Crownpoint High principal being investigated after making discriminatory remarks
By Christopher S. Pineo and Bill Donovan
Navajo Times
CHURCH ROCK
J.D. Reed was removed as Crownpoint High principal pending an investigation into intolerant remarks he made toward members of the district’s Navajo school board members.
Those remarks were caught in a recording and surfaced on social media sites.
According to Gallup-McKinley County School District Superintendent Frank Chiapetti, he became aware of the recording Friday when a member of the board called him up and told him about it. Chiapetti added that once he heard it, he knew he had no choice but to remove Reed from the position immediately.
Reed is now on administrative leave pending an internal investigation now being conducted by the school district.
While the recording made its way all over social media over the weekend, board member Kevin Mitchell invited parents to attend the March 21 school board meeting at Church Rock Elementary School.
In the recording, Reed made remarks against Navajo board president Titus Nez, Priscilla Manuelito, and Mitchell. He singled the three out with a focus on Manuelito.
“If you’re not white, you got a political agenda,” Reed said in the recording.
Other remarks in the recording included derogatory remarks against gay people, about Mormons and residents of Ramah, and disdainful remarks about a Navajo shoe game he said he attended.
During a public comment segment of the school board meeting, parents voiced their concerns about the recording.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow