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 the best summary I could come up with:
The attorney general website pledges the office will use “our investigative tools, including public records requests” to probe materials it believes could violate Indiana law.
In the case of New Prairie, the Eyes on Education site posted, for public opprobrium, the district’s old “Gender Support” policy, originally crafted in August 2022.
White attached copies of the current plan, highlighting that “parents will be informed in all instances when a transgender student comes forward to request gender transition considerations.” He asked that the old policy be removed.
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.
A Rokita spokesperson defended posting outdated materials on the website in a statement to Rolling Stone: “Even if a lesson plan or policy has changed, it’s important for parents to see what the adults in their child’s school are capable of.”
But as a Cuban American, he’s particularly alarmed by other documents highlighted on the site — posted from a nearby school district — that simply alert students to the availability of minority scholarships at local colleges.
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