During the first week of the school year at Skiatook High School, Erich Richter assigned his class a research paper about the world’s beginning.
However, parents like Olivia Gray (Osage) and her husband, Jim Gray, a former principal chief of the Osage Nation, said they were concerned. They said the world history assignment posed questions that were visibly Christian-focused and unrelated to the class.
“What is morality and what is sin and the devil and all this — like that doesn't have anything to do with World History,” Olivia Gray said during a phone interview.
Days later, Richter told his class that as a former marine, sometimes he gets violent, according to Gray.
Gray is the founder of the Northeastern Oklahoma Indigenous Safety & Education or NOISE, a grassroots organization striving to help families affected by the Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis.
Because of her advocacy work, she voiced apprehension about Richter teaching her daughter and other minors, prompting a meeting with school administrators.
“Look, this is what I do,” Gray said. “I know people like this. …And I can tell you, from my experience, he's not OK to be around these kids. … You don't know how many of these kids go home and see their dad hurt their mom. And this was probably so triggering for any kid like that.”
In the meeting, Skiatook Superintendent Rick Loggins tried to reassure the Grays the district takes their concerns seriously and is looking into them, Gray said.
In an interview, Loggins declined to say whether Richter is allowed to teach and coach football while under investigation. Loggins said the way his district handles personnel matters is confidential.
Richter is a non-certified adjunct teacher, which Loggins said has become more prevalent in Oklahoma because of a teacher shortage.
“He was one of very few applicants for the position because other districts can be a little more competitive in their compensation,” Loggins said about Richter.
Resources are available for new teachers to better their capabilities as educators, including mentors and what Loggins called "curriculum teams" geared toward a specific subject that meets weekly.
“My understanding, in this assignment, he did not confer with his mentor teacher or his principal before giving this assignment,” Loggins said.
Gray criticized Richter's world creation assignment for its lack of direction in length and weak sentence structure.
“I understand there's a teacher shortage, but there should still be some minimum standards and expectations for people that come into these classrooms with our kids,” Gray said.
According to Loggins, Skiatook Public Schools does not enforce Ryan Walters' Bible directive, which requires using the Bible as “instructional support” in classrooms for grades 5 through 12 “where standards are applicable.”
He further explained the assignment Richter gave to students did not align with the scope and sequence of the class.
“I believe for students to be critical thinkers, they have to be exposed to a lot of things,” Loggins said in a Zoom interview. “They have to be exposed to different views so that they can make their own decisions. And that's the goal we have here at Skiatook.”
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
