Rep. Mike Osburn (R-Edmond) requested the opinion from Drummond after he was denied entry to the last state board executive session, along with Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman) and Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman).
The July 31 meeting was the second time Boren had been denied entry. That day, the Office of the Attorney General said it would look into the incident as a potential violation of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.
According to state law, lawmakers who sit on relevant legislative committees are allowed to attend these sessions.
In a news release, Drummond said he will not tolerate the board’s “willful violation of the law.”
“It strains credibility and common sense that any legislator would be barred from the executive session of a state agency they oversee,” Drummond wrote in the release. “The law is clear: legislators have broad oversight authority whether an agency or board likes it or not.”
The agenda for Thursday’s board meeting is markedly different from previous ones. Though there are agenda items that usually fall under executive session, like lawsuits and teacher certificate revocations, there is no executive session on the agenda.
The lawsuits that appear to be scheduled for open session include two from Jenks Public Schools and Bristow Public Schools regarding the board’s move to overrule the districts’ decisions to deny transfer applicants.
According to court filings, Jenks suspended the transfer student in question in the spring for possession of drugs on school property. Bristow suspended its transfer student for making a bomb threat. Both districts denied the students’ transfer requests for the next school year, and the state board overruled the districts’ decisions.
Another unusual agenda item for open session is possible action on the teaching certificate for Summer Boismier, a former Norman High School English teacher who shared a QR code with students, encouraging them to read banned books.
Also on the agenda is an item for “discussion and possible action on board decision to table requests by legislators to observe executive sessions set on the agenda for the July 31, 2024 board meeting.”
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