Tulsa School Superintendent Deborah Gist is battling Gov. Kevin Stitt, some state officials and at least three school board members who are tired of how the schools are being run.

Here are some of the unresolved controversies.

• At the request of two school board members, Stitt called for a special audit of the Tulsa Public Schools. State Auditor Cindy Byrd will conduct the audit over whether the Tulsa Public Schools mishandled public funds.

Gist said she welcomes the audit and will cooperate fully.

• Gist responded to Stitt’s audit request by calling it “overkill” and criticized Stitt’s personal finances.
• Three board members – Dr. Jerry Griffin, E’Lena Ashley and Jennettie Marshall – walked out during the middle of a special school board meeting last week, forcing the scheduling of at least two more meetings to handle district business.
• After the walkout, Griffin called for Gist’s resignation.

“Her attacks on the Governor of this state are outrageous and her personal attacks on an individual Board Member subject [our] school system to great financial liability. I will be preparing a petition for removal from office, for cause if she refuses to resign. Last night was a Pyrrhic Victory for the children of Tulsa – and we can’t afford anymore,” said Griffin.

• Gist has drawn criticism for not enforcing the state law against teaching Critical Race Theory, which blames white people for systemic oppression of minorities.
• Oklahoma Secretary of Education Ryan Walters, the Republican nominee for State Superintendent, said, “Tulsa Public Schools has continued to ignore state law that prohibits public schools from teaching Critical Race Theory. Indoctrination will not be taught in our classrooms, and our children will not be the victims of the left’s woke agenda. Woke policies are not welcome in Oklahoma and consequences will be taken against any school district that chooses to violate HB 1775.”
• Stitt wants to know how TPS has spent the more than $200 million dollars it received in COVID federal relief funds. Tulsa stayed closed longer (over 300 days) than any other district in the state during the pandemic. “Board members, parents, students, and teachers deserve to know how that money was spent,” Stitt said. “I am also concerned that TPS may have violated state law, specifically HB 1775, which bans public schools from teaching critical race theory. Specifically, the bill prohibits teaching that ‘one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.’”
• The board and Gist went into closed session last week to discuss the resignation of Devin Fletcher, the Chief Equity and Talent officer with the district. Fletcher monitored the district’s curriculum, instruction, and school improvement initiatives.

Last year in June, TPS approved a contract with a company named “Snicklebox” for services related to the talent management of district personnel.

Gist said the district discovered it was missing about $20,000 and began an investigation.

Tulsa police are looking into the situation.

• TPS is considering the proposed sale of $6.2 million in school bonds from the technology-focused portion of the district’s 2021 bond package to Bank of Oklahoma Financial Services, which had the lowest bid in a sealed, competitive process run by the district’s financial adviser, Edmond-based Municipal Financial Services.

Gist’s husband, Ronnie Jobe, works for BOK. Gist’s has said that his work has nothing to do with school bonds.

But as part of a special board meeting this month, the district disclosed that an investigation is underway into claims that the Atlanta-based contractor made payments to TPS employees and that the district had already stopped using the contractor’s services.