Woke

OKLAHOMA CITY — Frustrated with religious content and polarizing language added to Oklahoma academic standards, some parents say they plan to opt their children out of “ideologically charged” social studies lessons in public schools.

Families and liberal advocates across the state, relying on parental rights laws that Republicans championed, are drafting letters to exempt their children from new social studies content that conservative leaders enacted this year.

“Now that it’s being codified and now that it’s being brought more into the public eye, the liberals have realized that those are our rights too,” Tulsa parent Lauren Parker said.

The “biggest glaring red flag” in the new social studies standards, Parker said, is language that casts doubt on the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. President Donald Trump has refused to concede defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 race, despite courts across the country dismissing Trump’s lawsuits claiming election fraud.

Under the new standards, Oklahoma high school U.S. history classes will be required to have students “identify discrepancies” in the 2020 election results, including the “sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”

Local organization We’re Oklahoma Education, or WOKE, is distributing sample opt-out letters through social media. Members of the group are known for regularly attending state Board of Education meetings and protesting Walters.

The organization has about 200 active volunteers in Oklahoma and 1,000 followers on its social media and email lists, director Erica Watkins said.