Ex-Grapevine-Colleyville principal at center of race fray files for state board seat
A former Grapevine-Colleyville district principal whose tenure ended last month during conflict with the school system has filed to run in the Democratic Party primary for a State Board of Education seat.
James Whitfield, who was the principal at Colleyville Heritage High School, will compete for the District 11 seat held by Republican Patricia Hardy.
Whitfiled became a candidate on Dec. 13, the final filing date, according to Texas Secretary of State records.
Hardy has filed to retain her seat. Republicans Joshua Tarbay and Rebecca Garcia have also filed to run, as has Democrat Luis Sifuentes.
Daniel “DC” Caldwell is running as a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian and Green Party member.
Whitfield, who is Black, has said that he considered his departure as principal to be related to race matters. He and the school district agreed to part ways after controversy erupted when he was accused of welcoming a theory that holds that racism is structural.
Grapevine-Colleyville school district trustees voted 7-0 to approve a settlement under which Whitfield is to be on paid administrative leave until his resignation takes effect on Aug. 15, 2023.
Whitfiled wrote in a Facebook post that he had been the recipient of racial attacks for several months and noted criticism after writing about the death of George Floyd and his support for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Whitfield has said that school district officials used his race as underpinning for declining to renew his contract. School officials said that a nonrenewal notice was connected to Whitfield’s lack of communication, email communications with a party outside the district and accusations of hiding electronic public records by deleting them.
