TULSA, Okla. — On the front page of the Oklahoma State Department of Education, website is a video titled Tulsa Accreditation.
The video was posted around 10:45 Thursday morning and featured local news clips dating back to 2009, giving "a timeline of the failures" at Tulsa Public Schools, said Walters' PIO Matt Langston.
After the clips, Walters said he will do whatever it takes to ensure that every child has an opportunity to be successful. He said TPS leadership is not currently doing that.
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This comes after OSDE was audited by the federal government for its disbursement of COVID relief funds.
The audit found half the total funds were given to 1,073 families not suffering at all. It also found a deliberate plan was concocted to give preferential treatment to certain schools.
Walters did not provide any solutions to the failings he says are happening at TPS in the video.
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About half of the clips in the video are from before Dr. Deborah Gist became superintendent in 2015.
Walters and Gist have made headlines recently amid Watlers' threats to pull TPS's accreditation.
Thursday evening TPS released a statement responding to Walters's video.
We have a plan, Pathways to Opportunity [tulsaschools.org], which is grounded in the science of reading, strong literacy outcomes, and hands-on post-secondary learning opportunities for our students.
Our publicly elected local school board holds us accountable for this plan, and we are achieving and exceeding the targets that the board has set for us. Our focus on reading and math will lead to gains in Spring 2024 state test scores at Tulsa Public Schools.
We continue to work alongside the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s School Support Team to implement targeted interventions to increase student achievement. We are eager to incorporate the State Superintendent’s specific strategies once he shares his plan with us.
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