Grapevine Colleyville school employee resigns amid division

The chief communication officer for the Grapevine-Colleyville school district has resigned, citing the polarizing atmosphere in the northeast Tarrant County community. Craig Civale wrote in a LinkedIn post that the climate was so politicized and divisive that he found it difficult to do his job. “I was excited about the opportunity to run my own department and add value to an award-winning district,” he wrote. “But unfortunately, the climate is so politicized and divisive that it made doing the actual job very difficult. The amount of time spent on the ‘noise,’ on personal social media attacks, and weaponized freedom of information requests broke folks down until they fell apart. It was sad to see very good people buried under it all.”

Civale said in an interview that he became the school district’s chief communication officer in April, but left this month He said he decided to post about his resignation because he was getting questions about why he left the district. “This current climate that I left is not unique to the Grapevine-Colleyville school district. It is a reflection more and more of what we’re seeing in our school districts right now,” Civale said. During the past year, the Grapevine-Colleyville school district has been embroiled in controversy surrounding former Colleyville Heritage principal James Whitfield, who was also the district’s first Black principal. Whitfield was accused of promoting critical race theory, which he denied in social media posts. Whitfield is on paid administrative leave until August of 2023, when his resignation takes effect as part of a settlement agreement with the school district. As part of the settlement, Whitfield and the district agreed to resolve their disputes and not make any additional public statements. But in June, newly elected trustee Tammy Nakamura, who spoke at a panel discussion sponsored by the Republican National Committee, told the audience that she read Whitfield’s personnel file, saying his activism was the “straw that broke the camel’s back ... that got him fired.” Nakamura told the audience that people have to “stand up” to those pushing an agenda. She also stated that while most teachers are not pushing political agendas and that they are stretched thin, there are a few who must be removed from the classroom. “We cannot have teachers such as these in our schools because they are just poison, and they’re taking our schools down,” Nakamura said.