In a striking story this morning, The Oklahoman recounted yet another glaring example of the Stitt Administration’s work to put “show” over “substance.” According to the Nuria Martinez-Keel article dated June 19, 2022, the Governor’s goofy plan to enlist state agency employees as substitute teachers was a complete bust.

Those of us who actually value education and educators were shocked when he announced his plan “to keep schools open” using state employees. Remember, this was during the state’s Omicron surge.

There are a few things to note here:

1. Governor Stitt has no respect for education or experience. It shows in this glaring example where he believes any warm body can step into a classroom and “teach.” But it also shows in his appointments of people like Gino DeMarco to the board of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, where he literally replaced a board certified doctor! Prior to that, Mr. DeMarco was tangled up in the Swadley’s scandal. Before that, DeMarco was responsible for the bungled — and potentially illegal — spending of state CARES Act money.
   Let’s note that Mr. DeMarco has ZERO qualifications for ANY of these positions.

2. Governor Stitt had no plan to roll this out. It was literally just something he and his hand-picked Secretary of Education, Ryan Walters, dreamed up at the last minute. Surely someone in a position with the title “Secretary of Education” would look into the requirements and process for substitute teaching and advise his boss about what was necessary. In a competent administration, that might have been the case.
   But competent leadership is sorely lacking in this administration.

3. Oklahomans had among the highest per capita deaths from COVID.
   I’ll say that again. Oklahomans suffered among the highest per capita deaths — because Governor Stitt put his own political ambitions ahead of the lives of Oklahomans. Yes, keeping kids in classrooms is the best way to educate kids. But we shouldn’t expect teachers or state employees to risk their own lives during a pandemic that is killing thousands of friends, family, and loved ones.

The bottom line is that we should ALL be tired of the constant attempts by Governor Stitt to “pull the wool” over our eyes.

We aren’t dumb. We aren’t blind. We just want you to be competent and show us some respect.