By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — A senior official’s resignation letter that the Oklahoma State Department of Education has fought to keep secret raises concerns of “fundamental operational issues” at the agency.
Chief Compliance Officer Kourtney Heard resigned from the Education Department on April 4. Her resignation letter, which Oklahoma Voice obtained, alleges significant challenges, including manipulation of school accreditation, are hindering the Education Department from achieving better outcomes for students.
Heard declined to comment Tuesday. Oklahoma Voice received her letter from another former agency employee and independently confirmed its authenticity. The letter is the subject of an open records lawsuit from another media outlet, Oklahoma Watch.
Education Department spokesperson Quinton Hitchcock declined to comment on the allegations raised in Heard’s letter. He said he is unable to comment on any personnel matters regarding employees, past or present.
Heard joined the agency in April 2024 from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and now works for the state Teacher Retirement System, according to her LinkedIn account.
She wrote in her letter, addressed to state Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education, that leaving the agency was a “difficult decision” after having the privilege of working alongside talented colleagues and contributing to the department’s important work.
“The challenges faced by the agency are significant, and despite best efforts, I believe that without addressing fundamental operational issues and senior leadership attitudes, the agency will not be able to achieve the outcomes that Oklahoma students deserve,” Heard wrote.
She wrote that she witnessed the barriers to progress firsthand. Those barriers include “manipulation of school accreditation and deleting of employee review processes,” she alleged.
Her letter doesn’t include details of how the agency carried out these manipulations nor which schools and employees were affected.
Accreditation is one of the department’s top functions, as no public school can operate in the state without an accreditation status. Agency staff conduct yearly accreditation reviews of every public school and district to ensure they adhere to state regulations and to identify potential deficiencies. The state Board of Education then approves each school’s accreditation status annually.
“It is my firm belief that until these issues are addressed comprehensively, the agency will not be successful in moving the needle,” Heard wrote. “It is my hope that the agency will focus on these critical areas to ensure that future initiatives result in meaningful, long-term improvements for our children.”
Another media outlet, Oklahoma Watch, filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court after the Education Department refused to turn over records of Heard’s resignation. The publication contends it’s a violation of the state Open Records Act to withhold these documents.
The agency also rejected access to Oklahoma Voice in response to an open records request for Heard’s letter. The department now refuses to provide resignation letters from any former employee.
While responding in court to the Oklahoma Watch lawsuit, the agency contended it has sole discretion to withhold resignation records because it would violate employee privacy to make them public. It also cited a section of the state Open Records Act that permits public bodies to keep resignation documents confidential if they pertain to an internal personnel investigation.
However, the agency has refused to confirm whether such an investigation exists into Heard and other former staff members whose resignation letters are being withheld.
Releasing resignation records would only serve a person’s curiosity, not the public interest, the agency contended in court documents.
The public has a right to know what Heard’s resignation letter contains, said Joey Senat, an Open Records Act expert and associate professor at Oklahoma State University.
Resignation letters, which are generally considered public records, reveal when internal problems at a government agency prompted an employee to leave.
“Those are the kind of problems that the public needs to know about,” Senat said. “So, this is about the public’s need to know. This is clearly not about idle curiosity.
“It is our government, and we have an obligation to oversee that government.”
