Teacher Who Exposed ‘Woke Kindergarten’ Faces ‘Political Retaliation’
A teacher at a struggling San Francisco elementary school recently exposed the institution for hiring an organization called “Woke Kindergarten” and is now facing “political retaliation” for his actions.
Glassbrook Elementary School in Hayward, California, has become one of the country’s lowest-performing schools in recent years and was given federal funds specifically allocated to help the worst-performing schools improve. Rather than spending that money to help students learn essential skills and knowledge, the school district chose to spend $250,000 on hiring a racist and Marxist organization called “Woke Kindergarten.”
The organization describes itself on its website as a “global, abolitionist early childhood ecosystem and visionary creative portal supporting children, families, educators, and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-black and queer and trans liberation.”
The organization’s founder, Akiea “Ki” Gross, describes herself as an “abolitionist early educator, cultural organizer, and creator currently innovating ways to resist, heal, liberate and create,” and uses the pronouns they/them.
Instead of helping students improve, the program led to English and math scores continuing to plummet, “with less than 4% of students proficient in math and just under 12% at grade level in English — a decline of about 4 percentage points in each category,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The program was exposed by Tiger Craven-Neeley, a self-described “gay moderate” teacher at Glassbrook Elementary School. Soon after he went public with his criticism, Craven-Neely was placed on administrative leave.
According to district spokesperson Michael Bazeley, the exposé prompted national outrage, which has “taken its toll” — supposedly leading to the school and the district receiving “threatening and racist” messages.
“I don’t think any teacher or staff member wakes up expecting to be dragged through the mud of the national media,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. “They’ve been very resilient, but it has taken its toll.”
Rather than addressing the criticism and acknowledging that the school made a poor decision, the district suspended the teacher who dared to speak out about the racist and Marxist program.
Craven-Neeley “said district officials summoned him to a video conference Thursday afternoon and instructed him to turn in his keys and laptop and not return to his classroom at Glassbrook Elementary until further notice,” the San Francisco Chronicle explained. “They did not give any specifics as to why he was placed on paid leave, other than to say it was over ‘allegations of unprofessional conduct,’ Craven-Neeley said.”
“The suspension came less than a day after a divisive staff meeting at the school, which included conversations about the Woke Kindergarten program, the media coverage of it and Craven-Neeley’s participation in the media coverage,” the outlet added.
The decision to punish Craven-Neely is a clear case of “retaliation,” according to Fox News contributor Guy Benson.
“Retaliation for questioning an insane program that is actively harming children,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Upside down.”
Meanwhile, critics are questioning why Craven-Neely was facing punishment while others have faced no consequences for their actions — especially a district spokesperson who blatantly lied to the public.
When the news first broke, the spokesperson falsely claimed in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle that Glassbrook Elementary School was no longer on the state’s watchlist of failing schools and the rates of attendance and suspension were improving. The outlet immediately informed the spokesperson that his claims were false, noting that “the school was not only still on the list but also had dropped to a lower level.”
Social media users questioned whether “the district spokesperson who lied about the district being off the state achievement watchlist also placed on leave?”
“This is an excellent question,” replied literacy advocate Karen Vaites.
