All should have a right to speak their minds
Long after dark, there was an air of festivity and fun outside the state Department of Education building despite temperatures hovering near freezing.
Someone had hooked up a portable heater, powering it by bootlegging power from the state building. Someone else had commandeered another outlet to operate a movie projector and was using the building’s wall as a makeshift movie screen to project “Mean Girls.”
Over a dozen people — all who oppose state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ policies — were already lined up ahead of the State Board of Education meeting set to begin nearly 14 hours later.
But there was also an air of uncertainty and fear as word spread that the Department of Public Safety was considering booting — or even arresting — people waiting in line.
A security official with the agency had already tied the doors shut for the first time in recent memory using an extension cord and zip ties, and someone had hung a sign in the window with a specific provision of state law highlighted in yellow that noted the area was closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
It would have marked the first time in at least a year that DPS had decided to enforce a law ahead of the meeting that prohibits unauthorized people in the park after hours.
A public park. At the people’s state Capitol complex.
Thankfully, common sense prevailed and troopers left people be.
Because had they arrested people peacefully waiting in line for a public meeting, it would have been a black eye for all Oklahomans, made us a national laughing stock and raised serious questions about the state of our democracy.
But if we’re considering arresting people outside meetings, we’ve reached a point where it’s time to rethink how these meetings are being handled.
At first people camped out to secure a seat in the board meeting, but now it’s also to wrap up all 10 public comment slots.
The State Board of Education awards the speaking slots to the first 10 people who sign up as the meeting is preparing to begin. So now, each month, people are lining up earlier and earlier, setting up chairs and making a night of it. This month, they began lining up at 4 p.m. Wednesday for a 1 p.m. meeting Thursday.
The current process locks out other voices who have a vested interest in our public schools, like rural residents, parents with school-age children, people with disabilities and those who work night shifts.
One woman had to take a day off from work and had to secure overnight child care.
Another left Checotah at 3 a.m. By the time she arrived at 5 a.m., all speaking slots were taken.
A third person suffered from the sleep disorder narcolepsy, and said waiting in line for one night means a string of bad days afterward.
It’s time for Walters’ team to rethink how they’re handling this public comment section.
The resulting clown show is not healthy for anyone.
The best idea, I heard outside the meeting, was to implement a raffletype system. Everyone who is waiting 15 minutes before and wants to speak gets a number. State education officials then randomly draw 10 numbers, determining the speakers.
That would hopefully eliminate the ridiculous need to spend the night. It would also solve the security problems.
Such a change would guarantee that everyone has an equal chance to speak and perhaps diversify the voices that the state board hears from each month.
Because right now Oklahomans are understandably concerned about the education system. And, everyone deserves the right to participate in government and to address their leaders regardless of economic status, disability, life circumstances or political belief.
Janelle Stecklein is editor of Oklahoma Voice. An award-winning journalist, Stecklein has been covering Oklahoma government and politics since 2014.