EXCLUSIVE: Oklahoma’s 2025 school-year curriculum will look markedly different after major adjustments are made to eschew "woke garbage" while making sure students learn all aspects of complex figures like Thomas Jefferson and Donald Trump, and issues like the BLM and Capitol riots.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said Wednesday his state is "taking the lead" on a "direct rejection" of politicizing influences on the curriculum like teachers' unions and activist educators.

"What we are not going to allow is these radical teachers' unions to push lies in the classroom. That's not how we're going to teach."

Walters said school curricula are set every six years, and that he plans to hold schools accountable by withholding accreditation from any institutions that don’t follow suit.

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He suggested the new rules are an extension of Oklahoma’s previous push to return the Bible to the classroom as an "important historical document" that shaped America’s founding – in that it is important to similarly give students a fuller perspective on landmark events and figures throughout the rest of U.S. history.

"We are driving out this woke indoctrination and woke nonsense that has been injected into the classroom by undermining Republican presidents and American exceptionalism," he said.

"So our kids are going to know America is a great country. They're not going to be taught to hate this country. They're going to be taught to love this country and a patriotism to come from the principles that our country was founded in our history."

Giving the example of former President Ronald Reagan in the last generation’s education, and how some curricula focused more on shortcomings during Iran-Contra and Col. Oliver North's hearings, Walters said he will not tolerate educators "maligning" President-elect Trump in the same way.

"You're not going to come in and teach President Trump wanted an insurrection on Jan. 6 [2021]. We're not going to allow it. We will be crystal clear on what President Trump's victories were in the White House," he said.

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Similarly, the new curriculum will take a broader look at Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and the repercussions of coronavirus lockdowns.

He cited a recent clip he saw of a student stating that the only thing they knew about Thomas Jefferson was that he was a slaveholder, and did not know he was a president or the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.

"And so we will drive these lies out of the classrooms and get back to an understanding of American greatness throughout our history," he said, noting that Oklahoma will teach "the good with the bad."

Walters was asked how the curriculum would teach COVID-19 lockdown history, given how states like Pennsylvania, New York and Hawaii were confident their zero-tolerance edicts were the right response, just as much as Florida believed its less restrictive response was right.

"I don't care to appease the left or make them happy. We're going to teach facts. We're going to stick to accurate history here. And they can be offended by that," Walters said.

"It is not debatable. Rights were taken from individuals during COVID. That's not debatable. It's also not debatable that lockdowns hurt kids. Lockdowns hurt families and businesses," he said, adding that current curriculum often glosses over that argument and offers only a more proverbially-northeastern view of the COVID years.

"We are ultimately going to let [students] come to their own conclusions," Walters said of the curriculum writ-large.

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U.S. history is strewn with successes and failures on all sides, he said, adding that the most responsible way to prepare the next generation to lead the country is to instill in them the widest view of its history and law possible.

"The left wants to browbeat kids into believing to hate their country, while conservatives, we just want history taught, and show that America is the greatest country in the history of the world."

"It will show you what policies work, what policies don't work. A kid should come to their own conclusions. That’s why every state has to look at their [civics curriculum] standards."

Fox News Digital also reached out to union leader Randi Weingarten via the AFT for comment on the general tenor of partially blaming teachers unions for purportedly slanted curricula.

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is receiving mixed reviews after making a surprise cameo performance as "Queen Mab" in the Broadway musical "& Juliet." 

While some social media users called Jackson’s performance "humanizing," others called it "cringe," "embarrassing" and unbefitting for a sitting member of the nation’s highest court.

Written by contemporary playwright David West Read, "& Juliet" is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" that explores an alternate scenario when Juliet does not commit suicide and instead explores life as an independent young woman. The musical includes a character named May, who is Juliet’s best friend and identifies as nonbinary.

Jackson joined a cast, which includes TikTok star Charli D’Amelio and other Broadway performers, for a one-time performance at New York’s Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Saturday night, becoming the first Supreme Court justice to perform on Broadway.

