OK House Reps Sterling & Lowe (both R) Push to UNPROTECT Students from Ed Predators
Both Former Ag Teachers & Public Ed Administrators Turned Politicians
Oklahoma has a serious problem with sexual predators inside its PK-12 schools. The Oklahoma State Legislature has historically been on the side of the education unions in fighting against effective legislative protections for students.
Former teachers and school administrators dominate the state’s legislative committees involving education. A new bill suggests those education establishment politicians are again working against the protection of children in Oklahoma’s schools.
Last July, House Bill 3958, a rare and impactful law introduced by then Rep Sherrie Conley (R), went into effect. The new law prohibits teachers, coaches and any other school personnel from one-on-one calling, texting or other digital communication with students unless a parent or guardian is involved.
Prior to the start of the 2024-25 school year, all Oklahoma PK-12 school teachers and staff were required to be trained concerning the new law, causing a long overdue reset of the boundaries between teachers and students. Parents were finally added back into all direct, digital conversations involving their children.
The new law allowed for exceptions involving emergencies and district communication platforms directly involving academics.
Just seven (7) months later, former high school principal Danny Sterling (R-Dist 27) and former Canadian Valley Tech Center administrator Richard (Dick) Lowe (R-Dist 56) want to undo those protections for students. Both current state house representatives are former agriculture teachers.
Sterling and Lowe both hold seats on education-related oversight committees within the legislature.
Proposed HB 1937, as recently introduced by Sterling, joined by Lowe and now carried by Sen Grant Green (R-Dist 28), would introduce an annual opt-out option for parents to again allow coaches and teachers to privately communicate with their children.
After a Moms for Liberty chapter in the state expressed concerns about HB 1937, Sterling responded:
“Unfortunately, there were some unintended consequences that came into play after this bill (HB 3958) was signed into law. I.E., ag teachers conversing with students about issues with the student's animals that might need immediate attention for health of the animal, checking with students who might be running late on leaving for an early morning FFA activity…coaches needing to contact their players to inform them of schedule changes…There are immeasurable reasons for coaches, teachers, etc. to reach out to students…especially outside the "normal" educational day.”
“The bill in its current form was creating undo hardships on many in the education system…This is just a common sense solution to something that was never meant to be burdensome for the overwhelming number of educators who are truly dedicated to serving their students to the best of their ability.” - Rep Danny Sterling
Under current law, coaches and teachers can group-text parents AND their students to ensure no one misses the game bus, a class assignment deadline or a feeding at the ag barn, so what purpose does this opt-out pushed by Sterling and Lowe serve?
While the opt-out may seem like greater control for parents, two seasoned educator-administrators should understand the dangerous territory they are reopening for predators within schools. Child molesters groom families and strategically use their positions of power to gain unsupervised access to their victims.
If coaches require or even request an opt-out for players, many parents will feel pressured to comply. If a tutor, teacher, club sponsor or ag teacher requests one-on-one communication to assist or promote that student, a guardian could be unknowingly placing their child in harm’s way.
On Thursday, as HB 1937 advanced out of committee review, Sterling’s comments suggest predators within public education cannot be stopped so other educators should not be burdened. The children increasingly and irreparably harmed by internal sexual abuse are unavoidably broken eggs in the public education omelet, and the system that has allowed and often perpetuated the abuse shouldn’t be inconvenienced with rules meant to protect students:
“I think we are, for lack of better words, cutting our noses off to spite our face when by far the vast majority of educators are doing a fine job, and this is just an extra burden upon them because of some bad actors that are going to find a way around this or any other platform if they really want to be an offender or predator.” - Rep Danny Sterling (Feb 6, 2025)
On the same date, Sterling and the House Common Education Committee also advanced HB 1276 which would prohibit students from using cell phones and smart watches on school campuses. HB 1276 is authored by Chad Caldwell (R-Dist 40) and co-authored by Lowe.
To recap, legislators are simultaneously seeking to prevent students and parents from one-on-one communication during schooltime while providing a loophole for one-on-one texting between students and educators during non-schooltime.
Under Sterling’s proposed HB 1937, it is unclear how opting out of communication restrictions under HB 3958 might lessen school district liability or a family’s recourse options should communications become inappropriate or yet another child is groomed by text into a sexual relationship with an educator-abuser.
Sterling & Lowe Among Legislators Who Tag-Teamed with AG Drummond to Disrupt State Board of Ed Suspensions of Predator Teachers & Coaches
Since 2023, the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE), under the leadership of State Superintendent Ryan Walters (R), has suspended and/or revoked an unprecedented number of teaching certifications involving cases of student abuse and/or teacher misconduct.
For months, beginning in June of 2024, a group of state legislators took turns attending OSBE monthly meetings to demand entrance into non-public, executive session discussions where details concerning educator misconduct are shared with board members prior to any public voting to suspend or revoke teacher certifications as necessary to protect students.
In true UniParty fashion, the group included Sterling (R), Lowe (R), then Rep John Talley (R), then Rep Mark Vancuren (R), Sen Adam Pugh (R), Rep Ronny Johns (R), Rep Mike Osburn (R), Sen Mary Boren (D) and Rep Jacob Rosencrants (D). All but Pugh and Osburn are former coaches and/or educators.
Boren, Rosencrants and Osburn were each public in their concerns about specific teachers from their districts whose credentials were in jeopardy due to accusations of misconduct.
