The demand stemmed from a plaintiff request in a lawsuit over a law commonly referred to as House Bill 1775, which prohibits certain discussions of race and sex in classrooms. In June, U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin issued a temporary injunction over parts of HB 1775 and accompanying rules, rendering them unenforceable for now.
After former Norman teacher Summer Boismier’s certificate was revoked in August, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs claimed the decision was partially due to Boismier allegedly violating HB 1775. Those claims were based on the state department’s application to revoke her certificate and the review documentation from a hearing officer.
“The facts… suggest that the revocation hinged, in part, on a now-enjoined provision of the act’s implementing rules,” plaintiffs wrote.
Boismier had provided students with a QR code to the online Brooklyn Public Library, where banned books could be accessed.
Last week, in response to the plaintiffs’ request, Goodwin ordered the board to turn over its revocation order and documents that explained its decision.
The revocation order, filed Thursday, lists several rules of conduct it says Boismier violated. And while it says she did violate HB 1775, it does not cite which parts — only that the parts are not subject to the injunction. It is unclear which provisions of the partially enjoined law Boismier allegedly violated without specificity.
A timeline of shifting allegations and findings
The department’s February 2023 application to revoke Boismier’s certificate cites two claims against Boismier: that she allegedly violated the standards of conduct for teachers in “promoting explicit sexual material to minors,” and provided “unlawful racist instruction.”
The first count refers to Boismier allegedly providing access to the book “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe, which includes scenes about sex, and other titles the department found objectionable. Boismier had covered her classroom bookshelves in red paper and written on them, “Books the state doesn’t want you to read.”
According to the application, after receiving a complaint from a parent about the classroom display on the first day of the 2022-2023 school year, the district reviewed the contents of the bookshelf, identifying three books the district “regarded as inappropriate,” including:
- “Gender Queer”
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
- “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
However, a June 21, 2023 review conducted before a state department-appointed hearing officer, Assistant Attorney General Liz Stevens, found disputed evidence as to whether “Gender Queer” was on the bookshelves.
“No corroborating evidence of its existence in the classroom, like a photograph, was introduced,” Stevens wrote. “If a copy of ‘Gender Queer’ did exist in [Boismier]’s classroom library, it was covered from students’ view with opaque paper with the rest of the classroom library books, per district guidelines.”
In the summer preceding the 2022-2023 school year, the district notified all teachers of a protocol for reviewing classroom library books. According to the application, the guidance required teachers to review their books and remove any that violated the guidance or cover the books until they had time to review them.
Stevens’ report did not say if the other two books alleged in the February application were found on the shelves.
The application said the parent complaint “concerned a display in Boismier’s classroom and comments made by Boismier during a high school English 2 class that included that parent’s child.” But it also said the parent complaint at issue “concerned the book ‘Gender Queer,’” and the parent “complained that the book had inappropriate sexual content for her child.”
Stevens’ review references the parent complaint concerning the display and comments made by Boismier during class, but does not mention a parent complaining about ‘Gender Queer.’
Also on the covered shelves was a QR code linking to a website from the Brooklyn Public Library where students could apply for a free library card and virtually access thousands of titles, including a “Books Unbanned” catalog, which featured banned books.
According to reporting by Oklahoma City news station Fox25, the parent said she discovered “Gender Queer” when she scanned the QR code and saw a reading event for the book scheduled on the library’s website.
The application lists 23 books available through the Brooklyn Public Library it said contain inappropriate sexual content or “unlawful racist concepts.”
It goes on to allege that because Boismier provided access to “explicit sexual material” and “‘Gender Queer’ in particular,” she committed an act of moral turpitude, which is against the Standards of Performance and Conduct for Teachers. It also specifically cites passages from another book on the list, “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, for sexual content.
But, Stevens’ review found the department “failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that [Boismier] willfully committed an act of moral turpitude or has violated the standards.”
“Specifically, there was no evidence presented that [Boismier] used the three identified books — “Gender Queer,” “Lawn Boy” or “Stamped” — in class instruction or otherwise shared the books with students,” Stevens wrote. “Furthermore, the evidence showed that the QR code shared by [Boismier] linked to a library card application page, and there was no evidence presented that any of [Boismier’s] students obtained a Brooklyn Public Library card or accessed any of the books through the Brooklyn Public Library.”
The second count in the application alleges Boismier violated three sections of the rules the board created to implement HB 1775:
- A prohibition on “discrimination on the basis of race or sex in the form of bias, stereotyping, scapegoating, classification, or the categorical assignment of traits, morals, values, or characteristics based solely on race or sex.”
- A prohibition on instruction that “members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex.”
- And a prohibition on instruction that “meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race.”
The application alleges Boismier “encouraged students to read the book ‘Stamped’ with the intent of violating these rules … during her high school English 2 class.” To support the allegation, it quotes Boismier telling Fox25 she is a “walking HB 1775 violation.”
Stevens’ review said the board did not provide “clear and convincing evidence” that Boismier violated the three rules based on HB 1775.
“Specifically, there was no evidence presented that ‘Stamped’ was in [Boismier’s] classroom, that [Boismier] used “Stamped” in class instruction or activity, or otherwise shared the book with students,” Stevens wrote.
Ultimately, Stevens recommended that Boismier’s certificate should not be revoked.
The road to revocation
The board voted to suspend Boismier’s license on June 28 and ordered board attorney Cara Nicklas to “prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law … that reflect a decision to revoke [Boismier’s] teacher certificate.”
Nicklas prepared the order and instructed board members about what they were voting on at the August State Board of Education meeting.
“At the June meeting, the board voted to modify the hearing officer’s recommendation and direct me to write the order that relies solely on the written record,” Nicklas said. “That order has been provided to you, and it’s simply, you are authorizing the chair of the board to sign off on it.”
That revocation document was not read aloud or made publicly available until Judge Goodwin’s order.
Boismier’s attorney, Brady Henderson, did not respond to a request for comment, but he told The Oklahoman newspaper when Goodwin’s order came down that it would force the board to work around HB 1775 or face litigious consequences.
The revocation order is similar to the original application. It adds that the board “need not prove a student actually accessed a book on the district’s list of prohibited books as a result of Boismier’s posting” of the QR code.
“Appellant need only prove Boismier intended to circumvent the district’s prohibition of the subject books by directing her students, through the QR code, to the prohibited books,” the order said. “The overwhelming evidence proves Boismier’s intent was to entice her students to read the electronic books on the prohibited books list in defiance of HB 1775.”
It finds that Boismier “willfully violated” three sections of the teacher conduct standards “by circumventing district policy” and HB 1775, though it lists no explanation in its conclusions for the latter violation — only a footnote that says:
“Nothing in this order is intended to rely on provisions of [HB 1775] that are subject to or contrary to the Order on Preliminary Injunction.”
Department spokesperson Dan Isett said in a statement to StateImpact that Boismier lost her teaching certificate “because she failed to uphold the standards we have for Oklahoma teachers.”
“She and other left-wing radicals will stop at nothing to ignore parents and force porn into schools,” the statement said.
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