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She wore jeans and an all-blue costume with a corset and a flowery hat. In one clip of the performance, her character excitedly exclaims, "Female empowerment, sick!," and in another, she sings the Backstreet Boys’ "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely."

The "& Juliet" marketing team said in an Instagram post announcing the cameo that Jackson’s performance fulfilled a lifelong fantasy of her "becoming the first Black, female Supreme Court justice to appear on a Broadway stage."

However, her decision to take the stage was not well received by many members of the public. 

Conservative influencer Arynne Wexler reacted on X, saying, "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson not only appeared in a Broadway show The show is a ‘queer musical knockoff’ of Romeo and Juliet. Of course Max cringe, max DEI." 

"This is a sitting SCOTUS Justice. A lifetime appointment," reacted conservative influencer account Gunther Eagleman. "I’m at a loss for words." 

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Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler said "Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson performs in the Broadway show ‘& Juliet’ which is a ‘queer’ rendition of Romeo & Juliet … So no, when Ketanji Brown Jackson refused to define ‘what is a woman’ during her Senate confirmation hearing, she wasn’t being a brilliant legal mind. She was, and is, a radical leftist DEI hire propagating harmful, Neo-Marxist, anti-woman transgender ideology."

"I'd rather our country not be run by the weird theater kids," influencer Colin Rugg reacted. 

"This is so embarrassing," posted LibsofTikTok.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk jokingly suggested Jackson "should sing her verdicts." 

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Jackson’s performance was not universally mocked, however. Former New York Congressman George Santos reacted by saying, "I love this! Humanizing the one part of the government that’s never been humanized! Good on this partnership!"

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Former Kamala Harris campaign writer Victor Shi called the performance "the most epic video I've watched in so long." 

"Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson performed on Broadway, while some of her Republican colleagues would’ve spent this time flying with billionaires," he went on. "So cool. So refreshing. Justice Jackson is the best."

Jackson has been a consistent liberal vote on the Supreme Court since she was appointed by President Biden in 2022. 

A conservative research group has sent a letter to President-elect Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, calling on her to fire a number of Department of Justice (DOJ) workers who it says are "woke radical leftists and donors" who cannot be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) wrote to Bondi urging her to sack the individuals who currently work for the agency’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, claiming that they have pushed transgender issues, worked for George Soros-linked organizations and donated to radical left-wing politicians and groups. The voting section is tasked with enforcing federal laws that protect the right to vote.

"These people are woke radical leftists and donors who have no place in the Department of Justice," the group writes in the letter signed by AAF President Thomas Jones. "In order to restore the American people’s trust in election integrity and a neutral civil service, they must be fired and replaced with America-first attorneys who will execute on the agenda the American People voted for in November."

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The letter, which rails against the "deep state" terrorizing the country and "threatening democracy itself," was also addressed to Harmett Dhillon, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Bondi is the former Florida Attorney General.

The letter zeroes on DOJ employees Janie Sitton, Catherine Meza, Daniel Freeman, John "Bert" Russ IV and Dana Paikowsky, and attempts to make a case as to why they are unfit to work at the agency. AAF also promises to share more information on "problematic staff" in the future. 

Sitton, the group says, is being singled out for her promotion of the transgender agenda and donating to leftist politicians. 

In 2000, while working for the DOJ, Sitton authored an article that called for the adoption of a new legal system deemed "transgender jurisprudence" and stated the need to "rethink" the basic known "assumptions and constructs upon which our society and laws are based." 

Sitton even took issue with common traditions such as identifying a newborn infant as a boy or girl based on the child’s sex, arguing that society has been wrong to assume or assign a gender to infants, the AAF says.

Paikowsky, the group says, has worked for years advancing far-left political agendas, including pushing for prisoners to vote, and has deep ties with Soros-linked organizations. 

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In addition to donating to liberal politicians, Paikowsky’s LinkedIn shows that she worked as a policy associate for the Open Society Foundations, an organization founded by the billionaire financier.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School, Paikowsky then went to work for the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) as a fellow for the Equal Justice Works program while also working as a legal intern for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. The CLC has received significant funding from Soros in recent years, according to the AAF.

