By KFDI News and the Associated Press:

Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson submitted his resignation Friday after controversy over a comment he made during a virtual conference earlier this month, but the resignation was rejected by the board that oversees public education in the state.

The Kansas State Board of Education held a special meeting to talk about Watson’s comment and his letter of resignation.  The board voted unanimously to reject Watson’s letter of resignation and they voted to suspend him without pay for 30 days.   The board named Deputy Commissioner Craig Neuenswander as the Acting Commissioner for the next 30 days.

The board met at 10 a.m. and then went into executive session.      At the opening of the State Board of Education meeting, Board President Jim Porter was critical of state leaders who called for the resignation, saying they should have taken their concerns to the board to allow for due process.    Porter said he has met with leaders of indigenous groups in Kansas to hear their concerns, and he has heard about offensive and insulting situations faced by Native American children.  He said that’s not acceptable and needs to be addressed, and he has invited affected groups to be on the agenda of future board meetings to hear their concerns and develop strategies to address them.

Governor Laura Kelly and indigenous leaders were calling on Watson to resign over an offensive public remark about Native Americans. Governor Kelly was joined Thursday by three Native American lawmakers and the chair of one of Kansas’ four Native American nations in demanding that Randy Watson step down as state education commissioner.

The State Department of Education released a video of Watson’s Zoom presentation to a conference on virtual learning last week in which he joked about telling California cousins visiting Kansas that they needed to worry about “Indians raiding the town.”