This is Superintendent Robin Ryan, head of the Grapevine Colleyville Independent School District near Dallas, Texas.
Robin Ryan has a podcast. From this I learned that the mission of his district is to be the best, which is defined as building excellent schools together. It turns out, “we work best together when we know each other”.
I also learned that he recently read Adam Grant’s Think Again, which argues that leaders need to learn to admit when they don’t know something, be willing to change their minds, and accept critical feedback.
I learned that the district’s motto is “Purpose Innovation Community”
Robin Ryan is about to have an opportunity to act on Grant’s book. He’s about to test whether he believes in what he says in his podcast.
Two days ago, Robin Ryan suspended the first Black principal of Colleyville-Heritage High School, James Whitfield.
Why? James Whitfield doesn’t know and wasn’t told.
It seems to be about two things. In July 2021, a man stood at a school board meeting and directly attacked Whitfield for promoting “critical race theory”, despite the fact that direct personal attacks are against the board meeting rules. Second, James Whitefield has posted romantic pictures of himself with his wife on his personal social media account, and unfortunately for James Whitfield, his wife is white.
That’s apparently why Robin Ryan suspended James Whitfield. That doesn’t sound like excellence. It doesn’t sound like knowing each other. It doesn’t sound like thinking again.
It doesn’t sound like leadership. It doesn’t sound like fairness. It doesn’t sound like justice. It doesn’t sound like any of the interesting books that Robin Ryan is reading.
It doesn’t sound like education. It doesn’t sound like truth.
It doesn’t sound like purpose, innovation or community.
What it sounds like is systematic racism. The attack on “critical race theory” here and elsewhere perversely validates the central claim of critical race theory. Only it’s not the baseless, empty, vindictive liars behind the attacks who are paying the price. It is—as history would suggest, as our poisoned present would document—their targets.
The story that’s out there today in the national press is about Whitfield. I think it should be about Ryan. I think it should be about the school board. I think it should be about the man who violated the board meeting rules in July, Stetson Clark, who is a failed candidate for the Grapevine-Colleyville school board and an operations analyst for a Texas investment firm.
When the story is about a man who did nothing wrong, it leads to stupid discussions, like “well, maybe he shouldn’t have posted that photo of himself and his wife to his own social media feed”. Or “maybe he needed to be clearer about the difference between diversity policies and critical race theory”. These are conversations that can never be fair or reasonable. These are not conversations at all.
The story should be about a superintendent who claims to be a leader, who believes in excellence, who wants people to work together better, who couldn’t find the courage to stand up against a few malicious, malcontented people. It should be about a board of education that couldn’t defend its own employees or its own interests. It should be about a state that stops at nothing to pander to the worst injustices it harbors within its borders.
The people who should have to defend themselves are the people who didn’t live up to their obligations as citizens, leaders and professionals. The people who vented their prejudices and ignorance and were then rewarded for it. That’s the story. Stay on it.