Across the country, Democrats and Republicans are united in their determination to get cellphones out of classrooms.
From Florida and Virginia to New York and North Dakota, over half of U.S. states have taken real steps to restrict or ban cellphone use in K-12 schools, according to the Parents Television and Media Council’s <a href="https://www.parentstv.org/resources/PDF/Studies/2025-School-Phone-Policies-Update.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest survey</a> of state phone policies.
They&#8217;re responding to a growing body of research — and public outcry — showing that smartphones and social media are damaging student achievement, mental health, and classroom discipline.
According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 72% of American high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in their classrooms. One 2018 Rutgers study found that students who used phones during class scored lower on their final exams — as did students sitting near them, even if they weren’t using devices themselves. The London School of Economics reached the same conclusion: just having a phone within sight can reduce academic performance.
But the issue goes far beyond academics. Since smartphones became widespread, mental health among adolescents has been in sharp decline. Since 2010, suicide rates among preteen girls have risen by more than 160%. Boys aged 10–14 have seen a 91% increase. Much of this can be traced to social media addiction, cyberbullying, sextortion, fear of missing out, and algorithms that lead users to increasingly extreme content.
The truth is, for years, we’ve been sold the lie that giving kids unfettered access to technology would prepare them for the future. What it’s done instead is isolate them, addict them, and rob them of the ability to focus and relate in real life.
State legislators are doing what Congress so far has not: taking decisive action to protect America’s children from the harmful effects of digital addiction.
As of now, over 30 states have passed or advanced school-based smartphone policies. Even California — home to Silicon Valley — is moving toward mandated restrictions.
These state-level reforms demonstrate a willingness to tackle the problem head-on: “bell-to-bell” bans that restrict phone use throughout the school day, new funding for secure storage solutions, pilot programs to test best practices, and mandates to block access to social media on school Wi-Fi.
And they aren’t coming from a single party or ideology. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle recognize that tech-fueled distraction and distress have reached a crisis point — and local communities are demanding solutions.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Congress has yet to pass a single major law addressing the mental health fallout from kids’ digital dependence.
Parents are doing their part — but they are being asked to work alone to combat a multibillion-dollar industry that has integrated psychological manipulation into their business model. They need help — from schools, from tech companies, and especially from Congress.
It’s time for federal lawmakers to stop dragging their feet and caving to Big Tech interests by finally passing the Kids Online Safety Act.
This bipartisan bill would create a duty of care for online platforms to prevent harm to minors. It would give parents more control, limit manipulative algorithms, and require platforms to default to the safest settings for young users.
Congress could also take the former Surgeon General’s suggestion and require warning labels to be added to social media platforms, as New York and Minnesota already have. It’s one common-sense solution among many that rightly aims to confront social media harms
School cellphone bans alone won’t solve the youth mental health crisis. That will require a unified effort from states, the federal government, parents, and teachers. Restricting kids’ access to phones during the day is a critical first step in combatting their digital dependence — and the broad, bipartisan support for these policies should serve as an example of what can be done.
Our children deserve better. So do the parents and teachers working hard to raise and educate them.
Congress should be the force that empowers these efforts — not the obstacle standing in the way.
Melissa Henson is the vice president of the <a href="http://www.parentstv.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Parents Television and Media Council</a>, a nonpartisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. Follow them on X @ThePTC
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The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Teenagers using cellphones

States Are Leading The Fight On Cellphones In School. Why Isn’t Congress?

