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Who is Josiah Enyart? Kansas math teacher quits over school's CRT training, gets fined

Twitter seems to be ecstatic with the fining of a Kansas teacher while his fine is being fundraised by many applauding him for standing up against CRT

An elementary school teacher from Kansas was fined a thousand dollars for quitting his job. The reason behind his quitting was mask mandates and critical race theory (CRT) being part of the school curriculum. Identified as Josiah Enyart, the teacher resigned after the Shawnee Mission School District sent an email renewing their mask mandate and CRT training on July 25.

The highly-debated CRT has become a reason behind nationwide turbulence amongst educators and legislators. Megan Gaha of Iowa was highly slammed online for going on a TikTok rant about breaking law to teach CRT in schools. Laura Morris had also made headlines after tearfully quitting during a school board meeting over CRT lessons. NCAAP official Michelle Leete was also criticized by social media for wishing the death of anti-CRT parents. Enyart too is being slammed for his stance, with social media calling his fining "good news".

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Who is Josiah Enyart?

The former 6th-grade math teacher at the Comanche Elementary School in Overland Park told Fox News that the email sent by the school district was his "final straw." Enyart gave his resignation to the school after the renewal of the mask mandate and CRT in their curriculum. School district officials at the time reportedly said he would have to pay $1,000 “liquidation penalty”. The fine was for resigning before a specific deadline set in his contract. 

“I will be bringing my stuff, but I don’t plan on bringing a check,” Enyart told local nonprofit news outlet, Sentinel. A GoFundMe page has also been set to help Enyart pay off his fine for quitting ahead of his contract's requirements. The fundraiser's attempt to raise $1,000 for Enyart's penalty to the district has already crossed over $22,049 at this point.

'Good riddance', says Twitter

Dropping his resignation just days after the mask and CRT mandates were announced, Enyart had reportedly had issues with the recently-added school policies for a while now. Years ago in 2014, he had also disagreed with the school's $20 million total expenses on iPad or MacBooks for its students. According to Fox News, the district then began a $400,000 Deep Equity critical race theory training for teachers, where district officials asked teachers to “reject and resist any parents who disagree with” critical race theory, the Sentinel adds. 

“It’s all critical race theory stuff,” Enyart told the outlet, adding: “That was kind of the start where I realized, they’re really trying to bring this in and make it something.” Slamming the current educational standards, he also added: "What a 12th grader has to know and get done to graduate is what a 5th grader had to do 40 years ago." And his sentiments seem to be a hit within masses on social media.

Twitter users, however, aren't ready to accept Enyart's views on CRT, or the mask mandate at least. Replying under Fox News' tweet of the story, one user wrote: "Oh well. I'm sure there is a position where he can work in a place where he can contract the virus, bring it home and pass it on to his family." Another called it "good news." One confused user asked, "I understand not wanting CRT to underpin the curriculum but the mask thing no, it isn't forever so why push back?" Another also celebrated the news, tweeting: "Good. We need less teachers out there who ignore our country’s history and unwilling to protect the health and safety of our children." Another dubbed it "Good riddance..we want iur@kids safe and educated with history plain and simple".