Officials in Oklahoma have revoked the license of a former teacher who protested book banning in the state.
On Thursday, the Oklahoma Board of Education revoked the license of Summer Boismier, despite orders from a judge advising against such a move, The Associated Press reports.
In 2022, Boismier drew national attention with her protest amid surging book ban legislations in red states.
She reportedly covered part of her high school classroom bookshelf in red tape with the words “Books the state didn’t want you to read” and also displayed a QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library’s catalogue of banned books.
Boismier, an English teacher for nine years, received several death threats and was accused of indoctrinating students. She subsequently resigned as a teacher and now works at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York City.
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters said at Thursday’s meeting that Boismier “broke the law” by violated rules that ban instruction on topics related to race, gender and sexuality.
But Boismier maintains that she did nothing wrong.
“I will not apologize for sharing publicly available information about library access with my students,” she wrote on X/Twitter. “My livelihood will never be as important as someone’s life or right to read what they want.”
Revoking a teacher’s license is usually an extreme penalty often reserved for educators who commit criminal wrongdoing. Boismier’s attorney said they they will seek to overturn the board’s decision.
