Attendees sit in overflow seating in a hallway connecting to the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting room in August 2023 in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Brent Fuchs/For Oklahoma Voice)
For several months now, I’ve felt like we’ve been forced to witness a petty middle school break up between two popular kids and a teenage-angst debate about who can sit at the cool kids’ lunch table.
The problem is we’re not in middle school any more, and we’re all watching a group of dunces – who we’ve entrusted with a great deal of power – throw a very public temper tantrum, weaponize our Open Meeting Act and attempt to make unilateral decisions over who should be classified as media.
And nobody is showing an iota of leadership. (I’m looking at you, high-ranking Republicans: Attorney General Gentner Drummond, Gov. Kevin Stitt, state Superintendent Ryan Walters, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall and every other elected lawmaker who has any shred of influence.)
The latest drama surrounding state Board of Education meeting access hinges around who should be seated in an overflow room that I’ve secretly nicknamed the “loser lounge” or “reject room” depending on the occasion.