Gov. Laura Kelly and indigenous leaders are calling on Kansas’ top public school administrator to resign over an offensive public joke about Native Americans.
Kelly was joined Thursday by three Native American lawmakers and the chair of one of Kansas’ four Native American nations in demanding that Randy Watson step down as state education commissioner.
The elected, 10-member State Board of Education appoints the commissioner and planned to meet Friday. Board Chair Jim Porter said Watson reported the situation to board members saying that his remark was offensive to Native Americans.
The State Department of Education released a video of Watson's Zoom presentation to a conference on virtual learning last week in which he joked about telling California cousins visiting Kansas that they needed to worry about “Indians raiding the town.”