A 2019 law review article Paikowsky wrote for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review suggested an extensive framework to turn "jails into polling places" and described numerous examples of local elections across the nation, including local district attorney races, where a small number of inmate voters could have changed the election results, according to the AAF.

The group also slams Meza, who is an attorney at the voting division, for supporting gun control while she was chief counsel for the NAACP and claiming that she had accused people of not wearing masks or observing proper social distancing rules as forms of voter intimidation in 2020. 

Russ made the list for being an attorney for the DOJ who had filed a 2021 complaint against Georgia’s election integrity initiatives. The complaint accused the state of having racist intentions by prohibiting unsolicited absentee ballots from being mailed to voters, requiring voter identification and prohibiting the potential bribing of voters with food and drinks at polling places.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital also asked the agency whether each of those named in the letter would like to respond.  

It's not the first time the AAF has sought to influence the makeup of the federal government under Trump. Last week, the group compiled a list of "woke" senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to sack, should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

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The House is set to vote Wednesday on its must-pass yearly defense bill that would give junior enlisted troops a significant pay bump and work to eliminate DEI programs at the Pentagon.

The 1,800-page bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent. It will be voted on more than two months after the start of the fiscal year. 

The $895.2 billion represents a 1% increase over last year’s budget, a smaller number than some defense hawks would have liked. 

A significant portion of the legislation focused on quality-of-life improvements for service members amid record recruitment issues, a focus of much bipartisan discussion over the last year. That includes a 14.5% pay increase for junior enlisted troops and increasing access to child care for service members while also providing job support to military spouses.

The measure authorizes a 4.5% across-the-board pay raise for all service members starting Jan. 1. 

The NDAA typically enjoys wide bipartisan support, but this year’s focus on eliminating "woke" policies could be hard for Democrats to stomach.

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The policy proposal to prohibit Tricare, the military's health care provider, from covering transgender services for the minor dependents of service members has raised concerns, prompting the leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, to reconsider his support for the bill.

"Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong," he said in a statement. "This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills."

The goal of that provision is to prevent any "medical interventions that could result in sterilization" of minors.

Other provisions, like a blanket ban on funding for gender transition surgeries for adults, did not make their way into the bill, neither did a ban on requiring masks to prevent the spread of diseases. 

The bill also supports deploying the National Guard to the southern border to help with illegal immigrant apprehensions and drug flow. 

Another provision opens the door to allowing airmen and Space Force personnel to grow facial hair; it directs the secretary of the Air Force to brief lawmakers on "the feasibility and advisability" of establishing a pilot program to test out allowing beards. 

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Democrats are also upset the bill did not include a provision expanding access to IVF for service members. Currently, military health care only covers IVF for troops whose infertility is linked to service-related illness or injury.

But the bill did not include an amendment to walk back a provision allowing the Pentagon to reimburse service members who have to travel out of state to get an abortion.

The bill extends a hiring freeze on DEI-related roles and stops all such recruitment until "an investigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs" can be completed.

It also bans the Defense Department from contracting with advertising companies "that blacklist conservative news sources," according to an internal GOP memo.

The memo said the NDAA also guts funding for the Biden administration’s "Countering Extremist Activity Working Group" dedicated to rooting out extremism in the military’s ranks. The annual defense policy bill also does not authorize "any climate change programs" and prohibits the Pentagon from issuing climate impact-based guidance on weapons systems.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., touted $31 billion in savings in the legislation that would come from cutting "inefficient programs, obsolete weapons, and bloated Pentagon bureaucracy."

The compromise NDAA bill, negotiated between Republican and Democrat leadership, sets policy for the nation's largest government agency, but a separate defense spending bill must be passed to allocate funds for such programs.

As Pete Hegseth continues to rally support for his nomination to lead the Department of Defense, a conservative research group has compiled a list of "woke" senior officers they want him to sack should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) sent a letter to Hegseth with a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals whom it says are excessively focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other similar left-wing initiatives. Eight of those 20 are women.

Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity. AAF says that focusing on such policies is an impediment to national security, while some miliary leaders have expressed concern about the list.