cell phones

Congress

High School

K-12

Mental Health

Another day, another far-Left street protest.
It gets hard to keep up with the current “thing” as activists switch out causes like the average person changes underwear. Last month’s pro-Palestine protest is yesterday’s anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest is today’s pro-Iran protest.
But the issue is never the issue. The issue is the revolution.
Even more concerning is how K-12 schools have been infiltrated by organizations to serve as fertile recruiting and training grounds for the next generation of far-Left activists.
Leveraging (liberated) ethnic studies courses as an access point, these outside groups hide behind “history” and “culture” to advance their radical ideology and recruit students and staff into their ranks.
School districts, in order to comply with California’s Assembly Bill 101 (2021) which mandates that students in the class of 2029-30 complete one semester of ethnic studies, have been hiring far-Left organizations to assist in developing and implementing these course curriculums, as well as running professional development trainings and conferences for teachers.
For example, an early July <a href="https://www.xicanxinstitute.org/summer-2025">ethnic studies conference</a> in Arizona features a “Pre-Institute Field Day on the Border” which includes “visiting a desert surveillance tower with local organizers.” The participants will “examine how the same technologies are used against Palestinians.”
On May 13, 2025, Stockton Unified School District’s board <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/susd/Board.nsf/goto?open&amp;id=DFJRPV6F023F">approved</a> spending $28,000 to send ten ethnic studies educators to attend the institute.
One of the institute’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/xitotucson/p/DKk82TWSPMe/">sessions</a>, titled “Education as a Front, A Weapon &amp; A Tool,” includes panelists such as the chair of the Association of Raza Educators (ARE) and co-founder of <a href="https://www.liberatedethnicstudies.org/guadalupe-carrasco-cardona.html">Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium</a> (LESMC), and the director of Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC).
According to the description on Instagram, the “panel of educators and organizers will share tactics on how we can join forces by highlighting their work in the streets and in the schools, and help us identify critical fronts for cross movement solidarity.”
Both ARE and AROC openly engage in far-Left street activism. ARE’s Instagram is filled with protest propaganda, including a February 23, 2023, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/raza_educators_la/reel/DGa7kIVvqKw/?api=Selesaikan+latihan+online+untuk+menghasilkan+uang%E3%80%90GB777.BET%E3%80%91.dprv&amp;hl=zh-cn">post</a> which shows members of ARE following ICE agents to their “home base.”
Additionally, AROC helped organize the blockade of the <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/pro-palestine-protesters-shut-down-bay-bridge-during-apec-summit">Bay Bridge</a> in 2023, and <a href="https://www.araborganizing.org/page/port-of-oakland-shutdown/">boasts</a> about shutting down the Port of Oakland in 2024 in support of Palestine.
In 2023, San Francisco Unified School District <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/sfusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&amp;id=CU2NLP607BD5">approved</a> a four year agreement with AROC to provide “workshops in classrooms related to leadership development and cultural empowerment.” AROC is a <a href="https://www.tides.org/partner/arab-resource-organizing-center-aroc/">fiscal project</a> of the Tides Foundation.
Not only are teachers being trained to advance far-Left activism, but the ideology has been embedded in ethnic studies curriculums, including how students are graded.
On June 18, 2025, Carlsbad Unified School District’s board <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/cusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&amp;id=DH9QS96AAC48">approved</a> a year-long elective ethnic studies course which includes units on studying and engaging in activism. Grading rubrics included in the draft document reveal that students are assessed on how well they advocate for “justice in speech and perspective” and recognize “equity as essential.”
In other words, students are taught to identify oppression and injustice (critical consciousness) and to act on it (praxis).
<a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/critical-competency-consciousness/2023/12/07/id/1145144/">Critical consciousness</a>, a primary concept in ethnic studies, teaches students to view everything using an oppressor — oppressed binary lens. The goal is to get the youth to constantly seek out new social justice causes to which they can attach themselves.
For example, a 2023 Pajaro Valley Unified School District board <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/pvusd/Board.nsf/files/CSZQCT67A8B9/$file/June%2028%20(23)%20Board%20Slides_%20CRE%20(1).pdf">presentation</a> reveals how the district integrated into its “Ethnic Literature and Studies “ course an “Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot” that replaces a traditional plot diagram with one steeped in critical consciousness. Students are taught to read stories in a circular fashion, moving from exposing the problem and recognizing the oppressed and oppressor classes, to “resistance and revolution” and how to apply the lessons to their own social justice activism.
Instead of seeking out meaningful resolutions and solutions, these courses, such as in Carlsbad and Parajo Valley schools, create perpetual social justice activists who bounce from one cause to the next in an effort to tear down the “oppressive” system and foment “revolution.”
While far-Left ethnic studies consultants make millions in consulting fees to advance their anti-Western Civilization ideology in schools, they are simultaneously turning K-12 students into the next generation of campus and street revolutionaries.
As liberated ethnic studies expands its tentacles across the country, parents, board members, administrators, teachers, and policymakers must grapple with this destructive ideology masquerading as “culture” and “history.”
The metastasis of these far-Left recruiting and training programs in our K-12 schools must be stopped.
American families deserve schools that teach children to read, write, and do math at the highest of standards — not indoctrination into social justice activism.
* * *
Rhyen Staley is the Research Director for Defending Education. He holds a master&#8217;s degree in elementary education and has over a decade of classroom experience in both public and private schools. He has over 25 years of volleyball coaching experience from Women’s Division I down to junior high.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-DEMONSTRATION-GOVERNMENT

