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KOKH evening anchor Wendy Suares confronts Oklahoma schools chief Ryan Walters over his resignation announcement.
The state schools chief used local Fox affiliate KOKH's studio to make the announcement but ran away when anchor Wendy Suares had some questions.
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s embattled state superintendent who built his political brand on far-right culture wars, announced his resignation on Wednesday night on Fox News. But it was what happened immediately afterward that captured the mood of his tenure: Walters literally ran from local reporters.
The announcement itself, delivered not to Oklahomans but to a national cable audience, was already unusual. Walters revealed he would step down to lead the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a conservative nonprofit vowing to “destroy teachers’ unions.” He made the declaration from the studios of KOKH, the Fox affiliate in Oklahoma City. The station had agreed to let Walters use its set with the understanding that he would take questions from its journalists once the live interview ended.
That did not happen.
Instead, as KOKH evening anchor Wendy Suares later recounted on X, formerly Twitter, Walters bolted. “When @OKCFOX agreed to let @RyanWalters_ use our studio for his interview with FOX national, we made clear we were going to talk to him afterward,” Suares wrote. “I’ll post the video of what happened next. In the meantime, his new position is posted online.”
The clip she posted begins as Walters exits the studio with an aide, weaving quickly through the newsroom’s corridors. Suares and a camera operator trail him with pointed but measured questions: “Ryan, you just mentioned online that you’re going to work for this non-teachers union. What do you want to say to Oklahomans who might feel like you’re bailing out on them? Can you tell us when you’re stepping down and when this job is coming to a close for you? … Did [angling for this new job] interfere with your job for Oklahoma?”
Walters, under whose leadership Oklahoma became 50th in the nation in education performance, never turns his head. He does not slow down. He does not acknowledge the journalist beside him. His aide ushers him toward an exit as if escaping an ambush.
Suares summed up the moment, writing, “We had several questions for @RyanWalters_ as he left our studio. We still do.”
The footage ricocheted across social media, crystallizing the image of an official who relished national platforms but evaded local accountability. For many Oklahomans, it symbolized a broader frustration: that Walters, while imposing sweeping directives on schools, from Trump Bible mandates to Turning Point USA clubs, often treated questions from educators, parents, and journalists as distractions rather than obligations.
His hasty departure did little to quiet critics who had long called for new leadership. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican running for governor in 2026, said Walters’ tenure was marred by “never-ending scandal and political drama” and left the state’s test scores “at historic lows.”
Teachers’ unions also welcomed the news. “Today is a good day for Oklahoma’s kids,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told The Advocate. “It’s no surprise that Mr. Walters, after failing on the job, is leaving the state. Any educator worth their salt understands it’s impossible to educate students if you don’t support teachers. Walters didn’t do that in Oklahoma and now, at a time we need to bring the country together, he’s trying to export his divisive rhetoric nationally.”
LGBTQ+ advocates, who had clashed repeatedly with Walters over his efforts to erase Two Spirit history and demonize transgender youth, said his resignation marked a turning point. Oklahomans for Equality called the moment “pivotal,” while GLAAD spokesperson told The Advocate that the “Walters era will be defined by his failures, a permanent record that will follow him wherever he goes.”
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