John Rex parents seek ouster of Humphreys
Former Oklahoma City mayor Kirk Humphreys is facing pressure to resign from the board of the downtown charter school he helped create but has said he has no plans to do so.
Following anti-gay remarks he made on a political talk show earlier this month, Humphreys bowed to pressure and resigned from the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents after students, faculty and local activists called on him to step down.
Dozens of parents at John Rex Elementary also have called for Humphreys to leave the school board, which he has served on since the school opened in 2014.
An online petition has collected nearly 200 signatures calling for his resignation and several parents have told The
Oklahoman they have written letters to other board members seeking his removal.
A group of parents leading the call for his removal said they feel even more strongly following a private meeting with Humphreys last week when they said he threatened to take funds with him should he leave.
“His overall attitude was just dismissive of us and our feelings,” said Maggie Howell-Dowd, the parent of a secondgrade student at John Rex. “He said that not only does he personally financially support the school but he also does a lot of fundraising, and if he were to leave the school board some of that money might leave with him.”
Humphreys met privately with several parents on Dec. 19 following a news conference he held to apologize for his remarks when he compared homosexuality to pedophilia.
The meeting took place inside the office of Troy Stevenson, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, a LGBTQ advocacy organization.
John Beedon, a parent of two John Rex students, said he attended the meeting and found Humphreys’ response to be “bullying and defiant.”
“He went on to say homosexuality is morally wrong and you can’t expect him to make decisions outside of his moral code,” Beedon said. “That’s what does it for me. I don’t believe his moral code allows him to serve on the board and make decisions for our school, but he says he won’t resign.” Humphreys told The
Oklahoman this week he had no plan to resign from the John Rex board.
“John Rex wouldn’t exist without me,” Humphreys said. “We put together a great board, it’s a great performing school, it’s highly desirable, and I continue to contribute the school.”
Howell-Dowd, Beedon and others who were in the private meeting with Humphreys said he specifically mentioned funding from the Inasmuch Foundation would be in jeopardy if he left the board.
Bob Ross, who is president of the Inasmuch Foundation and serves on the John Rex board, declined to comment on the request for Humphreys to resign. But he said funding from his organization is not going to change, “no matter who is on the board.”
“Inasmuch Foundation’s support of John Rex will continue long into the future,” Ross said. “The support is based on the school’s importance to our community and continued success. We are proud of our recent grants of $1 million to Rex and $700,000 to the Myriad Gardens for the middle school expansion.”
John Rex, which serves nearly 600 students, offers automatic enrollment to students who live in the downtown attendance zone. However, most attend through a lottery system because they live outside the downtown boundaries.
Howell-Dowd, whose daughter attends the school through the lottery, said it was something Humphreys brought up in a “threatening way” during the private meeting.
“He then kept talking about transfer students and how many of them there are. He said the rules that are in place may keep you there right now but you never know what could change,” she said. “It was a moment when we all looked at each other and asked, ‘Was that a threat?’ I certainly left the meeting feeling very uncomfortable.”
Others who were in the meeting said they took Humphreys’ comments about student transfers as a threat, including some parents who did not want to be identified.
When asked about any statements he made related to funding and transfer rules, Humphreys told The Oklahoman he did not want to offer comment, adding “there were some parents in that meeting that were pretty aggressive.”
Some John Rex board members have confirmed to The Oklahoman they have heard from parents calling for him to resign, in addition to calls of support.
Humphreys serves on the board as an appointee of the University of Oklahoma, which is the school’s sponsor.
Other than being removed by the university, it would require two-thirds of the John Rex board to remove him, according to the board’s bylaws.
The board is scheduled to meet again in February and several parents said they plan to continue their call for Humphreys’ removal from the board until then.
“I think there are a lot of John Rex parents that have no idea what has been going on because they are out of town for Christmas,” Beedon said. “Hopefully something will happen and maybe he will just decide something on his own because of the call from the parents.”