For now, State accredits TPS with
deficiencies.
On Aug. 22, Dr. Deborah Gist, who has
served as superintendent of Tulsa Public
Schools since 2015, announced her intent
to resign “in order to keep control of our
schools where it belongs — in Tulsa with
our elected Board of Education.”
Senior Director of Student Engagement
Dr. Ebony Johnson will serve as interim
superintendent following Gist’s depar-
ture.
Gist’s resignation comes amid recent
developments in Oklahoma State Su-
perintendent of Public Instruction Ryan
Walters’ and the Oklahoma State Board
of Education’s campaign against TPS.
When the State Board of Education held
its yearly accreditation vote for Okla-
homa schools in July 2023, it postponed
TPS’s accreditation vote until Aug. 24, at
Walters’ request. Due to this unexpected
delay, parents and students did not know
whether their schools would remain open
when the 2023-2024 school year began.
The state’s campaign against TPS has a
long history. In July 2022, the State Board
of Education voted to demote TPS’s ac-
creditation from “accredited with no de-
ficiencies” to “accredited with warning”
following a complaint that TPS had vio-
lated HB 1775 which, among other things,
prohibits public and charter school em-
ployees from teaching about race or sex
in a way that could make individuals “feel
discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other
form of psychological distress.”
Amy Cook, a former teacher at Memo-
rial High School, alleged that a training
video reminding teachers to be conscious
of their potential inherent biases as well
as the historical biases against minor-
ity populations violated state law. Nearly
80% of Memorial High School’s students
are students of color, and approximately
84% of its students live below the poverty
line.
Furthermore, Walters and Governor
Kevin Stitt have criticized TPS for a “po-
tential mishandling of public funds.” In
April 2023, both an internal and external
audit requested by Gist showed that for-
mer TPS Chief Talent and Equity Officer
Devin Fletcher mismanaged district funds
by inappropriately authorizing nearly
$364,000 to third-party vendors, ac-
cepting more than $50,000 from vendors
and authorizing vendors to pay $37,000 in
bonuses to other TPS employees.
Gist has emphasized that this miscon-
duct is “an isolated incident that is about
one employee” and expressed that she is
“as outraged — or maybe even more than
anyone — about [it] having happened.”
She also noted that these findings were
self-reported by TPS’s internal audit and
that most of the misappropriated funds
came from donations, not the state.
Stitt and Walters have also targeted
TPS for reprimanding a TPS board mem-
ber who led a public prayer at last spring’s
graduation, pivoting to remote instruction
during the COVID-19 pandemic, respect-
ing the rights of its LGBTQ+ students and
employees by using individuals’ correct
names and pronouns, and promoting di-
versity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
TPS has also faced criticism because of
its substandard academic performance but
other school districts with similar aca-
demic proficiencies have not been threat-
ened with accreditation downgrades.
Gist will continue serving as superin-
tendent until Sept. 15. In her resignation
letter, she stated, “[i]t is no secret that our
state superintendent has had an unrelent-
ing focus on our district and specifically
on me.”
On Aug. 24, two days after Gist an-
nounced her plan to resign, the State
Board of Education updated TPS’s ac-
creditation status to “accredited with defi-
ciencies.” Walters stated that, with Gist’s
exit, TPS had “root[ed] out a cancer in the
district that caused so many problems.”
He went further, telling the district, “I
would advise Tulsa Public Schools and
their leadership: Do not test me.”
If the State Board of Education revokes
TPS’s accreditation entirely, the dis-
trict will be defunded and closed to over
33,000 students; a status of probation
would place control of TPS in Walters’
hands, rather than the local school board
and superintendent.