Oklahoma Education Department top lawyer leaving Ryan Walters' administration

A job opening for the top legal position at the Oklahoma State Department of Education has been posted amid speculation the person now holding that position plans to leave the agency.

The opening for the Education Department’s general counsel position was listed Thursday on Indeed.com.

Ryan Pieper, the department's executive director of accreditation, confirmed Thursday that both he and the agency’s general counsel, Bryan Cleveland, are stepping away from their posts. Pieper's last day is Friday.

Both have held key positions in the administration of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, who took office in January 2023 and has seen since a steady exodus of employees from the agency.

The resignations continue a pattern of disarray within a department that has been constantly in the spotlight and the subject of multiple legal challenges since Walters became superintendent.

Education Department spokesman Dan Isett refused Thursday to answer a question about whether or not Cleveland has resigned. Isett also didn’t immediately provide a copy of any resignation letter written by Cleveland, which would be a public document as defined by the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

“At this time, OSDE is not ready to make any public announcements regarding personnel,” Isett told The Oklahoman in a text.

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A resignation by Cleveland, particularly if coupled with departures of other key members of the Education Department's legal team would continue a pattern of disarray within a department that has been constantly in the spotlight and the subject of legal challenges since Ryan Walters was elected state schools superintendent.

Three attorneys are listed as members of the Education Department's legal staff: Cleveland, general counsel; Andy N. Ferguson, deputy general counsel, and Nathan Downey, assistant general counsel.

Cleveland, the department's top attorney joined the Education Department in January 2023, the same month that Walters began his tenure as state schools superintendent.

Cleveland is a fixture at Oklahoma State Board of Education meetings, providing legal advice to board members and Walters on behalf of the agency. The office of legal services at the agency also runs public hearings on proposed rules changes governing the operation of the agency and Oklahoma schools.

What did current Education Department general counsel do before working for Ryan Walters?

Before his time working for Walters, Cleveland, 36, spent 3? years with the state attorney general’s office, under former AGs Mike Hunter and John O’Connor. According to Cleveland’s LinkedIn page, his final role in that office was as the chief of its reserved powers protection unit. He also spent time as an assistant and deputy solicitor general.

A biography of Cleveland on the Federalist Society website noted he served as a federal law clerk at courts in Virginia and Nebraska before coming to Oklahoma. Before that, he graduated from Biola University in California and Harvard University Law School.

“Bryan was a good lawyer at the AG’s office,” said Cameron Spradling, a longtime local attorney who’s been involved in recent high-profile legal cases with connections to the Education Department. “I don’t think he ever signed up for the mess he’s had to handle. It would be a terrible loss if they lost Bryan.”

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Walters is a defendant in at least nine state and federal court cases, involving subjects including defamation and local control, among others.

The Education Department has lost numerous key personnel since Walters took over. Terri Grissom, who wrote applications for competitive federal grants for the state Education Department for five years, left the agency April 18 and testified the next month at a legislative hearing. In May, the agency’s executive director of prevention and intervention services, Michelle Strain — whose work focused on crisis counseling, suicide and bullying prevention, school climate, homeless student services and more — resigned.

In October, the agency’s program manager for grant development and compliance, Pamela Smith-Gordon, left after only months on the job, complaining about a lack of access to Walters.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Education Dept. lawyer leaving Ryan Walters' administration