Education Commissioner, Randy Watson, the State’s highest ranking education official, has submitted a letter of resignation, just days after what are perceived by some, as offensive remarks he made at a conference last week surface, though it is unclear if the State Board of Education will accept the move.
The move was announced by State Board chair, Jim Porter, at the beginning of a Special Meeting on the remarks, in which he made remarks about Native Americans while telling a story. Here are those remarks:
In recent days, Board Members say, they have been besieged by education officials from across the State who urged them not to terminate Watson. Some came to Topeka this morning in a bid to show support. Several Administrators at the meeting feel it unfair he be forced to resign for simply relaying a story from his childhood.
Those in support say he was not being racist, just expressing what many Kansans have found to be the concerns and beliefs of some on the east and west coast, particularly thirty or forty years ago.