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"The woke takeover of the military is a major threat to our national security," AAF President Thomas Jones wrote in the letter to Hegseth dated Tuesday and first published by the New York Post.

"As global tensions rise, with Iran on the march, Russia at war, and China in the midst of a massive military buildup, we cannot afford to have a military distracted and demoralized by leftist ideology," he added. "Those who were responsible for these policies being instituted in the first place must be dismissed."

The term "woke" is often used in reference to progressive, politically correct stances on race, gender ideology and other hot-button topics.

The group posted on X that the woke leaders need to be fired on day one. "Wokeness has no place in the military," the group wrote. 

On Friday, the AAF doubled down on its position. 

"Many don't want to hear this, but it's the truth: DEI in the military is going to get people killed. STOP IT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE," AAF posted on X.

Hegseth, a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. He has long railed against the military embracing DEI policies instead of meritocracy, complaining it also diverts focus away from war preparedness. 

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If confirmed to the role, Hegseth would be in charge of 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the military.

Some of those on the list include Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson, who penned an op-ed in July 2020 demanding his white colleagues "to give a damn" and "address our blind spots around race," according to the letter.

Also in the AAF crosshairs is Navy vice admiral Jeffery Hughes, who spoke at DEI summit in 2022 and underscored the importance of DEI recruiting "exceptional talent."

Air Force Maj. Gen. Elizabeth Arledge also made the list and was noted by AAF for making "woke posts" on her social media.

In one post, Arledge shared articles that featured "discussions of whiteness in org[anization] theory and the ways in which whiteness (verb) has become naturalized as the ideal in orgs."

Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was also listed and panned for a 2015 speech where she bemoaned that lawmakers in the House of Representatives at the time were 80% males, proclaiming that "our diversity is our strength."

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, said in a statement that "No policy should be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump."

A defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the list said senior leaders are hoping that once Trump is sworn in, they will be able to discuss the issue further. They are prepared to provide additional context to the incoming administration, the official told The Associated Press, which reports it is not publishing the names to protect service members’ privacy.

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that the list would have "considerable, wide and deep consequences." He said when military members see people singled out, they will start focusing on their own survival rather than the mission or their job.

Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump is reportedly considering nominating Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as defense secretary in place of Hegseth amid allegations against him.

But Hegseth brushed off the potential replacement, telling reporters that he was prepared to fight. 

"As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I'm going to be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be," he said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Oklahoma will consider a new measure to make the role of school district superintendent an elected position in response to a spate of controversial situations involving scholastic leaders, Fox News Digital has learned.

There have been allegations and news reports about several issues: the refusal to remove "pornographic books" from school libraries, the dismissal of a teacher for failure to comply with a COVID-19 face mask mandate, and media coverage of "nothing [being] done" in response to reports a school football coach was bragging about sexual conquests with parents.

In 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt called firings of mask-averse teachers "preposterous" and said their talents are needed more than ever.

"This is about a school district not following state law — this isn’t a debate about masks," he said, after the Oklahoma City district reportedly fired multiple educators, adding the state previously banned such firings.

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In February, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters — who is an elected official himself — threatened to lower the accreditation of Edmond, Oklahoma, schools if it didn’t remove the books "The Glass Castle" and "Kite Runner" from its high school libraries.

Walters called the inaction "subversion of accountability," though Edmond’s superintendent said the state lacked authority to remove the books based on a 1997 district policy.

In another case, in Edmond, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from neighboring Texas, among others, blasted videos showing a portion of a school fundraiser wherein students were licking each other's toes. 

In a public statement, school officials appeared to celebrate the event:

"This afternoon, Deer Creek High School announced a grand total of $152,830.38 raised for Not Your Average Joe Coffee, an organization created to 'inspire our community by including students and adults with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities," school staff wrote. 

"All participants in the assembly were students who signed up for the game(s) they played ahead of time. No Deer Creek faculty or staff participated in any of the games during this Clash of Classes assembly," a portion of the latter part of the statement read.

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Walters called the fundraiser "filth," and Cruz said it was "child abuse."

