Oklahoma revokes license of teacher who gave class QR code to Brooklyn library in book-ban protest

FILE - Former Norman High School English teacher Summer Boismier holds up a T-shirt with a QR code link to the Brooklyn Public Library at the Green Feather Book Company in Norman, Okla., on Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy, File)

By NADIA LATHAN Associated Press/Report for America

(AP) — Oklahoma’s education board has revoked the license of a former teacher who drew national attention during surging book-ban efforts across the U.S. in 2022 when she covered part of her classroom bookshelf in red tape with the words: “Books the state didn’t want you to read.”

The decision on Thursday went against a judge who had advised the Oklahoma Board of Education not to revoke the license of Summer Boismier, who had also put in her high school classroom a QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library’s catalogue of banned books.

An attorney for Boismier, who now works at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York City, told reporters after the board meeting that they would seek to overturn the decision.

“I will not apologize for sharing publicly available information about library access with my students,” the former teacher posted on X. “My livelihood will never be as important as someone’s life or right to read what they want.”

Brady Henderson, Boismier’s attorney, and the office of Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment on Friday.

Boismier, a fervent reader with a passion for fantasy novels, had been teaching English for nine years when she was involuntarily thrust into the center of Walters’ campaign for statewide office in August 2022. She received threats on social media and was accused of being part of a broader movement led by teachers to influence children’s political beliefs. Boismier resigned soon after.

She said at the time that she had hoped to spark a discussion about Oklahoma legislators’ book restrictions and a new law prohibiting lessons on critical race theory and other concepts about race and gender. Instead, she was summoned to a meeting with school administrators after a parent complained.

Walters, who was a candidate for Oklahoma’s top education office when Boismier was teaching, had called on the board in 2022 to revoke her teaching license in a letter he shared on social media.

“There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom,” Walters had wrote. He accused her of providing “banned and pornographic material” to students.

Critics have expressed doubts about why only a conservative political agenda should be allowed in classrooms with no counterpoint.

Walters said at Thursday’s meeting that Boismier violated rules that prohibit instruction on topics related to race and gender. He told reporters that she “broke the law.”

Boismier has maintained that she did nothing wrong.

Teachers in public schools across the country continue to face scrutiny at the local and state level as lawmakers in Republican-led statehouses push forward with book bans and radically restrict curriculum on issues related to race, gender, and sexuality, such as in Iowa and Utah.

___

Lathan is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.