It once attracted crowds of overnight campers, furious remarks, adoring praise, a middle finger and even an arrest.

Public comment at Oklahoma State Board of Education meetings became so high-demand that state officials heightened security, expanded overflow seating and implemented a lottery for the chance to speak. It regularly continued for over an hour until officials enforced more limits.

Dozens of visitors, some of whom waited all night to be first in line, came every month for the opportunity to talk directly to Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s polarizing state superintendent who led the board from 2023 until Sept. 30 of last year. But since state Superintendent Lindel Fields took office in early October, public comment has disappeared from the board’s meetings.

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Fields said he has intentionally excluded it to maintain decorum. Ever since Governor Stitt appointed him to succeed Walters, who resigned to lead a conservative nonprofit, Fields has not once included public comment on a state Board of Education agenda, according to an Oklahoma Voice review.

“I think we all know some of the things that have happened in the past in regards to public comment,” he told news reporters after a March 26 board meeting. “This is a professional board. It’s intended to make decisions for children, and so I think the board meetings need to be professional and emulate that.”

Although Fields has removed public comment for an extended period, its disappearance predates his time in office.

It last appeared on a state Board of Education agenda in July. In the months that followed, Walters abruptly canceled an August meeting, and a majority of the board circumvented him to schedule a special meeting Sept. 3 to hire an attorney. Walters then left public comment out of his final board meeting Sept. 25.

Fields, whose first meeting was Oct. 9, said public comment could return to board meetings someday, but “right now, it’s just not going to be there.”

Certain procedures, like drafting new academic standards for school subjects, have involved public input by allowing individuals to submit written comments to the board, he noted.

Members of the public also can contact board members and the Oklahoma State Department of Education directly at any time.

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Citizens deserve a voice at board meetings, said Jenny Bobo, a public school parent and former educator. Bobo’s family attended several state Board of Education meetings during Walters’ tenure.

“I am grateful that Mr. Fields has stabilized the department and made meetings ‘boring again,’ but completely removing public comment for the past six months is a massive step in the wrong direction, especially after the former superintendent was awarded the Black Hole Award for thwarting transparency,” she said.

Freedom of Information Oklahoma, which promotes government transparency, dedicates the yearly Black Hole Award to an individual, agency or organization that has most obstructed the free flow of information.

Not only should public comment be reinstated, Bobo said, but board meetings should be moved to the late afternoon so more working parents and educators could participate.

Public comment is allowed, but not required, at public board meetings, multiple Oklahoma attorney general opinions concluded. Some boards require speakers’ remarks to relate specifically to a topic on the meeting agenda. Others, like the state Board of Education in the past, permit comments on any subject.

It’s a common practice — sometimes even a requirement — among public boards for members not to respond during public comment. So, Walters listened silently as speakers often addressed him directly. Some gave glowing praise of his crusade against “woke ideology” while others berated him and his far-right-wing policies.

One woman continued to shout at Walters beyond her allotted time and was removed from the meeting in handcuffs for refusing to leave. She was never charged with an offense. Another frequent speaker gave Walters the middle finger during his turn at the lectern and sometimes cursed during remarks.

The board meetings became an arena of political conflict where Walters’ fans and critics often clashed. Two of his supporters were criminally charged in July 2023 after attempting to control who could enter the board meeting room. Court records show the charges were dropped over a year later.

Walters and the board started choosing public commenters by random lottery in May 2024, a practice that continued for almost the rest of his tenure. When explaining the decision, he claimed without evidence that out-of-state activists had been paid to hijack the board meetings.

“We want to hear from Oklahomans,” he said at the time. “We want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to be heard.”

Walters did not return a request for comment for this story.

Now that the meetings feature fewer “explosive issues,” public comment might not attract as many people, said Representative Dick Lowe, R-Amber, who attended several meetings as the leader of the House Common Education Committee.

However, Lowe didn’t criticize Fields’ decision to exclude that portion of the state Board of Education agenda. He said public comment reached a point where it was “not positive or beneficial.”

“I’m never sure in a state setting like that that public comment is effective or is it just to be grandstanding,” he said.

Public input shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of decorum, said Senator Mary Boren, another state lawmaker who attended Walters’ board meetings.

Boren, D-Norman, said people who act “rowdy and mouthy” during state meetings are only further angered and disenfranchised when denied the chance to speak.

“I think it’s very important for government agencies to figure out a way to maintain decorum and also have public comment,” she said. “That’s what democracy’s for. I don’t think that’s a heavy lift.”