Bills to enhance student safety, ensure accountability

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Adair legislator said he will introduce two bills next month aimed at enhancing student safety, and ensuring transparency and accountability in Oklahoma’s classrooms.

Senate Bill 346, by Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, addresses teacher accountability by requiring full-time teachers seeking new employment or substitute teaching to provide a written statement to potential school districts. This letter would attest to whether there were any allegations of inappropriate behavior between the teacher and students, or if there is a pending or ongoing investigation into such behavior. This measure applies to teachers who have had a criminal history record check within the preceding five years.

“Bouncing predators and problem teachers from school to school must come to an end,” Bergstrom said.

Senate Bill 348 focuses on the responsibility of school district boards and administrators to oversee instructional materials available in classrooms and libraries. The bill requires districts to adopt policies for handling objections to instructional materials, ensuring a timely resolution process. Under this legislation, materials subject to objection must be removed within five school days and remain unavailable until the issue is resolved. Parents, legal guardians, and district residents also would have the right to contest the adoption of instructional materials or read passages from them during the objection process.

The bill also strengthens the duties of review teams under the State Textbook Committee, requiring selected textbooks be free from obscene content.

“Parents should always have access to the materials their children are exposed to in our schools and inappropriate materials need to be exposed and removed from the classroom and libraries,” Bergstrom said.