Bay Area School District Parting Ways With Woke Kindergarten Program

Over the years, words have been used as self-identifiers in politics, only to see those words turned against those individuals or groups to great effect. Perhaps most notable of these tags is the word Liberal. For the longest time, Liberal was a proudly worn moniker of the American Left most significantly during the FDR years and through the ensuing decades. With the Reagan revolution, the term was redefined by conservatives in an effort to brand Liberals as, among other things, favoring big government and spending while being soft on crime and unwilling to support our military. A tipping point came in the presidential election of 1988 when Republican George Bush called his Democrat Opponent George Dukakis a “Card Carrying Liberal,” and went on to soundly defeat him in November.

Slowly but surely, the American Left began to shy away from use of the word Liberal, instead reviving the term Progressive to describe their positions and policies. 

On the other side of the political spectrum, while the term Conservative is still routinely and effectively used by those on the Right, other terms such as Tea Party have been turned around on the political right to the point where it is rarely heard anymore. An effort has been made by the Left to use the MAGA label as a pejorative but there are still far too many who proudly wave the flags and wear the red hats with those letters made popular by Donald Trump. This seems to indicate that for the foreseeable future MAGA will be employed by both sides of the political divide as either a rallying cry or as a derisive sneer.

One label that quickly emerged on the political scene and was in short order turned against those that championed it is the word Woke.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines Woke as “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”

And those on the Left who heretofore have labeled themselves and their ideals as such would likely embrace that definition. Those on the Right however have effectively used the term as an anchor around the necks of their political opponents as a label that connotes Liberalism on steroids where obsession over racial, ethnic, and gender identity blurs any attempt at rational political discourse and policy. It was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who proudly proclaimed that his state is “…where Woke comes to die!”

The latest iteration of Woke controversy occurred in Hayward, California, a fairly large Bay Area municipality where one school (Glassbrook Elementary) in the district used $250,000 in federal funds earmarked for troubled school districts looking to boost test scores, on a program literally called Woke Kindergarten. Among several problems associated with this educational venture, is that after two years, student test scores in reading and math are reportedly worse. Approximately 8% of students were deemed proficient in reading while only 4% made the mark in math.

This is none too surprising with a quick look at the Woke Kindergarten curriculum that was instituted for nearly 500 students in the school covering several different grade levels. On its website Woke Kindergarten advertises that its program:

“is 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.”

Not a whole lot can be found on reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic on the site. Yet, Woke Kindergarten promotes “Woke Words of the Day” for its students such as protest, strike, resistance, ceasefire, and abolish, and teaches “Woke Wonderings” about abolishing the police, money, and the military and challenging the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.

Not all teachers in the school appear to be on board with the new Woke program. Glassbrook third-grade teacher Tiger Craven-Neeley said that while he supports discussing racism with his students, the training sessions for Woke Kindergarten seemed rigid and confusing. He was told that a primary goal of the program is “disrupting whiteness” in the classroom and he was stifled when inquiring about this and other elements of the program during these training sessions. Ultimately, Craven-Neeley was barred from participating in the training sessions and was then suspended (with pay) from his teaching position by the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board when his concerns found their way into an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Other teachers also voiced concerns, albeit anonymously. One educator said that only one perspective on issues was presented during training sessions and there was no tolerance for questions. 

“It slowly became apparent that if you were a dissenting voice, that this was not what they wanted to hear.”

Hayward School Superintendent Jason Reimann pointed out that while test scores in educational basics continued to languish, forcing the Glassbrook School back onto California’s Comprehensive School improvement List for underperforming schools, attendance rates improved which indicated that the program was having its desired effect of making the classroom a safer and more inclusive atmosphere. What he failed to note was that school attendance rates throughout the district had also improved. So, let’s give credit for that favorable statistic to wherever or to whomever it is due, but it doesn’t appear that the Woke Kindergarten program should receive any accolades here.

Following several follow-up articles in the Chronicle and in news outlets across the country on the Woke Kindergarten program, the tipping point for Hayward came when several social media posts from the program’s leader came to light.

 Akiea “Ki” Gross was found to have made multiple inflammatory statements on the firm’s website and in personal social media posts that ultimately led to a parting of the ways between HUSD and Woke Kindergarten. 

Gross (They/them) describes herself as “an abolitionist early educator, cultural organizer and creator currently innovating ways to resist, heal, liberate and create with their pedagogy.” 

In social media posts she stated:

“I believe that the United States has no right to exist. I believe that every settler colony who has committed genocide against native peoples, against indigenous people, has no right to exist. Y’all are the villains. We’ve been trying to end y’all. Get free of y’all.”

“I believe in a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

“When I think of a world without state violence, I think of a world free of the U.S. empire. I think about a world free of Israel.”

“I think about land back to indigenous peoples globally. I think about the fact that we would not have to participate in these systems, because none of these systems would exist. That means kids wouldn’t have to go to school because the world would ultimately be their classroom.”

It just became too much for the HUSD. After a relentless pounding from both conservative-leaning and mainstream media across the nation, the school district severed ties with Woke Kindergarten. HUSD spokesman Michael Bazeley said:

“Although we respect freedom of speech and the right for individuals to hold a variety of political views, the social media and other public statements of the vendor do not align with the values of the district and those of many of our community members.”

Seemingly hedging on the decision to employ Woke Kindergarten in the first place, Bazeley went on to state:

“We are not repudiating any of the training related to the organization.”

“The personal political and social views are separate from the work Woke Kindergarten did with us. Anti-bias/anti-racist teaching, restorative practices, multilanguage learning, literacy and mathematics will remain a focus for Glassbrook, building on the work that school has undertaken over the past several years.”

Notice where literacy and mathematics fall in Mr. Bazeley’s litany.

Bazeley was also quick to advise that the district office and the Glassbrook School were the recipients of racist and otherwise derogatory calls and emails which were stimulated by the well-publicized national backlash against Woke Kindergarten.

What Bazeley nor anyone else in the district cared to comment on was the status of suspended schoolteacher Tiger Craven-Neeley. As of this writing there is no word as to whether he has been reinstated after daring to stand up to let alone question elements of the Woke Kindergarten training. He has learned the hard way that this is the hallmark of Woke ideology—dissent and alternative viewpoints simply will not be tolerated.