(This story was updated to add new information.)
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond criticized state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education on Wednesday for delaying the purchase of emergency asthma inhalers for public schools.
In a four-page letter, Drummond said education officials must act quickly to make sure public schools have access to the inhalers. “Waiting more than a year to ask for guidance, changing procurement methods multiple times and now requiring school districts to individually procure emergency inhalers is neither speedy or responsible,” Drummond wrote.
Walters had requested the legal guidance from Drummond on Aug. 12, hours after The Oklahoman reported that the Education Department had, for more than a year, refused requests from several state lawmakers to work with the Brendon McLarty Memorial Foundation to purchase emergency asthma inhalers for all 509 public school districts across the state.
Drummond’s response was blunt.