I still follow news from Oklahoma and Tulsa almost daily. I've been loosely following as the Epic Charter School saga has unfolded over the last year or so. A couple of articles from the Tulsa World had me curious why Governor Stitt has been so steadfast in running interference for Epic. Has anyone started looking at prior business relationships between him and principals of Epic?
Apparently anything at Epic hasn't risen to criminal proportions as they are still open for business. It just seems like oversight of Epic has been incredibly slipshod and there's almost like a cult surrounding this charter school. I'm not sure I'd heard of Epic prior to moving away from Tulsa. Who do they appeal to? Are they some sort of church-affiliated group that started this? I know Stitt is a deep fundie and big school voucher advocate so that sort of made sense he'd be a fan. From the sounds of it, Epic has been incredibly profitable for a few in it's administration and board.
I'm surprised I've not seen much chatter on the issue, curious if anyone wants to chime in. First he removes the president of the virtual learning board because he's been leading an investigation into Epic. Then Stitt removes a state BOE board member who wanted to pull back $11 million in funding from Epic and wanted a mask mandate in schools. Then Stitt's replacement for the board declines the position claiming intimidation and Stitt goes off on teacher unions, etc. She's also a rabid anti-masker.
Stitt is a really troubling governor between injecting an overtone of almost religious cultism and some seriously blatant corruption running interference for Epic, or is that part of his self-appointed religious mission as well? What troubles me even more is if he were to be indicted at some point prior to the next election, I can see him getting reelected.
https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/stitt-removes-board-president-leading-inquiries-into-epic-charter-schools-and-board-member-conflicts-of/article_130a8a24-2608-11eb-bef1-438bf1547bb6.htmlhttps://tulsaworld.com/news/local/gov-kevin-stitts-new-appointee-to-state-board-of-education-backs-out/article_c2cd31e6-38d2-11eb-a9f0-b3c50aca8766.html#utm_source=tulsaworld.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=a3596d1651fd2cc87a5a98a0071079fbea7fd2c4