A teacher from Comanche Elementary School in Kansas was fined with $1,000 after quitting his job over mask mandates and Critical Race Theory teaching. He is now raising funds so he can start a homeschooling project.
The Blaze reported that 6th grade Math teacher Josiah Enyart resigned from Overland Park's Comanche Elementary School days after an announcement made by the Shawnee Mission School District on unvaccinated teachers and all students being required to wear masks in school. Enyart was also reported to have resigned for several other issues also. Fox News explained that the fine pertained to a "liquidation penalty" indicated in Enyart's contract for "resigning after a specific deadline."
Enyart had been a teacher for 13 years and pointed out that the mask mandate was "the last straw." He also raised that the Shawnee Mission School District was trying to bring the Critical Race Theory in the academe, which he said as another reason for leaving his job. Critical Race Theory was said to be integrated through the Deep Equity training given to teachers.
"It's all critical race theory stuff. That was kind of the start where I realized, they're really trying to bring this in and make it something," Enyart revealed.
The Sentinel highlighted in its report that $400,000 was spent by the school district just for the Deep Equity training given to the teachers. While The Blaze explained that Deep Equity training was developed by Gary Howard for national implementation being a "comprehensive and systemic professional development process aimed at producing the deep personal, professional, and organizational transformations that are necessary to create equitable places of learning for all of our nation's children." The program was developed out of Howard's belief that white educators have "dominance" and are "systematically favored our racial group over others."
In addition, Enyart also disclosed as a third reason the district's manner of handling remote learning that does not really "help students succeed" and had forced him to give students a failing grade. Enyart removed his own children from the district's public school since he did not want his children to be "bossed around" and for feeling powerless as a parent and as a teacher.
"I couldn't do anything but give them no grade. The district leaders did not give parents or teachers a sense of control or accountability where we could help students succeed," Enyart lamented.
"I'm not going to continue to have my kids bossed around by these people and have no power as a parent, no power as a teacher, and for my kids to have no say," he added.
Enyart could not afford sending his kids to a private school and decided to homeschool them. This actually prompted him to have the idea to start a homeschooling group to help other children and parents who face the same situation.
It's worth noting that Enyart is an outstanding teacher, per the Shawnee Mission School District. He was the recipient of a Jedel Excellence in Mathematics Education Award in 2020, highlighting his "innovative" approach to help students learn and understand mathematics.
"Josiah is an excellent teacher and mentor. He builds important relationships with his students, so that they trust him and develop a desire for self-improvement and recognize they are the keys to their own success," the school Principal said at the time.
Homeschooling
An online fundraiser was created to help Enyart pay the fine and also provide for his new endeavor and needs. It has now raised more than it's needed amount for the district fine. The fundraiser has already raised upwards of $25,000 through the aid of more than 600 donors who were impacted by his story, as of this publishing.
The fundraiser's organizer, Denise Roberts, said Enyart was "completely blown away" by the financial support the fund raiser has produced, adding that the news has brought attention to his cause, which has both "positive and negative aspects" for Enyart's family.
Roberts explained that Enyart has "agreed to educate some kids in his home for the coming year" and is "prayerfully considering all decisions at this point, and they want to take the time needed to make good choices, proceeding with care, appreciative of all donations."
"Our students are going to learn things they haven't had an opportunity to learn in a long time," Enyart said, per The Sentinel.
