Is your school district following the law?

Oklahoma allows vaccine exemptions for school children based on personal, religious, and medical reasons. In addition to exemption law, there is a more recent section of law that requires school districts to inform parents of exemption options.

Per SB 658, which went into effect July 1st 2021, 

The State Department of Education shall provide and ensure that each school district in this state provides, on the school district website and in any notice or publication provided to parents regarding immunization requests, the following information regarding immunization requirements for school attendance:
“For school enrollment, a parent or guardian shall provide one of the following:
1. Current, up-to-date immunization records; or
2. A completed and signed exemption form.” 

Is your school following the law?

We have received an unprecedented number of reports this year of schools that are violating state law. We need your help to make sure that this important section of state law is followed. We have included sample email and phone scripts as well as contact information to make this as easy as possible!

If your school district is not in compliance with SB 658, please contact the following:

  1. Because the State Department of Education is supposed to ENSURE that this law is followed by all school districts, please contact State Superintendent of Education Joy Hoffmeister at 405-521-3301 first.
  2. Email the State Board of Education by copy and pasting the following email addresses.
    carlisha@impacttulsa.com, jmonies@saxum.com, estelaokc@gmail.com, brianrichardbobek@gmail.com, trentsmith88@me.com, sarahtlepak@gmail.com
  3. Your local school district’s Superintendent, School Board, Principal, and or school nurse. You should be able to find their contact information by searching your school districts website. if you need assistance with this, reach out to your OKHPR Senate District Captain. (If you do not know who your OKHPR Senate District Captain is, email us at captains@okhpr.com.)
  4. Governor Kevin Stitt at 405-521-2342 or online HERE.
  5. The following legislators
    • Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat
      • 405-521-5632
      • greg.treat@oksenate.gov
    • Speaker of the House Charles McCall
      • 405-557-7412
      • charles.mccall@okhouse.gov
    • Your State Senator (His/her contact information can be found here)
    • Your State Representative (His/her contact information can be found here)

Please feel free to use the following phone or email scripts if you are unsure what to say.

Phone script for Joy Hoffmeister’s office
“Hi I am calling because I am a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that they are in violation of SB 658 because they are not informing parents about vaccine exemptions on their website or in a notice sent out on (date). I understand that it is the State Department of Education’s job to ensure that school districts are following SB 658, so I wanted to contact your office to ensure that this is addressed.”

Email script for the Oklahoma State Board of Education
“To whom it may concern,
I am emailing because I am a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that the school is in violation of SB 658. This law went into effect on July 2021 and it states that Schools and universities must notify parents and students that they may opt-out of vaccination mandates using legally allowed exemptions on their website and in all notices regarding vaccine requirements. The law also states that it is the State Department of Education’s job to ensure that school districts are following SB 658.

The violation I noticed is on the schools website/ notice sent out on (date). I wanted to bring this violation to your attention.

Please let me know what is being done to bring the school district into compliance with the law.
Name
Address”

Script for your local school district’s Superintendent, School Board, Principal, or school nurse
Phone:
“Hi I am calling because I am a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that the school is in violation of SB 658. This law went into effect on July 2021 and it states that Schools and universities must notify parents and students that they may opt-out of vaccination mandates using legally allowed exemptions on their website and in all notices regarding vaccine requirements. The violation I noticed is on the schools website/ notice sent out on (date). I wanted to bring this violation to your attention so that it can be addressed.”

Email:
“To whom it may concern,
I am emailing because I am a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that the school is in violation of SB 658. This law went into effect on July 2021 and it states that Schools and universities must notify parents and students that they may opt-out of vaccination mandates using legally allowed exemptions on their website and in all notices regarding vaccine requirements.

You can read the full law here: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/SB/SB658%20ENR.PDF. Please see section 1, E.

The violation I noticed is on the schools website/ notice sent out on (date). I wanted to bring this violation to your attention.

Please let me know what is being done to bring the school district into compliance with the law.
Name
Address”

Script for Governor Stitt, President Pro Tempore Greg Treat and Speaker of the House Charles McCall.
Phone:
“Hi I am calling because I am a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that they are in violation of SB 658 because they are not informing parents about vaccine exemptions on their website or in a notice sent out on (date). I wanted to contact your office to ensure that this is addressed.”

