A.J. Crabill
| Airick Journey Crabill | |
|---|---|
| Texas Deputy Commissioner of Education for Governance | |
|
Assumed office April 14, 2012 |
|
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Airick Leonard West 1979 (age 37–38) Kansas City, Missouri |
| Nationality | American |
| Residence | Austin, Texas, US |
| Known for | education reform advocacy |
| Website | ajc7.com |
Airick Journey Crabill (born Airick Leonard West in 1979) is an American education reform advocate and public speaker on education reform. He currently serves as the Texas Education Agency's Deputy Commissioner for Governance. Prior to this position, Crabill served eight years (2008–2016) on the board of the Kansas City Public Schools, serving as president for a majority of his tenure.
West was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1979. He was raised in and out of foster care. Although he struggled without a stable home, he graduated high school and attended the University of Kansas. He left school early to pursue a job in the computer industry. For a while, he worked for a web development firm after which, he founded his own firm.
He later moved to the Ivanhoe neighborhood in Kansas City, joining the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, and becoming involved in the efforts to revitalize the struggling neighborhood. He has also helped raise several young men in the neighborhood, giving them a place to stay when they are in need and allowing many of the kids in the neighborhood access to a computer during the day. West was also involved in mentorship programs in several schools in the city.
In the first half of 2008, he ran for a seat on the board of the Kansas City, Missouri School District. He obtained a sufficient number of signatures to be placed on the ballot. He had previously served on the boards of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, Gordon Parks Elementary School, Stephanie Waterman Foundation, Simply Equine Assisted Therapy, and University of Missouri Extension. He was also the originator of “The Ivanhoe Project,” a program at the Kansas City School of Urban Education that placed teachers training to work in urban-area schools in inner-city residences to expose them to the environments their students come from.
After he was elected to the school board, he was later appointed school board president in 2010. As president, he led a community outreach effort to promote the newly restructured school district. He along with other board members and volunteers called district residents by phone and knocked on doors to directly engage with residents.
In August 2011, the school district superintendent John Covington suddenly resigned. Some on the board blamed West for the resignation, accusing him of being too directly involved in the operations of the school district and frustrating the superintendent. It was not until a few years later that Covington clarified to The Kansas City Star that the decision to leave was not in anyway motivated by West’s actions. Following this incident, West briefly resigned his presidency on the board but remained as a member. Only a month later in September 2011, he was re-elected as president by a 7-1 vote.
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