History was especially revised to minimize the role of certain events that could undermine the position of the government. Propaganda was rampant in the materials.

At the same time as this tour was taking place, I was reading Tulsa World headlines such as “Ryan Walters says he is considering ‘drastic action to fix’ Tulsa Public Schools (July 27)” and “assault on religious liberty from the woke left“ and other accusations about “Chinese Communism“ influence in the classroom.

Here we are, and State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ threats of using inherent state power to overthrow Tulsa Public Schools has tarnished the excitement of back to school for the students and staff.

Walters wants to control our libraries, censor our history lessons, limit free thought and require his religion in our classrooms; Constitution be damned (pardon my French; by the way all three of my children are fluent in French because of TPS schools).

Despite having taught history, he seems to be confused about what a communism-influenced classroom looks like. So my children and I would like to recommend a book we read together titled “The Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of a Cultural Revolution” by Ji-Li Jiang.

But enough about Walters; he’s had enough press coverage.

I’m in my 10th year as a TPS parent. My husband and I have kids in fifth, seventh and ninth grades and volunteer countless hours to serve their schools.

We endured teacher strikes and distance learning and stuck by our teachers when many struggled to keep students learning and engaged. Many families and teachers quit, and I know it was a difficult decision to leave.

But so many more did not quit. They stayed to support our schools.

Allow me to give a couple of examples of how TPS supports students.

I have a child who had a speech impediment that I thought was adorable. To the teachers at his school, however, they knew not using a hard “r” or a soft “th” was going to impede his learning and slow his reading development.

They enrolled him in speech therapy, at no cost to me, which he also completed during his school day, at no inconvenience to me. They accomplished this without detracting from his learning time. We watched as his reading scores dramatically improved.

I have another child who was diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases about three years ago. He missed more than 30 days of school in a single year for doctor appointments. It was hard on our family and difficult for him to focus on school.

TPS worked with us to ensure he could keep up with course work and made fair, policy-based accommodations so that while attending school, he was healthy and happy and included. He has TPS educators who continue to care so deeply for our son’s well-being. We are eternally grateful.

There are so many more examples that I have witnessed.

TPS serves more than 30,000 students and must balance the struggles of homelessness, hunger, period poverty, learning deficits, dwindling budgets and more. We are not a school district that serves one person’s ideology.

We serve all.

We don’t always get it right, and we acknowledge that. When we work together to solve these problems, we make our schools better. When we hear one another’s voices without shouting and without censorship, we find a common ground.

This is how democracy works. A school district should be run with our democratically elected leaders, not with dictatorship and arbitrary ultimatums.

Thank you to TPS for not giving up on kids, and I’m not giving up on TPS!