Tag: Kansas Board of Education

Member Ben Jones rejects political hostility directed at LGBTQ community

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Kansas Board of Education member Ben Jones addressed colleagues at his final meeting Wednesday by raising concern about the influence of Christian nationalists in government, the Republican Party’s rejection of social and emotional learning in schools and the ostracizing of LGBTQ teachers and students.

Jones, a Sterling resident elected four years ago to represent a portion of southwest Kansas, lost his GOP primary in August to Dennis Hershberger of Hutchinson. Hershberger is among three Republicans elected in November to join the 10-member state Board of Education in January.

Jones said rise of Christian nationalism in the United States should be viewed as an assault on the liberty of individuals to choose a personal religious path. Influence wielded by Christian fundamentalists threatens to infuse government, including public education, with religious ideology reinforced by government “coercion,” Jones said.

“This narrative has now taken over the Republican Party in a way I never thought possible 10 years ago,” he said. “This is the belief that we are God’s chosen nation and we must follow the dictates of carefully selected portions of the Bible. This is dangerous — replacing the grace of Jesus Christ with the yoke of the law.”

Michael Kuckelman, chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

During the board meeting, Jones accused Christian fundamentalists of damaging conservatism in the quest for power. This misguided agenda sought to deny LGBTQ individuals from teaching in schools, said Jones, who has supported same-sex marriage.

“Gay students have a right to a safe and quality public education,” he said. “Gay teachers should be allowed to teach in our classrooms.”

Jones, a Republican, said a person’s morality couldn’t be determined by political party affiliation and a partisan group shouldn’t operate as some type of morality police. He said Republicans had falsely denounced social and emotional learning in schools and alleged teachers were advancing “critical race theory,” which represents the idea racism was a cultural construction designed to oppress people of color.

He said social and emotional learning — some state Board of Education members object to use of the phrase — was important because high school graduates needed a framework that would support their continued learning throughout life.

Jean Clifford, a first-term Republican state board member from Garden City, fell in the primary to Cathy Hopkins of Hays. She said she was honored to work the past four years on behalf of “dedicated, hard-working individuals who truly want to see their students succeed.”

She pointed to a misconception held by some people the state Board of Education had authority to mandate education reform. The state Board of Education, she said, had constitutional powers to guide public education statewide. For example, the state Board of Education recommended school districts stop using offensive Native American mascots, but didn’t have the ability to require the change.

“We provide a structure and guidance to local districts,” said Clifford, a former member of the Garden City school board. “Local boards of education and local control is a fundamental principle in our state. That is something we need to honor whether we agree with the decision at the local level or not.”

The third to depart the 10-member state Board of Education in January will be Janet Waugh of Kansas City, Kansas. She didn’t seek reelection and will complete a 24-year run on the board. She was on the Turner school board for 15 years and described teachers as “my heroes.”

“It takes a village to raise a board member,” Waugh said. “I’ve had a heck of a village supporting me.”

She said her state Board of Education district included a concentration of low-income students. She was proud the state Board of Education’s policy was to meet needs of every single child.

“Our students didn’t choose to be born into poverty. Education is the only escape for many of these students. Please, I ask of you, do not allow their zip code to determine the type of education they receive,” Waugh said.

She apologized for doubting the abilities of Randy Watson, who was named Kansas commissioner of education in 2014 while serving as superintendent of schools in McPherson.

“I was wrong,” Waugh said. “He’s been an amazing commissioner who has been a wonderful leader for the state.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/12/14/outgoing-kansas-board-of-education-member-decries-gops-embrace-of-christian-nationalism/

State board expected to vote on resolution in November

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Haskell Indian Nations University freshman Georgia Blackwood said indigenous-themed imagery and branding presented in the form of school mascots made her feel non-Native Americans were intent on treating her culture with disrespect.

Blackwood, a Lawrence resident and member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, told members of the Kansas State Board of Education on Tuesday perpetuation of offensive team names or mascots created a hostile educational environment in schools.

She endorsed a Kansas Advisory Council for Indigenous Education recommendation the state Board of Education and the Kansas Board of Regents make a priority of working to convince local school officials to abandon culturally inappropriate branding. The council report suggested the transition be completed within three to five years.

“Blatantly racist depictions let me know that my opinions aren’t valid and what I have to say is not being taken into consideration,” Blackwood said.

Five state Board of Education members expressed during the meeting a degree of support for a resolution or motion expected to be on the November agenda that would denounce this type of imagery. A list of school mascots in Kansas considered improper included Braves, Red Raiders, Warriors, Thunderbirds, Indians and Redskins.

A challenge in terms of the state’s public schools was that Kansas’ 10-member state Board of Education didn’t possess authority to compel local school districts to select new names or mascots.

State Board of Education president Jim Porter, a Fredonia resident who spent 34 years as a superintendent, said retention of disgraceful mascots and branding interfered with the goal of attaining academic success for every student in Kansas. The 10,000 Native American children enrolled in Kansas schools ought to be educated in places that didn’t cling to demeaning characterizations, he said.

“I will assure you that I am in support,” Porter said. “We do, in fact, have influence. We have been elected as leaders.”

The campaign to reconsider mascots and branding emerged this year after Randy Watson, commissioner of education in Kansas, created controversy by telling participants in an online education conference that when growing up he tried to convince relatives visiting Kansas they ought to be more worried about dangerous American Indians than of real threats posed by tornadoes. He apologized for the racist remarks. The state board suspended him for one month, a punishment denounced as inadequate by some tribal leaders.

Rep. John Wheeler, a Garden City Republican, subsequently said on the Kansas House floor during consideration of bill returning land to the Shawnee Tribe that he had to check behind him to determine whether Rep. Ponka-We Victors-Cozad, D-Wichita, was holding a tomahawk.

Joseph Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomie Nation, said branding reform was needed because social media expanded opportunities for people to engage in bullying and harassment of Native American students. People can be traumatized by bigotry and prejudice related to school branding, he said.

“I understand change is hard,” he said. “I have never felt more pressure and fear than I have today because of the politics and the division that we see in this state.”

Some Kansas school districts have voluntarily decided during to drop shameful imagery. Atchison ditched the labels Redmen and Braves, while Wichita North High School began the process of shedding Redskins. However, there continues to be fierce opposition in Manhattan to dropping Indians as the high school’s mascot.

“We are people. We are humans. We are proud,” said Raphael Wahwassuck, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomie tribal council and supporter of the council’s recommendation.

In the memorandum presented by the advisory council, members said the imagery reinforced “narrow-minded stereotypes that represent American Indians as exotic, warlike people who are stuck in the past.” It taught students to express school spirit in flawed ways, the report said, including the making of fake Indian noises and chants or pep rally banners dedicated to “scalping the Indians.”

“If Kansas wants to truly focus on success of each and every student, we believe taking action against American Indian mascots and branding will improve the educational experiences of all students,” said Alex Red Corn, a professor of educational leadership at Kansas State University and a member of the state Board of Education’s advisory council on indigenous education.

Eric Davis, superintendent at Royal Valley schools, said the 300 Native American students in the district deserved a safe educational environment that respected their heritage. He said districts defending offensive mascots by claiming they honored Native Americans were deceiving themselves.

The council suggested all levels of Kansas education address the presence of Indian-themed mascots and branding as well as create a funding stream to help schools with the transition of sports or marching band equipment.

The recommendation from the council wouldn’t apply to tribal schools. For example, Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence has competed in athletics as the Fighting Indians.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/10/12/kansas-council-asks-board-of-education-to-urge-removal-of-offensive-mascots-branding/