Within the next three weeks, embattled Colleyville Heritage principal James Whitfield will appear in a public hearing with the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD school board that will determine his fate in the district.
Here’s what we know about Whitfield’s case.
The hearing date will be on or before Tuesday, Nov. 9
According to district spokeswoman Kristin Snively, the hearing has not been scheduled yet. Whitfield had 15 days to respond and ask for a hearing, following the Sept. 20 meeting in which trustees unanimously voted to move one step forward to not renew his contract.
The hearing will be open to the public
Whitfield and his Dallas attorney, CNBC contributor David Henderson, had the option to request a closed hearing, according to the district. They did not, which means the meeting will be open to the public.
Whitfield gave a new interview to NBC News
The interview, which aired on “The Today Show” Thursday, as well as other NBC/MSNBC platforms later in the day, featured Whitfield in a sit-down with Antonia Hylton, who has covered race relations and other issues in nearby Southlake. Hylton and reporter Mike Hixenbaugh’s podcast, the six-part series called “Southlake,” covered the city’s ongoing controversies.
There are contradicting statements on what the core issue is
Whitfield said in the NBC interview that ‘people can see this for what it is.’ But the district says that Whitfield’s performance is the reason for the hearing — not race or the CRT accusations.
“My students, my families, the families that I serve, the kids that I serve — and you see the groundswell of support from them — they’re not fools,” Whitfield said in the Thursday interview. “They can see this for what it is.”
It has been nearly three months since a July 26 school board meeting in which former school board candidate Stetson Clark accused the administrator of introducing critical race theory into the district, setting into motion a series of events in which Whitfield defended his actions in the district, writing a lengthy Facebook post that pointed to other incidents in which his race played a factor, and granting interviews to local and national outlets.
GCISD has said numerous times that CRT, a graduate school-level academic curriculum, is not taught in the district, as well as that Whitfield is facing non-renewal of his contract because of his performance.
Last month, the principal and his attorney released materials to The Dallas Morning News that showed Whitfield was asked to improve in a number of areas in his first year at the high school, according to a performance evaluation from June 8, 2021, and a letter dated Aug. 16 from Superintendent Robin Ryan.
Snively said in a statement that the records provided to the media might be incomplete, and officials have asked Whitfield and his attorney what documents they have released.