The Revolution Will Be Graded: How Radical Activists Infiltrate K–12 Education

California

Democrats

Education

Ethnic Studies

Leftists

Opinion

Protests

Public Schools

Teachers

School districts across the country have begun directing students to organizations that offer legal aid to illegal aliens and excuse the absences of those attempting to avoid deportation in the wake of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations, a Daily Wire investigation has found.
The districts laid out their policies and posted their resource lists after the Trump administration <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/migrants-can-now-be-arrested-at-churches-and-schools-after-trump-administration-throws-out-policies">removed restrictions</a> against federal immigration enforcement agents, who were previously barred from carrying out deportation operations at schools.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), one of the largest school districts in the country, launched its “<a href="https://www.lausd.org/weareone">We Are One</a>” campaign to reaffirm the district’s opposition to deportation. “Per the November 2024 LA Unified Board Resolutions, the District is a ‘sanctuary district’ and safe zone for families threatened by immigration enforcement,” LAUSD’s site reads.
The district links to the “We Have Rights” video series, which it describes as “an empowerment campaign to prepare for and safely defend our rights during encounters with Immigration &amp; Customs Enforcement.” The video series promoted by LAUSD encourages people to film Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and to <a href="https://www.wehaverights.us/english-videos/when-documenting-ice-arrests">strategically release</a> the footage through partnership with a lawyer, advocacy organization, or through the media.
LAUSD goes on to provide a link to “<a href="https://www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas">red cards</a>,” printable documents that illegal aliens can keep on their person in the event that they come in contact with immigration enforcement officers. The cards, produced by the <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=immigrant+legal+resource+center">George Soros-funded</a> Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), tell immigrants “DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door” and “DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you.”
The district told The Daily Wire that it &#8220;is required to protect the legal rights of our students and employees and continues to adhere to all applicable federal and state laws.”
But LAUSD is far from the only school district that provides resources to those who might be subject to deportation.
Washington State’s Puyallup School District went a step further in an email reviewed by The Daily Wire, telling community members that illegal aliens are excused from school if they skip class due to immigration and deportation concerns.
“As a district committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all students, we reaffirm our dedication to protecting the rights of immigrant students and their families,” the email read. “We understand that absences may occur due to concerns about immigration status, and we classify these absences as excused under safety concerns.”
There’s also Cody High School of Detroit Public Schools Community District, which curated a <a href="https://www.detroitk12.org/Page/10143">list of resources</a> for so-called “undocumented citizens,” including information about the “Undocufund,” which is described as a fund of “$750,000 for undocumented Detroiters who were excluded from stimulus payments authorized by the CARES Act.”
The first organization on the list is the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, which the school says provides emergency legal assistance to illegal aliens who are detained or are facing deportation.
Included on the resource list is Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, which runs the La Casa Amiga Immigration Legal Clinic. The clinic offers assistance with a provisional waiver that is specifically designed for illegal aliens trying to gain legal status.
The school district’s site also lists Michigan United, a leftwing non-profit, as a resource. The organization’s <a href="https://miunited.org/legal-services/">legal clinic</a> serves illegal aliens, particularly those who are attempting to avoid deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Detroit Public Schools Community District did not respond to a Daily Wire inquiry.
It isn’t just school districts in blue states that have voiced opposition to the enforcement of federal immigration law, however. An email obtained by The Daily Wire sent to families at West Des Moines Community Schools blamed the president’s immigration actions for causing “fear and harm.”
“We recognize that the recent Presidential Executive Orders have caused fear and harm for students, families, and staff,” the district’s superintendent and board of education president wrote in a January email. The district officials directed community members to various leftwing organizations, including the <a href="https://www.dscionline.org/">Diversity Services Center</a> and the <a href="https://www.iowammj.org/">Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice</a>, both of which offer legal assistance to migrants.
Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools similarly created a list of “<a href="https://www.fcps.edu/resources-immigrant-families">resources for immigrant families</a>,” directing community members to various legal resources that could be used by illegal aliens in an attempt to prevent deportation.
The district advertised the ILRC, which <a href="https://www.ilrc.org/">equips</a> immigration lawyers to provide deportation defense for illegal aliens and secure protections for illegal aliens under DACA while also advocating for leftwing immigration policies.
The school district promoted another leftwing organization that encourages illegal aliens to call a <a href="https://www.justice4all.org/rapid-response-toolkit/">rapid response</a> hotline to report ICE activity. The district did not respond to a Daily Wire inquiry.
Colleges and universities are also helping illegal students avoid deportation. California’s Claremont McKenna College encouraged international students to return to the United States before Trump’s inauguration and even offered to connect illegal alien students with immigration lawyers for a free consultation, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-college-to-connect-illegals-with-lawyers-urges-foreigners-to-return-before-inauguration?row=0&amp;elementPosition=133&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;title=College+Tells+International+Students+To+Return+Before+Trump+Takes+Office%2C+Offers+To+Shelter+Illegals&amp;category=News">revealed</a> in December.

