misinterpreting what you’re talking about or someone just not liking what you’re saying,” she said. “You’re constantly fearful of ‘What if a parent who doesn’t like what I’m saying gets a hold of my lesson plan, takes it to the State [Education] Department and complains about me and I just lose my job overnight.’”
When it comes to China, Walters’ information apparently originates from such right-wing outfits as Parents Defending Education, which released a report late last month titled “Little Red Classroom: China’s Infiltration of American K-12 Schools.” The report includes Tulsa among seven school districts supposedly with “Chinese government backed programming,” adding to the paranoia by noting they are “near 20 U.S. military bases.”
The Parents Defending Education report prompted a July 30 Daily Mail story headlined “Now China is Funding America’s Public Schools.” The article included a map of the “School District with ‘Little Little Red Classrooms’ Still in Operation.” They prominently include Tulsa Public Schools.
“It’s just a constant fear of someone misinterpreting what you’re talking about or someone just not liking what you’re saying.”
— Jamie Lee
It would seem likely that Walters would target a teacher who participates in a program that he describes as part of an effort to undermine America, but he might have a harder time bullying Tao than some other teachers. Tao’s classroom was one of the stops when Frank Brogan, then U.S. assistant secretary of education for elementary and secondary, visited Booker T. Washington High School and two other Oklahoma schools three years ago. He was accompanied by U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-01), who issued a press release.
“Within moments of walking into Lin Tao’s International Baccalaureate Chinese classroom, where fourth-year students were working on a writing assignment, Brogan marveled at the fluency with which Tao’s students spoke Chinese as they bantered with her,” the release said.
The release quoted Tao telling Brogan, “I always say about the kids: How far you push them—that’s how far they can get.”
Last year, two of Yao’s students placed among the top three in the 2022 National Chinese Language Speech Contest. Kailen Brown finished first out of more than 550 contestants. Hericberto Hernandez finished third.
Meanwhile, the school system where Walters terrorizes and demoralizes teachers ranks 47th in the nation.
Oklahoma
Alabama's upset loss to Oklahoma completes wild day in college football as rankings could look a lot different
Entering Saturday night, all No. 7 Alabama needed was a win against unranked Oklahoma to remain very safe in the College Football Playoff bracket.
Earlier in the day, No. 5 Indiana was blown out, No. 4 Penn State barely squeaked by Minnesota, and No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 14 BYU both lost.
But, the Crimson Tide could not get the job done, as Oklahoma dominated to a 24-3 victory.
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Defensive end R Mason Thomas of the Oklahoma Sooners gets his hands in the face of quarterback Jalen Milroe of the Alabama Crimson Tide at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23, 2024, in Norman, Oklahoma. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who had been one of the nation’s best players, had his worst game of the season. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 164 yards with three interceptions and gained just seven yards on 15 carries for Alabama (8-3, 4-3). The Sooners held Alabama to 234 yards. He went just 2-for-7 for 62 yards before the half.
True freshman Xavier Robinson ran for career highs of 107 yards and two touchdowns as Oklahoma became bowl eligible and took coach Brent Venables off the hot seat.
The Sooners’ victory resulted in yet another edition of fans storming the field too early, but at least this one was practically over anyway, unlike the BYU-Arizona State game.
Oklahoma students and fans rush the field after they efeated Alabama, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Norman. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
APPALACHIAN STATE FANS PELT JAMES MADISON PLAYERS WITH SNOWBALLS BEFORE GAME
Ole Miss and Alabama, both in the bracket prediction last week, now have three losses on the season. This leaves the door wide open for 9-2 teams like Clemson and Iowa State, who had been ranked 17th and 22nd in the nation, respectively.
And now, Indiana’s college football playoff hopes, right after their undefeated season ending, may not look all that over. No. 10 Georgia and No. 11 Tennessee figure to move up a few spots with three teams ahead of them in the rankings all losing.
Although, it’s certainly not out of the question that Alabama could be on the outside looking in.
Oklahoma spirit team member celebrates after a touchdown against Alabama, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Norman. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
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The next rankings will come out on Tuesday, and it should be very exciting to see what the committee has in store.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
No. 7 Alabama football should have defeated unranked Oklahoma. But the Crimson Tide didn’t.
Oklahoma had only won one SEC game all season. It wasn’t even bowl eligible before Saturday.
Then, the Alabama offense failed to score a touchdown and sputtered for much of the night. The Crimson Tide defense couldn’t stop Oklahoma’s rushing attack when the game was still close.
Alabama turned the ball over three times, with three Jalen Milroe interceptions.
As a result, the Crimson Tide fell 24-3 to the Sooners on Saturday at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
“There is no excuse,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “None. Everybody saw it. Whoever was watching the game. We lost, and we’ve got to take it on the chin and keep learning from that.”
Alabama (8-3, 4-3 SEC) gave up 325 yards, with 257 yards, on the ground to Oklahoma and two touchdowns. Oklahoma (6-5, 2-5) had the nation’s 90th ranked scoring offense entering the game.
“Our job was to out-execute those guys, and we fell short tonight,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, the Alabama offense tallied only 234 yards, with 164 through the air and 70 on the ground, to score only a field goal.
Milroe, who gashed LSU on the ground two weeks ago, couldn’t get anything going with his legs with only seven yards on 15 carries.
“They had a great game plan for us,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “We’ve just got to get a hat on a hat. We have to execute better.”
The Alabama players who took part in interviews postgame showed a clear and intentional interest in moving on quickly from the result and performance in Norman.
“So what? Now what?” Booker said. “Can’t do anything about what just happened. What we can do is make sure we prepare our tails off.”
Next up is a matchup with Auburn in the Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium to close out the regular season. Alabama won’t make the SEC Championship Game, but it might not yet be eliminated from the playoff just yet. The Allstate playoff predictor on Saturday night gave the Crimson Tide a 31% chance to still make the postseason.
“Got a big game next week,” Booker said. “Got to put all of our focus and energy there. Can’t do anything about what just happened. We’ve got to put all of our focus and energy into next week.”
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
NORMAN, Okla.–– Alabama has one final road test to pass in the regular season if it wants to compete for an SEC title and make it back to the College Football Playoff.
The No. 7 Crimson Tide plays at Oklahoma on Saturday night in the first matchup as conference foes in the SEC. BamaCentral will have coverage all night from Norman. Follow along for updates.
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(latest updates at the top)
Who: Alabama (8-2, 4-2 SEC) vs. Oklahoma (5-5, 1-4)
When: Saturday, Nov. 23, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium
TV: ABC/ESPN+
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Tyler Watts).
Series: Oklahoma leads 3-2-1
Last meeting: Alabama defeated the Sooners in the Capital One Orange Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff 45-34. Tua Tagovailoa passed for 318 yards and four touchdowns while the Crimson Tide rushed for 200 yards across 42 carries between Josh Jacobs, Damien Harris and Najee Harris.
Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide dominated Mercer 52-7 at home behind three touchdowns from Jalen Milroe and two touchdowns from Ryan Williams. The Alabama defense forced three more turnovers as they’ve now forced 16 in the last five games, making life challenging on opposing offenses.
Last time out, Oklahoma: The Sooners were off this past week, but went to Missouri two weeks ago and lost 30-23 after losing a fumble for a touchdown in the game’s final minutes. Oklahoma’s played five conference games and only won at Auburn this season.
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