TULSA, Okla. — The regularly scheduled Tulsa Public School board meeting ended abruptly after three board members walked out after voting no on a majority of agenda items including an audit.
Over the past few weeks, the district says it has been dealing with an issue related to the management of a contract in the district’s talent department. The incident involves payments made to a TPS employee by an out-of-state company. The money in question is not public funds, but private donations.
Last week Governor Kevin Stitt called for an audit of the district after he said two TPS school board members reached out to him about the issue.
After more than two hours, the board voted no to an independent audit, instead deciding to work in coordination with the state auditor’s investigation.
Gist says she is all for an audit, but pointed out the audit the governor is pushing for is coming out of tax-payer pockets.
“The governor called for that audit so there will be a state auditor and investigative audit because of that and Tulsans will bear the cost of that," says Gist.
She says Gov. Stitt's attack on the district started over a year ago. “What I’m mostly disappointed about along those lines is that it’s just not factually correct and it has been continued to be perpetuated for almost two years now about things that are just not factually correct and it’s really discouraging."
During the meeting two board members voted no on all agenda items and a third voted no on several items. Following the votes Gist detailed the impact that had on the district which included things like paying utility bills, continuing to work with Reading Partners for literacy and the Booker T. Washington Chinese language program.
You can watch the full meeting here, the incident in question happens towards the 2:49 time mark.
Following the votes Gist commented on the board's action saying "We are failing our students." As she listed the things impacted by the no votes those three members who voted no left the meeting. Board member Jennettie Marshall interrupted Gist to call her statement an attack on the board saying they 'had the right to vote the way we wanted to." Dr. Jerry Griffin agreed with Marshall.
The board president then called the meeting to a close, letting Gist finish her statement. Marshall, E'Lena Ashley and Griffin left the meeting as Gist detailed not being able to pay utility bills due to the votes.
E’Lena Ashley says she only left because she believed the meeting was over. When 2 News asked Ashley about Gist’s claims on Facebook she called them a scare tactic.
“I think it was a bit manipulative maybe even misleading in that teachers are going to be paid, lights are going to go on and off, the summer program should have been paid for and so that’s just another reason why we need an audit,” Ashley said.
Gist explained the impact of the no votes further in a Facebook live on the TPS page in an effort she said to keep Tulsans informed.
On Tuesday, Griffin, sent a media release requesting Gist's immediate resignation.
In an email, he sent a statement:
“Dr. Gist has become an embarrassment to those who care about restoring the educational foundation of what was once one of the finest schools in the United States. Her attacks on the Governor of this state are outrageous and her personal attacks on an individual Board Member subject are 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."
*Griffin's statement has been corrected from a previous version in which he misspelled "embarrassment"*
In an interview with one of our reporters Tuesday Griffin said, “If she's a good leader, she says she loves the children, she says she loves the school system, good leaders know when it’s time to go. Her time is up. She needs to realize that and she needs to go."
We also talked to Board President Stacey Woolley. She doesn’t agree with Dr. Griffin’s call for Gist’s resignation and wants the board to focus on students.
“I hope that today they recognize that it’s not helpful for student for someone to leave in the middle of the meeting in order to intentionally create a situation in which that meeting is no longer official,” Woolley said.
The board is set to meet again Thursday at 1 p.m.
“I look forward to our board members taking some time to reflect recenter and refocus on the families we serve before we come back together in the meeting Thursday afternoon,” Woolley said.
Woolley says the agenda will include items that weren’t approved at last night’s meeting that will allow them to pay bills.
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