Court throws out letter in Edmond Public Schools vs. OSDE lawsuit due to lack of credibility

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A mystery letter from a so-called Edmond Public Schools parent to the Oklahoma Supreme Court defending the State Department of Education's actions has been stricken from the record due to a lack of credibility.

Edmond Public Schools officials are asking for the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to rule on whether or not the Oklahoma State Department of Education has the authority to decide which books public schools can have in libraries, and to punish districts for violating their rules.

Edmond Public Schools (EPS) filed multiple legal challenges on February 20.

One of the challenges asks the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to rule whether the power to choose school library books lies with local school districts, or with the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE).

EPS also petitioned the court to file an injunction to stop the OSDE from taking any action against EPS until the court decides on the first challenge over OSDE’s jurisdiction.

EPS leaders say—legally—the OSDE has them between a rock and a hard place.

“EPS is in a Catch-22 situation,” said Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald in February.

Also in February, she announced the EPS board voted unanimously to file those legal challenges, after the district received a letter from the OSDE on January 19.

News 4 obtained a copy of that letter.

It ordered EPS to remove two books—the Kite Runner and the Glass Castle—from its high school libraries, claiming the OSDE’s Library Media Advisory Committee determined the books “qualified as sexualized content” under OSDE’s rule defining sexualized content.

The letter did not cite specific excerpts within the books it deemed as violating the rule, but claimed both books include descriptions of certain sexual encounters.

Neither book contains pictures or illustrations of any kind. Both are text-only.

“This is an ongoing subversion of accountability. Edmond Public Schools not only allows kids to access porn in schools, they are doubling down to keep pornography on the bookshelves. Parents and kids should have the confidence of going to schools to learn. Instead of focusing on education, EPS has chosen to peddle porn and is leading the charge to undermine parents in Oklahoma.”

State Superintendent Ryan Walters (R)

The Oklahoma State Department of Education has been relatively silent in the lawsuit, but attorneys for the agency have now filed a response.

One of the attorneys representing OSDE and State Supt. Walters is the daughter-in-law of former State Superintendent Janet Beressi.

"[Edmond Public Schools] has brought the wrong action at the wrong time in the wrong court," reads OSDE's response to the lawsuit. "[Edmond Public Schools] attempts to turn the Oklahoma Supreme Court into a trial court, and administrative tribunal, and a library committee."

The filing further argues the district hasn’t met the burden for the Oklahoma Supreme Court to assume original jurisdiction in the case. They argued OSDE acted legally within its right to set the rules.

OSDE's attorneys state the school district seeks to introduce hearsay and slanted news coverage to distract from the State Board of Education's established authority to promulgate rules at issue. The filing adds the district is engaging in a "slippery slope."

OSDE strongly holds it's acting in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, which states the procedure for proposed rules to be sent to the Governor and the Legislature.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond released an Opinion last year which said no state agency has the authority to create administrative rules unless the Legislature first enacts a related law.

OSDE's attorneys in this case claim that Opinon "misconstrues relevant statutes and precedents."

The filing states the Board has passed an administrative rule at least 22 separate times in the last two years either alone or in concert with another statute without specific rule-making authority.

Another filing, now adding to the fiery twists and turns of this case, is a letter submitted directly to the Oklahoma Supreme Court by a Randy Santosa claiming to be an "Edmond School Parent."

On February 21, a letter was filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court Clerk signed by a "Randy Santosa, Edmond School Parent."

However, Edmond Public Schools claims district records do not show any district parent by that name, and the phone number provided in the letter is registered under a different name.

The school district explains in a court filing how the letter does not seek to address the pure question of law at issue and attempts to insert the writer's opinion of age-appropriate books as an additional issue for consideration by the Court.

"The letter confuses the issues and is not helpful to the Court or either party," court records say.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court dropped the letter from evidence on February 26.

News 4 tried to retrieve a copy of the letter from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, but because it's been stricken from the record, a copy wasn't able to be provided.

News 4 attempted to find Randy Santosa through the Oklahoma State Courts Network, Oklahoma voter registration records, and social media but there's no evidence a Randy Santosa exists.

The Oklahoma State Schools Boards Association and Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration have also filed records in the lawsuit that support Edmond Public Schools' claims.

"The issue of local control is important to the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. We believe that decisions are best made at the local level by the people elected by the community to their school board. The issues in the lawsuit are governed by state laws providing control to local board members and their communities," Julie Miller, an attorney for OSSBA, told KFOR on Wednesday.

Oral arguments have been requested in this lawsuit, but a date has not been set yet.