$250,000 Program called 'Woke Kindergarten' is Pulled from California School District
by Madelynne Medina for SF Gate
Feb. 15, 2024
An East Bay school district has prematurely terminated a $250,000 contract with a controversial abolitionist, anti-racist educational consulting vendor hired to train teachers.
The three-year contract of Woke Kindergarten, originally set to expire in June, concluded at Glassbrook Elementary in Hayward on Monday, Michael Bazeley, spokesperson for the Hayward Unified School District, told SFGATE. Bazeley said the contract was scrapped because the discourse over the program had become “distracting.”
In explaining the district’s decision, he cited “widespread media attention, the mischaracterization of the Woke Kindergarten work, social media posts by the vendor and the public response.” Woke Kindergarten provided professional development sessions for Glassbrook’s teachers and school officials, aimed at creating a “culturally responsive learning environment,” Bazeley said.
The program teaches abolitionist, anti-racist content including “woke word of the day”workshops and teachable poems for children, according to its website.
Bazeley said abolitionist teaching, which is a central part of Woke Kindergarten, acknowledges “institutional racism and bias exists in the education system, and it seeks to actively dismantle the institutional and cultural barriers.” The program offers workshops on concepts such as “ways the prison industrial complex manifests in early childhood” and “the historical nature of reading aloud as an act of resistance,” according to its website.
Though right-wing media outlets have targeted Woke Kindergarten as early as 2021, controversy grew after one teacher at the school, Tiger Craven-Neeley, criticized the program in a Feb. 3 San Francisco Chronicle article (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms). Craven-Neeley told the outlet he agrees that discussions of racism should be included in school but he believed the Woke Kindergarten curriculum was “confusing.”
The teacher was placed on nondisciplinary paid leave following his critiques. Bazeley said school district officials are looking into an “unspecified personnel issue” while Craven-Neeley remains on leave.
“Administrative leave is never connected to exercises of free speech, including comments made to media outlets,” Bazeley said.
In recent weeks, critics also pointed to various social media videos from the program’s founder, Akiea Gross, with “anti-Israel and anti-United States messages,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“I believe Israel has no right to exist. I believe the United States has no rights to exist,” the Chronicle reported Gross said in a now-private video posted on Instagram.
SFGATE was not able to find a reliable contact for Gross or Woke Kindergarten. The link on the program’s website for requesting a consultation is no longer valid.
Bazeley said Gross, who describes themself as a community organizer and abolitionist early educator, is not an employee of the district.
He said Gross’ political views were separate from the work Woke Kindergarten did with the school.
“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,” Bazeley said in response to Gross’ social media videos.
The school district did not disclose to SFGATE how Woke Kindergarten’s content was implemented at the school. The district also provided no comment when asked if school officials stand by the organization’s curriculum.
Bazeley said the Hayward Unified School District has not discussed bringing in another vendor to replace Woke Kindergarten’s contract.