Email:
“I am emailing because I am a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that the school is in violation of SB 658. The violation I noticed is on the schools website/ notice sent out on (date). I wanted to bring this violation to your attention. so that it can be addressed
Name
Address”

Script for YOUR State Legislators
Phone:
“Hi I am calling because I am a constituent and a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that they are in violation of SB 658 because they are not informing parents about vaccine exemptions on their website or in a notice sent out on (date). I wanted to contact your office to ensure that this is addressed.”

Email:
“Subject line: From your constituent
Dear Senator or Representative _______
I am constituent of your district and a resident of _______ school district. I noticed that the school is in violation of SB 658. The violation I noticed is on the schools website/ notice sent out on (date). I wanted to bring this violation to your attention. so that it can be addressed

Name
Address”

Lastly, share this blog and the image at the top of this page with your friends and family to spread the word that ‘No Shots, No School, Not True!”


Resources related to vaccine law can be found on the resources page of our website. Here you will find the Oklahoma vaccine exemption form (which is used for school or daycare entry), read vaccine law, and read our vaccine exemption FAQ which includes information on what facilities are required to accept a vaccine exemption, how to fill out the form, what to do if your exemption is denied, and how to report a school that is violating the law.

Back to School!

Back to school season is here! Oklahoma allows vaccine exemptions for school children based on personal, religious, and medical reasons. Additionally, SB 658 (which went into effect on July 1st 2022) requires that all schools must inform parents of exemption options on their website and in any notice or publication provided to parents regarding immunization requests.

Unfortunately not all schools are following Oklahoma law! 

To report a school that is violating SB 658, please click here. You can also print a sample letter explaining how the school has violated SB 658 from your membership dashboard on okhpr.com. We recommend mailing this letter to the school, superintendent, or school board. You should also alert your State Senator and State Representative.

Make sure your friends and family are aware of their exemption rights!
Share the above image on your social media to spread awareness.

Deck your kids out with OKHPR gear before you send them back to school! Or buy yourself a new mama bear shirt that you can rock at PTA meetings! Use the coupon code ‘backtoschool’ to receive 10% off your entire order of OKHPR gear!

Anthony Fauci Would Be Proud! OSMA spends nearly 1 MILLION on OK Primary Candidates!

Oklahoma Watch has reported that the Oklahoma State Medical Association spent more money than any other Oklahoma organization on independent expenditures. Spending more than $814,000 on a variety of legislative races.

Which races did they spend those big bucks on?

The following expenditures can be viewed from the Oklahoma Guardian Ethics website here, and here.

$72k on mailers for the following candidates:
Ty Burns
Ross Ford
John Haste
Darcy Jech
Mark McBride
Kevin Wallace

$66k on mailers for the following candidates:
Rhonda Baker
Bill Coleman
Jared Deck
Kyle Hilbert
John Kane
Ken Luttrell
Anthony Moore
Josh West

$202k on mailers, phone calls, texting, and door to door canvassing for the following candidates:
Rhonda Baker
Keith Barenberg
Ty Burns
Bill Coleman
Jared Deck
Ross Ford
John George
John Haste
Kyle Hilbert
John Kane
Ken Luttrell
Cody Maynard
Marcus McEntire
Cynthia Roe
Brenda Stanley
John Talley
George Young
Hunter Zearley

$473k on digital, newspaper, and radio ads for the following candidates:
Rhonda Baker
Keith Barenberg
Ty Burns
Bill Coleman
Jared Deck
Ross Ford
John George
John Haste
Darcy Jech
John Kane
Ken Luttrell
Cody Maynard
Mark McBride
Marcus McEntire
Anthony Moore
Gabe Renfrow
Cynthia Roe
Brenda Stanley
John Talley
Kevin Wallace
Josh West
George Young
Hunter Zearley

$7k on digital, phone calls, and texting for the following candidates:
Collin Duel
Hunter Zearley

 

We expect dark money and OSMA to campaign hard during the runoff election!

While we could feel defeated, we need to use this to motivate ourselves to volunteer and donate. We have beat OSMA before, but we had a literal army of fired up mama bears! Many of our members seem to have gotten complacent. Speaking face to face with people as a grassroots volunteer beats mailers and ads nearly EVERY TIME! But we have to have the manpower and money to get it done. We have spent more than half of our war chest and need to replenish it to fight against far-left candidates who want to mask, test, and segregate us and our children in the name of public health.