TPS Accreditation Status Lowered After State School Board Found Violation

In a 4-2 vote, the State's School Board decided lowered the accreditation for Tulsa Public Schools.

News On 6 has learned more about the complaint filed by a teacher that started the process. The violation happened in August of 2021.

The teacher said they were mandated to attend three classes and the teachers said it was in the second class the violation occurred.

A Memorial High School teacher sent a letter in February to the State Department of Education expressing their concern with the training put on by Tulsa Public Schools.

News On 6 obtained a copy of that letter: "To Accreditation Standards Division: Please accept the following report about a violation of HB 1775 at my school, Memorial High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am a certified science teacher at Memorial High School and am being told by Tulsa Public Schools administrators that I must complete a mandatory set of 3 compliance courses through Vector Solutions - Vector Training, K-12 Edition. The 2nd compliance course contains a section that includes statements that specifically shame white people for past offenses in history, and state that all are implicitly racially biased by nature. I have attached pictures from the videos I have been forced to watch this semester. Please let know if you need more information. I am happy to cooperate with your investigation. I am reporting this straight to your department because, after searching for over an hour, I could not find any resources on Tulsa Public School's website that direct a person to the process of reporting violations. There are no procedures listed anywhere, which is another violation of HB 1775. Thank you for reading and investigating my report."

The State Department of Education investigated that claim and the attorney said there was a violation, and the department of education recommended the board lower the accreditation status.

"We did go through that audio with the training slides and that was what led to our determination there was a violation of the statue rule," said Brad Clark, Oklahoma State Department of Education Attorney.

The audio was not released. “The public hasn’t even seen what the violation was. The public hasn’t even seen the materials that were taught to the teacher. The public paid for it," said Rep. Regina Goodwin.

State lawmaker Regina Goodwin, who represents Tulsa, was at Thursday’s board meeting and said she would like to see Tulsa Public Schools be more vocal on this issue.

TPS' new accreditation status has been lowered to "Accreditation with warning."

That means a district or individual campus fails to meet one or more state standards and that deficiency seriously detracts from the quality of the school’s educational program. It is a step up from accredited with probation. The warning does not impact state funding.

Goodwin now worries about what this means for the district's future. “Warning says that you have really not been the district that is deserving of families moving here, not deserving of anybody that thinks we’re able to handle conversations as it relates to race," said Goodwin.