In another district on the Arkansas line, now-former Muldrow Superintendent Leon Ashlock resigned after driving drunk and crashing a school vehicle on Creek Turnpike. Two 100-proof bottles of cinnamon schnapps were found in its console, according to KOCO.

Walters told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that a case involving a school’s response to an athletic director’s criminal exploits with a student also drew his attention.

"Even in a conservative state like Oklahoma, where voters have overwhelmingly made clear they want the radical progressive policies of the left out of public schools, we continually see superintendents defying their will, ignoring their concerns, and refusing to take action necessary to improve education outcomes while protecting Oklahoma children," Walters said.

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"This has to end."

"And, the best way to do that is by requiring superintendents to be elected by the voters."

Walters called the legislation a common-sense solution to efforts to improve education for Sooner State children.

Walters previously made headlines when he led his state in becoming the first to appropriate funding toward supplying a Bible to each school. The official said the move blunts "woke curricula" and provides students a "historical document" that the founders used to form their government.

• Jaguar defended its rebranding campaign after online critics roasted a promotional video.
• Jaguar's boss said the rebranding message was lost "in a blaze of intolerance."
• The campaign, featuring models and no cars, was criticized as "woke."

Jaguar's managing director is defending the British luxury-car maker's rebranding campaign — calling out some of its online critics and characterizing their reaction as "vile hatred" and "intolerance."

In an interview with the Financial Times, Rawdon Glover said the campaign's intended message was lost "in a blaze of intolerance" and that the controversial promotional video was not meant to be a "woke" statement, as some critics have argued.

The video, which features models in brightly colored clothes, didn't feature any cars — notable, the critics said, for a car brand.

The backlash began earlier this week after Jaguar unveiled a brand strategy ahead of its all-electric launch, which is expected sometime in 2026.

As part of the rebrand, the iconic 90-year-old company — a favorite of British royalty and prime ministers — debuted a modernized typeface for its logo, a new leaping-jaguar mark, and a video ad that showed models doing things like painting a wall, holding a sledgehammer, and gathering in a pink desert without any cars in sight.

The video generated a rash of criticism on social media, with some right-leaning personalities accusing the company of abandoning its history and pushing into "woke" politics.

Glover told the FT he was disappointed by "the level of vile hatred and intolerance" that the video garnered online, particularly against the models it featured, adding that the campaign had received overall "positive" buzz.

He said Jag's intent was to be different from other automakers.

"If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we'll just get drowned out. So we shouldn't turn up like an auto brand," Glover said in the interview.

"We need to reestablish our brand and at a completely different price point, so we need to act differently," he said. "We wanted to move away from traditional automotive stereotypes."

As part of the brand's positioning, the newly announced Jags are expected to be significantly more upmarket than the ones that are being phased out, Car and Driver previously reported, citing a Range Rover from the brand's corporate cousin that costs about $400,000 as where the brand wants to be. (Most 2024 Jaguar models have list prices of about $50,000 to $80,000.)

Jaguar, which is part of the Jaguar Land Rover group and owned by India's Tata Motors, announced earlier this fall that it would end production of all its current models this year before debuting its new all-electric lineup.

Meanwhile, high-profile critics of this week's rebranding video — which has been viewed nearly 160 million times on X — included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, and the conservative personality Ian Miles Cheong.

In response to the video posted on X by Jaguar, Musk wrote: "Do you sell cars?" And Nick Freitas, a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, replied to Jaguar on X: "Well … we know where the advertising team for Bud Light went," referring to the backlash to a Bud Light ad in 2023 that featured a transgender influencer.

Some critics said they would boycott the brand based on their assumption that it had gone "woke," while others, including some marketing professionals, mocked the video as confusing and stylistically outdated.

Jaguar said it would announce more details about its new branding strategy in December, though it's not clear whether that will include specifics about any of its forthcoming electric vehicles.

Without commenting specifically on the backlash, Jaguar said in a statement to Business Insider: "The brand reveal is only the first step in this exciting new era, and we look forward to sharing more on Jaguar's transformation in the coming days and weeks."