Southlake mayor responds to Holocaust comments, says NBC reporting aims to ‘tear down’ families

Southlake Mayor John Huffman is blaming two reporters for bringing national attention to the city’s ongoing controversies following a new NBC News report last week.

Huffman wrote an open letter Saturday on Facebook, two days after a story by Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton brought to light a secret recording of a Carroll ISD administrator telling teachers if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also have materials that show an “opposing” perspective.

“As you all know, two out-of-town journalists have become seemingly obsessed with using Southlake to illustrate the national debate on racism and diversity,” Huffman wrote. “They have used the term ‘This is Southlake’ in their reporting, but friends, you and I know that they are simply wrong. Their narrative, which has found fertile soil with the national media, appears to be designed to tear down the hard-working, generous, wonderful families of our incredible city.”

Hixenbaugh and Hylton’s podcast, Southlake, has chronicled the deeply divisive fight in the city about the teaching of racial issues.

Hixenbaugh defended their reporting Saturday on Twitter.

“The mayor of Southlake has issued a statement in response to our reporting, seeming to blame @ahylton26 [Antonia Hylton] and me for the acrimony in his town,” his tweet read. “Our reporting has been based on extensive interviews with his constituents — students, parents, teachers — and hours of public comments.”

The news outlet obtained the audio recording from a district meeting that included discussions about how to comply with a new Texas law that lawmakers say was intended to bar “critical race theory” from classrooms.

Earlier that week, school board trustees voted to reprimand a teacher after parents appealed to the district, taking issue with a book they said their child had brought home.

The book, This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work, by Tiffany Jewell, was described by Kirkus Reviews last year as a “guidebook for taking action against racism.”

Two of the three trustees who voted in favor of reprimanding the teacher were Hannah Smith and Cam Bryan, who received money from the parents last year in their successful bids for school board seats, according to campaign finance data.

Huffman said in his letter that last week’s controversy is “the latest firestorm” and addressed the comment made by administrator Gina Peddy, the district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction.

“I know I speak for the entire Southlake community when I say that the idea that there could be two sides to the historical fact of the Holocaust is unthinkable,” Huffman wrote. “There simply aren’t opposing viewpoints on the issue of condemning that monstrous evil, and I don’t know anyone who thinks there are. In Southlake, we will always stand with our Jewish neighbors and friends — there is no room for equivocation on this issue. I know you all stand with me on this.”

Huffman went on to say that families “are tired of their city being raked through the mud.”

“Unfortunately, to date, our school district has struggled to deal with these questions under the harsh spotlight of the national news media,” he wrote. “To be fair, there has never been a more challenging time for school administrators who are also dealing with the tail end of the pandemic, new mandates, and a shortage of teachers and support staff. But these issues are providing ammunition for national journalists to promote their previous work.

“It is our job to continue to elevate the positive stories around us, even if the national media only seeks to highlight our mistakes. … I look forward to continuing to work with you to make this city the envy of the nation.”