KS Education Commissioner Randy Watson offers resignation after disparaging remark
Update: The Kansas Board of Education voted to reject Commissioner Randy Watson’s resignation, and instead suspended him without pay for 30 days. Read more here.
Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson submitted a letter of resignation, the chair of the state Board of Education said Friday, after video emerged of Watson making a disparaging comment about Native Americans.
The Board of Education convened a special meeting Friday to discuss Watson’s letter and it wasn’t immediately clear whether they would accept it. After Jim Porter, the chair, delivered an opening statement condemning other officials for publicly calling for Watson’s resignation, the board went into closed session.
“This entire situation was brought about by a statement made by the commissioner that was offensive and even considered racist by many who heard it,” Porter said. “We are not here to excuse or justify this statement in any way. It should not have been said and that fact was immediately recognized by the commissioner.”
Watson has made “multiple apologies,” Porter said, adding that “these apologies have not been accepted by many who were affected.”
Word of what Watson had said began circulating in the past few days, but it wasn’t until Thursday that KSDE released video of the remarks, made at a virtual education conference earlier this month.
Watson, speaking about how teaching during a pandemic is like dealing with hurricanes and tornadoes, shared a story about how cousins from California would visit in the summer and ask whether they would 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 said.
Watson was superintendent of McPherson USD 418 before becoming commissioner in 2015. His signature project as commissioner has been a new vision for K-12 public education called Kansans Can. 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.
In the lead up to Friday’s meeting, several board members appeared hesitant to fire Watson and some didn’t want him to resign. Board members Deena Horst, Melanie Haas and Jim McNiece said explicitly they didn’t want him to leave.
Still, Watson has come under pressure to resign from Native American leaders, legislators and Gov. Laura Kelly. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick said in a statement that Watson “revealed himself as someone who is not suited for a leadership role and because of that he should resign immediately.
Kelly, a Democrat, said the Board of Education “must take issues of derogatory and discriminatory language seriously.”
But Porter, without naming Kelly or other legislators, criticized their decision to call publicly for Watson’s resignation. The sole authority to fire the commissioner rests with the Board of Education.
“A more appropriate action would have been to contact the responsible party, in this case the Kansas State Board of Education, with their recommendations,” Porter said.
He pointed out that a “number of people in this state in elected and executive positions who have actually been arrested for various illegal activities but they some things in common: all were given the opportunity to participate in due process and had the opportunity to be heard in the appropriate forum.”
Sen. Gene Suellentrop, Rep. Mark Samsel, Rep. Aaron Coleman and Rep. Suzi Carlson have all been arrested over the past year.
“It seems ironic to me that Commissioner Watson, who owned and did take responsibility for his statement, which was not illegal, feels obligated or feels forced to resign by outside forces,” Porter said.
Porter said he had visited with “some of the leaders of those who were hurt” by Watson’s comments. He called those meetings “extremely enlightening.”
“I heard about offensive and insulting situation being faced by Native American children regularly and consistently on a daily basis because of their race. This is not acceptable and needs to be addressed,” Porter said.
No one else on the board spoke before members voted to close the meeting for an hour. Any action by the board will take place in public session after the closed meeting. Watson wasn’t present at the meeting, but Porter said he may be invited to join the closed session.
Nis Wilbur, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, told KSNT in Topeka that while she was working for the Kansas State Department of Education, there were times she felt singled out for her race. She said that colleagues would ask her for the “native perspective” on issues, and “I had to remind them I don’t speak for tribal people as a whole.”
“I didn’t see it as being malicious, maybe a little passive aggressive and maybe a little bit ignorant but not harmful,” she told the outlet.
Wilbur declined an interview with The Star, but in a public Facebook post, argued that Watson’s comment was far more than an “unfortunate remark.”
“To me, it’s a gross mishandling of tribal people at the hands of the top educator in the state,” she wrote. “This was not a private conversation, this story was told in a public setting to educators across Kansas. This is now the standard for our tribal child UNLESS we let the State Board know it’s more than just ‘bad judgment.’”
But some state board members said earlier this week that Watson’s remark was out of character. And that while he should be reprimanded, the incident does not constitute seeking his resignation.
“He’s apologized to a lot of folks at this point, and he’s apologized to the board. I think the state board has a responsibility to students, teachers, families and all of the residents of the state to ensure we’re delivering on the promise of excellence in public education,” Haas said. “I believe Commissioner Watson is still the right person for the job.”
She argued that the moment should be used as a learning opportunity, for both Watson, educators and students across the state.
“If we really want to address the racism that our Native American tribes and other people of color are faced with on a sadly regular basis, I believe we really have to harness this as an opportunity for dialogue,” she said.
Horst said that she fears losing the commissioner, amid the ongoing redesign of the state’s public education system, and especially as schools grapple with the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Frankly, I’m worried that removing him at this point, or his resignation at this point, would be disastrous to the field. Because (schools are) just finding their bearings after COVID. And Randy’s helped them through all of it,” Horst said. “The department needs a leader.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 10:39 AM.
