Oklahoma teacher Regan Killackey fighting to keep his teaching certificate over Facebook photo
The Oklahoma Department of Education is attempting to revoke a teacher’s teaching certificate over a surfaced Facebook photo.
Edmond Memorial High School English teacher Regan Killackey may lose his license after an anonymous tipster sent a photo from his private social media account to the Department of Education.
A copy of the photo obtained by Oklahoma watch shows Killackey and his children posing with plastic swords pointed at a person wearing a Donald Trump mask in September 2019.
The photo was used as evidence in a request to revoke his driver’s license. At a July 31 meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education, the department announced that they would proceed with the process to revoke his license.
“Well, first of all I was shocked. And second of all I thought it was some kind of mistake or a joke or something,” Killackey said KVOR.
Teacher Regan Killackey could lose his license over a September 2019 photo of his children posing with plastic swords pointed at a person wearing a Donald Trump mask
An anonymous tipster sent a photo of the Edmond Memorial High School English teacher (pictured) in the days following the attempted assassination of Trump in July
“I’ve spent my entire career at Oklahoma State and have been teaching for 21 years. I’ve been blessed and fortunate to have this career.”
The tipster sent the photo a few days after the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
“On his personal Instagram account, he posted a photo of the fictitious candidate donning a fake presidential candidate mask,” the tipster said, according to documents obtained by Oklahoma Watch.
“I am a tax payer (sic) and will NOT condone this type of indoctrination of our youth. Please look into this issue.”
According to the Ministry of Education, the revocation procedure is a legal procedure that gives teachers the right to a hearing with witnesses and legal representation.
Killackey said he learned the state wanted to revoke his teaching license when his name appeared on the agenda for the July 31 meeting.
Killackey said he was shocked when he heard the department was trying to revoke his certificate and initially thought it was a joke
Killackey learned that the department wanted to revoke his license when his name was on the agenda for a July 31 meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education
“No one in Oklahoma’s education system will support the murder of. It will not be tolerated. Ever!” Republican state Superintendent of Public Education Ryan Walters said on X.
Walters, a former public school teacher who was elected to office in 2022, campaigned on combating “woke ideology,” banning books from school libraries and firing “radical left activists” who he said were indoctrinating children in the classroom.
He previously made headlines when he instructed teachers to incorporate the Bible into their lessons and keep a copy of the holy book in every classroom.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court in June ended his efforts to have the state Board of Education determine what books are available in public school libraries.
The board, led by Walters, had recommended that the suburban school district pull two books from the school — “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls — after new rules were approved in June 2023 banning sources with pornographic and sexualized content.
Republican State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (pictured) decried the photo and campaigned to ban “radical leftists” from classrooms
In April, Walters ordered schools to “completely ignore” Joe Biden’s new rules aimed at advancing LGBTQ rights for children.
Walters criticized the president’s overhaul of Title IX as “the most devastating attack on women’s rights in the history of our country.”
‘In Oklahoma, we will not bow to the senseless will of Biden and his gang who are eradicating women’s rights and endangering women
“That’s why I’ve instructed all school principals in my state to completely ignore Biden’s new changes to Title IX. These changes allow men to walk around in women’s locker rooms, dormitories, and restrooms. These are places where women should feel safe.”