A newly-hired Oklahoma school principal is a well-known drag queen and was also previously arrested on child pornography charges, according to reports.
The hiring actually happened in June but only began to generate headlines earlier this week after the school administratorās past and lifestyle were pointed out by the Substack V1sut.
Dr. Shane Murnan was hired in June as the principal of John Glenn Elementary in Oklahoma City.
When Western Heights Public Schools announced Murnan would oversee 400 students daily, it acknowledged āprevious chargesā he faced that it said were ādismissed more than 20 years ago.ā
The district addressed the controversy when it put up a post on Facebook.
āDr. Murnan has been serving the field of Education for over 25 years and has an excellent reputation,ā the district said. He comes highly recommended by previous supervisors, colleagues and educators. He has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Master of Education in Educational Administration and Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration.ā
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The details of Murnanās āprevious chargesā include an arrest for alleged possession of child pornography in the year 2001, according to a report at the time from The Tulsa World.
In August of that year, the then-30 year-old teacher for Stillwater Public Schools was arrested by police after they had previously seized his computer.
The Tulsa World reported: āFour images of adolescent white males performing sex acts with each other were recovered from the computer by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the affidavit said.ā
Murnan was also hit with a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession.
A judge later ruled that it was not possible to prove that people who were engaged in sex acts on a video on Murnanās computer were underage.
He was not convicted of a crime in the matter and the marijuana possession charge was later expunged.
None of that deterred the district from hiring Murnan ā nor did the fact that he moonlights as a drag queen by the name of Shantel Mandalay.
The LGBT publication The Gayly profiled Murnan as āMs. Shantelā in 2018 and noted he participated in reading to children while dressed in drag.
āI have always loved Education and working with kids hoping to make a difference,ā Ms. Shantel told the outlet. āNow Iām able to combine both my passion for drag and Education and hopefully change a childās life by letting them know itās okay to be whomever you would want to be.ā
Shantel was also quoted as having previously said, āDrag Queen Story Hour is a chance for kids to be whoever they want for an hour with no questions asked.Ā Our books are all chosen with the common theme of āitās okay to be you.āā
The principal also works at a gay bar in Oklahoma City that holds a Sunday āfarcical church service,ā The Daily Caller reported.
The outlet also obtained a letter to concerned parents about Murnan from Western Heights Public Schools Superintendent Brayden Savage.
āI am writing to address a concern you may read about on social media,ā Savage said in the letter.Ā āWe understand the situation may cause concerns and questions among parents, staff, and community members.ā
In spite of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Murnanās past and present behavior, Savage said he was tapped as a principal after the district followed āusual hiring practices.ā
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.