Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters has built his career on moral outrage. He crusades against books, bans lessons on systemic racism, and positions himself as a protector of children. But now, the same man who claims to be shielding students from so-called "porn" in public schools finds himself under investigation for nude images shown during a State Board of Education meeting—in his own office.
Both board members demanded accountability, calling the incident disturbing and inappropriate. Carson said she told Walters to turn it off immediately. Walters responded with confusion and disbelief, according to witnesses, claiming he didn’t know how to shut it off. Yet he never apologized. "He just acted like a teenager caught doing something wrong," Carson said.
His spokesperson, Quinton Hitchcock, dismissed the story as a "junk tabloid lie," attacking media outlets and board members alike.
But this isn’t the first time Walters has leaned on moral outrage to mask deeper failures, once sending graphic images to lawmakers, claiming the pictures appeared in school libraries. He formed a committee, including anti-trans extremist Chaya Raichik, to root out porn in schools. He even tried to stock Oklahoma classrooms with Bibles modeled after Donald Trump’s preferred edition.
Now, the man who brands inclusive education as a "radical agenda" is on the defensive.
Even Republican lawmakers who previously supported Walters now question his judgment. Rep. Dick Lowe, who briefly joined the executive session, said the incident was deeply inappropriate. "Shocked would be an understatement," Lowe said. "We're going to do the right thing."
Board member Deatherage put it plainly: "Any teacher caught with this on a screen would face immediate discipline. Why should the superintendent be treated differently?"
Walters has made enemies out of librarians, educators, and students. He has accused public schools of grooming children while elevating religious indoctrination and political dogma. He tells parents he’s saving their children from depravity, all while ignoring the real crisis in Oklahoma classrooms: his state's public school ranking was recently lowered to 50th in the nation, just ahead of New Mexico.
This piece was first published by The Black Wall Street Times & Nehemiah Frank on Substack.