When denied admittance to OSBE’s executive sessions, Osburn solicited the legal opinion of Attorney General (AG) Gentner Drummond (R). Just hours before the OSBE’s August meeting, AG Drummond vacated a previous AG’s opinion from 1978 to side with the legislators.
Amazingly, in his public comments, Drummond suggested his new, precedent-setting position allowing legislators to attend non-public portions of state agency board meetings followed the 1978 opinion rather than upending it:
“The State Board of Education may not like the law, but its members still must follow it. This provision has been in effect for more than 45 years, and I am not aware of a single other state entity that has a problem allowing legislators into executive session," Drummond said.
After months of tabling cases of teacher misconduct due to the legislator standoff, in September, the board resumed voting to suspend/revoke credentials after OSDE legal counsel provided written copies of privileged case information to members in advance for review. The board remained within open session.
In a repeat of eleventh-hour disruption efforts, on the evening prior to the next (October) OSBE monthly meeting, AG Drummond removed the board’s legal counsel. Drummond’s temporary placement of Brad Clark as the board’s attorney involved serious conflicts of interest (see V1SUT’s previous reporting for details).
Unsurprisingly, following the November 2024 elections, state legislators have lost interest in OSBE monthly meetings. Drummond has declared his candidacy for governor, and Walters, though not an official candidate, is rumored to be his opponent in the 2026 Republican primary.
Has Rep Sterling Been Protecting Predator Coaches for Years? Concerning Arrest Suggests Questionable Hiring and Policy by Former HS Principal
Prior to his initial election to the State House in 2018, Sterling was principal at Tecumseh High School. In 2015, Sterling hired teacher/coach Aron Pearcy who had bounced from Midwest City/Del City PS to Bethel PS to Oklahoma City PS within the prior five (5) years. Pearcy taught history and geography while coaching both boys and girls at the high school and junior high levels under Sterling’s supervision.
On December 11, 2023, Pearcy’s resignation was accepted by the Tecumseh School Board.
Seven weeks later, Pearcy (48) was arrested for sending inappropriate photos to a student.
Within the criminal case, two weeks before his scheduled trial, Pearcy accepted a deal to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge of obscenity by electronic communication and avoided a felony conviction that would prohibit him from holding teaching certifications in Oklahoma.
Pearcy received only a 6-month deferred sentence. He was released from probation in October of 2024, and is not required to be registered as a sex offender.
In May of 2024, the OSBE voted to summarily suspend Pearcy’s certifications for the protection of Oklahoma students. A month later, state legislators would begin their campaign to disrupt that process:
Rep Sterling’s District Subject of Harmful Coaching Series: Little Axe Exposes Predator Coaches, Public Ed Policy of Passing the Trash
V1SUT’s Harmful Coaching series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6) has uncovered the ongoing abuse of students within Rep Danny Sterling’s House District 27. The series follows a group of Little Axe coaches and tells the stories of their former students recently reporting sexual abuse. Accusations went uninvestigated and the accused were repeatedly passed on to other districts.
Rep Sterling has made no public comment about the reporting, the OSDE’s related investigations or the suspension of the teaching certifications of three (3) former Little Axe teacher/coaches, including the superintendent of Shawnee Public Schools.
On February 6th, V1SUT reached out to both Sterling and Lowe through the legislators’ email contact system with questions about HB 1937. We also asked each if, during their time as education administrators, “Did you ever allow, encourage or offer for a coach/teacher/staff member to resign rather than face an investigation concerning misconduct?" Neither has responded.
If public education in Oklahoma is to be reformed and made safe for students, perhaps former school administrators and system insiders shouldn’t be dominating both State House and Senate committees in this area.
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This seems to be a questionable legislative move in Oklahoma by Representatives Danny Sterling and Richard Lowe, both former educators, to modify laws concerning digital communication between school staff and students, potentially undoing protections against sexual predators in schools.
House Bill 3958 was introduced and passed, prohibiting one-on-one digital communication between school staff and students without parental involvement, except in emergencies or for academic purposes using group platforms. This was seen as a protective measure against predators. A new bill (HB 1937) introduced by Sterling and Lowe propose an opt-out provision for this law, allowing parents to permit private communication between coaches/teachers and students. This is framed as a solution to "unintended consequences" like logistical issues in sports and agricultural education. Critics argue that this opt-out could open doors for predators.
The article suggests that the opt-out might pressure parents into allowing private communication, potentially endangering children by removing oversight. Both representatives are part of education oversight committees, suggesting influence over education policy. The article implies a conflict of interest, given their past roles in education. The article also mentions another bill (HB 1276) to ban cell phones in schools, highlighting a contradiction in policy where student communication is restricted in while in school but potentially less monitored after leaving school.
There's also a mention of past interventions by these legislators and others in the Oklahoma State Board of Education's handling of teacher misconduct cases, suggesting a pattern of protecting or at least not fully addressing the issue of predatory behavior among educators. An example is provided of a coach hired by Sterling who later faced legal issues for inappropriate communication with a student, questioning Sterling's oversight or policy decisions during his tenure as a principal.
These proposed changes could significantly alter the safety measures put in place to protect students from potential abuse, under the guise of administrative convenience. The narrative raises questions about the ethics of allowing such opt-outs, especially when considering the power dynamics and potential for grooming in educational settings.
Sterling and Lowe's actions are presented as potentially protective of the educational establishment rather than the students, which could impact public trust in educational governance. And, rightfully so, this article implicitly calls for a reevaluation of who should be making these educational policy decisions, suggesting that former educators with possibly conflicted interests might not be ideal for such roles.