A California teacher who publicly criticized his school district’s investment in a “Woke Kindergarten” program was placed on administrative leave Thursday, the teacher said.
Hayward Unified School District teacher Tiger Craven-Neeley told the San Francisco Chronicle he was asked to hand over his keys and laptop and not return to his classroom at Glassbrook Elementary until further notice.
School officials told the teacher he was being placed on paid leave over “allegations of unprofessional conduct,” but gave no other reason, Craven-Neeley told the paper.
“We don’t comment on private personnel matters,” district spokesman Michael Bazeley wrote in an email response to Fox News Digital’s questions. He denied that Craven-Neeley was put on leave for “retaliatory purposes” or that he was being punished for speaking to the press.
Craven-Neeley was placed on leave days after he raised concerns about Woke Kindergarten, a for-profit company Glassbrook Elementary hired to train teachers.
The school spent $250,000 in federal funds provided by a program meant to help boost test scores for some of the country’s lowest-performing schools, according to the Chronicle, but after two years with Woke Kindergarten, students’ scores are reportedly worse.
In a 4% drop in both areas in the last two years, less than 12% of the students at Glassbrook Elementary in Hayward, Calif., can read at their grade level, and under 4% are proficient in math, according to the Chronicle.
Woke Kindergarten describes itself on its website as “supporting children, families, educators and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-black and queer and trans liberation.”
The organization also has “Woke” words of the day like “ceasefire” “abolish” and “Woke Wonderings” about challenging the “legitimacy of the Supreme Court” and abolishing the police, money and the military.
Glassbrook is predominantly Latino/ Hispanic and more than 80% of students are English learners, the Chronicle reported. Some teachers complained anonymously about the funds spent on teaching children to be “abolitionists” while reading scores are low, but Craven-Neeley spoke out on the record.
