OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Oklahoma State Board of Education held its first board meeting with the three new board members appointed by Governor Kevin Stitt on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Governor Stitt fired half the board, saying they prioritized politics over education.

At Thursday’s meeting, the new board members began throwing questions at the superintendent immediately into opening comments by State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

“We are very hopeful that we will hear back from the attorney general soon with the guidance on how to implement President Trump’s executive order on immigration,” said Walters in Thursday’s meeting.

OSDE board member Chris Van Denhende asked in response, “Superintendent Ryan Walters, can I ask you a question on that?”

The newly appointed board members wanted more clarity on administrative rule changes approved by the Board of Education last month. While the board previously approved these changes, they’re still awaiting approval from state lawmakers.

The main rule change in question was the request to track students’ immigration status when they enroll in Oklahoma public schools.

“What we’re asking is for a legal explanation on how we abide by this recent executive order, specific on those federally funded programs,” said Walters.

Van Denhende asked to slow down and take a closer look at issues related to immigration.

“Okay, well I’m concerned about the immigration status issue. I would request that until we get all this sorted out by the AG that we suspend all activity related to immigration...I would request a special meeting with that agenda item to review all of these items related to immigration status.”

However, because addressing items related to immigration status wasn’t on the agenda, it was shot down by legal counsel.

This sparked concern by the other new board members as to why they lacked the authority to add items to the agenda.

Legal counsel stated, “The Superintendent, as his role of chairman of the board, sets the agenda.”

New OSDE board member Michael Tinney then asked, “Okay, is there a law that says that? Where is the statute that says the board has no authority to set anything on the agenda? Where is that that says we can’t do that?”

Van Denhende expressed his frustration on the matter briefly after the meeting.

“Well I think that the people that have come to me are concerned, similar to what Governor Stitt said. We are dealing with kids. Leave the kids alone.”

The debate between the board continued for the next three hours about various issues.

A major focus point was the passage of the state academic standards for science and social studies to the legislature.

The new board members argued they hadn’t received enough time to read through and feel confident approving these new standards. Walters said giving them more time would create major setbacks at the state capitol.

“That’s pretty thick and I know there’s been numerous hours and I want to say thank you for that,” said board member Ryan Deatherage. “I’m just asking for some kind of concession so I can possibly process this and have a better understanding.”

Tinney stated, “Some of us just got these and they’re pretty voluminous. So what’s the time frame on these?”

Walters continued to say he wanted to pass the standards in Thursday’s meeting.

“My recommendation is that we approve these today. The process has been followed. There’s been a lot of feedback. We can move these to the legislature.”

Deathrage suggested moving the vote on the standards to next month.

“I understand time is of the essence, but could there be a little bit more time to actually go through this?”

All three new board members questioned the standards and some of its content, though the main concern remained the lack of time given for them to fully read through the standards.

In response to these concerns, Walters said, “You know the Governor decided to put you on this board on a very short timeline. This is something that’s been going on for 10 months here.”

The standards have been criticized before for their increased length, heavy implementation of the Bible and challenging critical thinking skills for younger grades.

“‘Students will develop a variety of evidence based written products designed for multiple purposes’ and I’m looking at this, this is Pre-K. They’re learning their ABCs and numbers, so how does that fit in?” asked Tinney.

Walters replied, “At some points, decisions have to be made and say, ‘alright, this is what we are going to teach here.’”

Despite the back and forth, the board voted to approve the standards with only Deathrage voting against them.

The standards will now go through a review process by the State House and Senate, where they could see dozens of changes throughout the process.

This process for academic standards happens every six years. Next year, standards for physical education and health will go through the same steps.