Education
Indianapolis school administrator fired after publicly criticizing district's use of CRT in classrooms
The Daily Caller News Foundation had received videos that exposed activities related to IPS’s racial equity agenda
December 22, 2021 5:38pm
Updated: December 22, 2021 5:38pm
An Indianapolis school administrator announced he was fired Monday for leaking to the media his school district’s social justice initiatives, a month after his video about Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the classrooms he supervised went viral.
Tony Kinnett, now-former district science coordinator for Indianapolis Public Schools, announced on Twitter that he had been fired from the school district.
Indianapolis Public Schools just fired me for:
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) December 20, 2021
• Sharing that IPS recorded children in required racial justice sessions
• Not sending IPS the personal info of @TietzKendall and @AndyMarkMiller
• Quoting Dr. Payne's racist comments to students
• Sharing public files
“It’s clear Indianapolis’ actions are retaliatory from the cobbled-together charges,” Kinnett, now the owner and executive director of the Chalkboard Review, told Breitbart News. “It’s sad to see questions and concerns about transparency tossed aside to protect the horrific words and actions of staff in the district.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation had received videos that exposed activities related to IPS’s racial equity agenda, including one where BLM activists told students they lived in a “misogynistic, masculine society” which tells women they “should cook and clean” and “stay at home.”
Kinnett said the district’s HR team pulled him into several meetings they claimed were non-disciplinary, but did not allow him to speak freely, bring an attorney, or record anything.
He drew national attention last month when he posted a video to Twitter about how CRT informed what was taught. He gave examples of how regular talking points about white supremacy, capitalism and inequity were drawn straight from books that set the foundation for the theory, like Kimberly Crenshaw’s Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed a Movement.
As an admin for the largest school district in Indiana, here's what we mean when we tell you that we aren't "teaching" Critical Race Theory: pic.twitter.com/f6RLghcw2R
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) November 4, 2021
“When schools tell you that we aren’t teaching Critical Race Theory, it means one thing, go away and look into our affairs no further,” Kinnett said in the video. “It isn’t about transparency. It isn’t about cultural relevance. It’s race essentialism painted to look like the district cares about students of color.”
Kinnett told the Daily Caller he is considering his legal options, and that he has been in touch with the state’s attorney general’s office.