KS ed commissioner said he told cousins to fear ‘Indians raiding the town,’ video shows
Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson faced growing pressure to resign on Thursday over inappropriate comments about Native Americans, but some members of the state Board of Education, who will decide his fate, voiced support for the embattled administrator.
The chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Native American state legislators and Gov. Laura Kelly all called on Watson to resign, citing remarks he made earlier this month to an education conference. The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) released video of Watson’s comments on Thursday.
In the video, a recording of a Zoom call, Watson talks about how Kansans often go outside and look up during tornadoes instead of hunkering down — part of an extended metaphor about about how schools in the pandemic are simultaneously dealing with hurricanes and tornadoes.
“I had some cousins from California. They were petrified of tornadoes. They’d come visit us, you know, in the summer and they’d say, ‘Are we going to get killed by a tornado?’ and I’d say, ‘Don’t worry about that. But you’ve got to worry about the Indians raiding the town at any time’ and they really thought that, you know. Grow up in California, I guess you don’t know much of the history of Kansas,” Watson says on the recording.
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick said Watson is responsible for guiding future generations but that can’t happen when he’s ignorant “of the diverse history of our youth.” Many Native American communities are still recovering from injustices that occurred on their land centuries ago, Rupnick said.
“Commissioner Watson revealed himself as someone who is not suited for a leadership role and because of that he should resign immediately,” Rupnick said in a statement.
Board members who spoke to The Star and other news outlets stopped short of calling for his resignation, however, or saying they would seek to remove him. The power to hire and fire the commissioner rests solely with the 10 members of the board, who are elected and represent different areas of the state.
The board will meet Friday in closed session to discuss Watson. Any vote to remove him would take place in public, however.
Board member Deena Horst said that Watson’s remark was “racist,” insensitive and hurtful, and out of character for the commissioner. Watson, she said, “has done so much good in education” and has always “emphasized that each child is important and we have to make sure we’re serving everyone.”
“I believe it was racist. But I also don’t believe that he is racist,” Horst said.
She said that Watson should be reprimanded and educated, but that the single remark does not justify seeking his termination.
“This is one comment. And there are a lot of politics being played at this point,” Horst said. “I like Gov. Kelly, but frankly, this sounds more like a political thing. I’d like to visit with her and find out what she knows that I don’t. But at this point, it appears it may be more involved in politics than anything else.”
Board member Melanie Haas said she was shocked to read about Kelly calling for Watson’s resignation before the state board had met. She said that “strong punitive action is certainly warranted,” but she does not believe Watson should resign.
Board member Jim McNiece told Wichita public radio station KMUW that he had heard multiple versions of what Watson said.
“I can tell you this: I don’t support him resigning,” McNiece told the station. “He’s done a great job. He’s been by far the best commissioner I’ve ever worked with.”
Board member Janet Waugh said that she could not comment on personnel matters, but added that Watson has “been an outstanding commissioner. He’s certainly gone above and beyond.”
Another board member, Ann Mah, indicated she was withholding judgment for the moment. She said that she would be interested to know why Kelly called for Watson’s resignation and said the board “will use that as one more piece of input.”
Board chair Jim Porter said Wednesday that Watson had already apologized for the remarks and had taken what he called a responsible position.
Other board members either declined to comment or didn’t immediately return calls.
The board members’ restrained comments stood in sharp contrast to the calls for accountability that came from Native American state legislators.
Reps. Ponka-We Victors-Cozad, Stephanie Byers and Christina Haswood, all Democrats, said Watson’s commentary “alluded to hateful and bigoted stereotypes” toward Native Americans.
“This rhetoric has been repeated for centuries and needs to stop; the history of First Americans is painful and largely absent from educational curricula, reflecting the cultural genocide of the Indigenous peoples,” the statement said. “This is why we call for his immediate resignation.”
Earlier Thursday, Kelly said the Board of Education “must take issues of derogatory and discriminatory language seriously.” Though Watson has had a long career in education, he must resign, she said.
Watson’s resignation or removal, if it occurs, would mark an abrupt end to his time leading KSDE. As commissioner for the past seven years, he spearheaded a redesign of K-12 public schools deemphasizing standardized testing – a project that rankled some Republican lawmakers but was enthusiastically supported by the Board of Education.
Watson was superintendent of McPherson USD 418 before becoming commissioner in 2015. He quickly set out to create a new vision for K-12 public education and launched the Kansans Can Project to implement it. School districts signed up to be redesigned as part of a “Moonshot” initiative, with schools joining in phases named after the U.S. space program, including Gemini and Apollo.
The result has been a broad shift toward less emphasis on assessment scores and more on “soft skills” that are difficult to define but essential for modern life, like good citizenship and work ethic. Key metrics of student success have painted a mixed picture, however.
The Legislature is midway through the annual K-12 budget process and both the board and KSDE are still sorting through how to spend federal dollars that came to schools in COVID-19 relief bills.
“It would be unfortunate if there were a rough transition,” Sen. Molly Buamgarder, a Louisburg Republican and chair of the Senate Education Committee, said.
Baumgardner said Kelly overstepped and engaged in “cancel culture” by calling for Watson’s resignation before the state board acts and before any video or audio of his comments became public.
“It’s unfortunate that this is being dealt with in this manner rather than allowing duly elected state board members to address this when they have the information,” Baumgardner said. “That really has been circumvented in a very public way.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 3:59 PM.
