A schools superintendent speaks with Rolling Stone about the Republican attorney general’s witch hunt to expose “trans-sanity” in public schools
When Indiana’s Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita launched Eyes on Education — an official state website that he says seeks to expose “socialist indoctrination” of students and “trans-sanity” in schools — educators targeted by the site were caught completely off guard.
Paul White is the superintendent of New Prairie United Schools, outside of South Bend. “I found out when it became live,” he tells Rolling Stone. But when he saw why his district was among those highlighted for supposedly unacceptable policies, White was confused. “The document that they had on their website related to our school system was no longer in use. It had only been used for about 60 days. And it had been replaced for almost two years now.”
Rokita’s office has claimed that the “objectionable curricula, policies, or programs affecting children” that are posted to its site are fully reviewed and verified. But White insists that is hogwash: “There was zero due diligence,” he says. This lack of considered process may be a pattern.
This is just government-enabled witch hunting prompted by political and religious outrage/fear and backed by shoddy verification. It’s also not free - tax money is being spent on what, given the obvious lack of safeguards, is little more than mob justice.
White did not hold back in his reply to Youngs: “It is beyond concerning that the highest legal office in the state of Indiana… vetted nothing, gave me no chance prior to publication to respond, and now you have published your website and we have to ‘prove’ what I submitted to you is true. This is sad and I have no respect for it,” he wrote. Sounds like a reasonable take on this hot mess.