Black Texas Principal Placed on Administrative Leave After CRT Accusations Although District Denies That Was the Reason

The principal of Colleyville Heritage High, James Whitfield, was placed on paid administrative leave starting Monday, August 30. Grapevine-Colleyville School District released a statement Monday, “As this is an ongoing personnel matter, we will not comment further. We remain committed to providing a learning environment at Colleyville Heritage that fosters and encourages student academic and extracurricular achievement.”

As speculation grew, the School District gave another statement with a list of concerns they claim did not lead to the decision to put Whitfield on paid leave the list included, pushing Critical Race Theory and some photos posted on social media of himself and his wife that some felt were inappropriate.

The follow-up statement released on Wednesday, September 1st reads:

The District has received numerous questions regarding the decision to place Dr. James Whitfield on paid administrative leave. While the status of this as an ongoing personnel matter limits the information that the District can disclose about the events leading up to this decision, the speculation and conjecture that surround these events warrant some additional context.

The decision to place Dr. Whitfield on administrative leave was not a result of statements made by members of the public, including those who spoke at recent meetings of the GCISD Board of Trustees. Nor was the decision made in response to allegations Dr. Whitfield was teaching Critical Race Theory, or because of the photos on his social media account that were brought to the attention of the District in 2019.

GCISD welcomed Dr. Whitfield as an assistant principal at Colleyville Heritage High School in 2018, then promoted him to principal at Heritage Middle School in 2019. One year later, in 2020, he was promoted again to the principal of Colleyville Heritage High School.

We understand that members of our community have questions, but the District does not resolve personnel matters in the media. We have established procedures for that which we are following.

We are fully committed to coming together and focusing first and foremost on providing an excellent education for all of the students we serve.

At a school board meeting in July, a former school board candidate, Stetson Clark brought up his concern with the implementation of critical race theory in the district. Clark also stated that Whitfield was someone with “extreme views on race.” Other members of the community also spoke.

According to CNN Whitfield responded to the accusations against him on Facebook posting, “I can no longer maintain my silence in the face of this hate, intolerance, racism, and bigotry. I am not the CRT (Critical Race Theory) Boogeyman. I am the first African American to assume the role of Principal at my current school in its 25-year history, and I am keenly aware of how much fear this strikes in the hearts of a small minority who would much rather things go back to the way they used to be.”

It will be interesting to see what the school district releases when they complete their investigation and what actions they take. While the allegations of teaching CRT may not be why he was placed on leave does not mean that the district will not be taking them into account. Many parents of the school wish to see the principal removed.

We are seeing parents across the nation stand up to the teaching of CRT. Parents need to continue to show up to school board meetings and be involved so they know what their children are being taught and by whom if they are concerned about increasing left-wing teaching.