A former Norman High School English teacher filed a petition in Oklahoma County District Court to overturn the Oklahoma State Board of Education’s decision to revoke her teaching certificate.
According to the petition, the order to revoke Summer Boismier’s certificate violated federal and state constitutional provisions, was a breach of authority and followed unlawful procedure, among other complaints.
The issues listed in the petition include infringement of Boismier’s First Amendment guarantee to free speech, a lack of due process in the proceeding, a lack of authority to prohibit outside reading materials and the heavily political and inappropriate nature exhibited.
The petition requests the court have the OSBE repeal the order to revoke and return Boismier’s certificate to good standing, process the renewal of the certificate and compensate for court and legal fees.
Boismier’s teaching certificate was suspended by the OSBE on June 27 by a unanimous vote, citing her “willful” violation of House Bill 1775 by intentionally sharing access to prohibited books to students. Her certificate was revoked on Aug. 22, according to The Oklahoman.
The books in Boismier’s classroom had been concealed pursuant to the district guidelines of Norman Public Schools, however, a QR code to Brooklyn Public Library Books Unbanned, an online library that hosts free e-books for novels that have been banned, was posted in the classroom.
In a post made on the social platform X, State Superintendent Ryan Walters wrote that there was no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom.
“Ms. Boismier’s providing access to banned and pornographic material to students is unacceptable, and we must ensure she doesn’t go to another district and do the same thing,” Walters wrote.
In another post, Boismier said she would not apologize for sharing publicly available information about library access.
“I fully intend to fight this revocation and the law that enables it: HB 1775,” Boismier wrote in the post.
A date has not been decided to hear the petition yet.
This story was edited by Ana Barboza and Ismael Lele. Riley McDaniel and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
