Nearly three years ago, in response to HB 1775, Boismier covered her bookshelves with red paper and wrote on it, “Books the state doesn’t want you to read,” and posted a QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned project, which contains banned books. HB 1775 prohibits certain discussions of race and sex in the classroom.
After a student complaint, Boismier resigned from the district. On social media posts, Walters called for Boismier’s teaching certificate, said there was pornographic material in some of the available books and falsely said she had been fired.
Walters later changed the statement that Boismier resigned “rather than face removal,” a claim Boismier and Norman Public Schools said is still not true.
In the suit, Boismier’s attorney argued Boismier received “numerous threatening messages and harassment that referenced the allegations made by Walters either explicitly or in substance,” and that she was “forced to move from her home in Oklahoma due to the threat of violence against her and emotional injury.”
The judge ruled that because Boismier had made herself a public figure by speaking to media outlets and writing an opinion column, she would have to have proved a higher standard of “actual malice,” which is defined as having knowledge that a statement is false or reckless disregard for the truth.
The judge agreed in the ruling that Walters should have fact-checked before posting that she had been fired, but that error alone did not warrant a jury trial.
He also said Walters’ characterization of pornographic material, given the sexual content in some of the books, did not constitute a reckless disregard for the truth.
Boismier did not return a request for an interview.
A press release from Walters’ office said the case exemplifies the “ongoing battle across the nation to preserve educational spaces that are free from political agendas.”
“We have sent a clear message that Oklahoma’s schools will remain free from political indoctrination and that our children deserve an education that is focused on core academic values, not the promotion of controversial ideologies,” Walters said in the statement.
Boismier’s teaching certificate was revoked last summer by the State Board of Education, despite a review by the Assistance Attorney General that found no evidence to back Walters claims and recommended against revoking her license.
In October, she filed a petition in the Oklahoma County District Court to overturn the revocation, saying the ruling relied on parts of HB 1775 that have been paused by a federal lawsuit.
That case is still pending.