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School Districts Excuse Absences For Illegal Aliens, Direct Illegal Students To Immigration Lawyers

deportation

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

President Donald Trump hit the ground running, reforming K-12 education and restoring parental rights during his second week back in the Oval Office, which coincided with the 15th annual National School Choice Week.
Last week, President Trump issued the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/expanding-educational-freedom-and-opportunity-for-families/">Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families</a>” executive order. According to a White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-expands-educational-opportunities-for-american-families/">fact sheet</a>, the order “recognizes that parents, not the government, play a fundamental role in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.”
The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/expanding-educational-freedom-and-opportunity-for-families/">executive order</a> states that within 60 days, “the Secretary of Education shall issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.” It also “directs the Secretary of Education to prioritize school choice programs in the Department’s discretionary grant programs.”
Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services must issue guidance related to “how states receiving block grants for children and families can use those funds to support educational alternatives, including private and faith-based options.”
Furthermore, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/expanding-educational-freedom-and-opportunity-for-families/">executive order</a> requires the Secretary of Defense to review and make a plan for how military families “may use funds from the Department of Defense to attend schools of their choice … beginning in the 2025-2026 school year.” Finally, the Secretary of the Interior must submit a plan concerning “how families with students attending Bureau of Indian Education schools can use federal funds to send their children to the school of their choice.”
With clarity and resolve, the President <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/expanding-educational-freedom-and-opportunity-for-families/">communicated</a>: “It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.”
The timing couldn’t have been more fitting as it was the same day the National Assessment of Educational Progress <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/">exam scores</a> were released. The scores revealed that <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=8">7 out of 10</a> schoolchildren cannot read on grade level. Math scores showed that <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/?grade=4">6 out of 10</a> fourth-grade students and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/?grade=8">7 out of 10</a> eighth-grade students are not proficient for their grade. These scores make an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-national-test-scores-make-undeniable-case-for-school-choice">undeniable case for school choice</a>.
Also, on Wednesday, the President issued the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/">Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling</a>” executive order. The order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/">stated</a> that “In recent years &#8230; parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”
The Secretary of Education, Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, consulting with the Attorney General, have 90 days to formulate an “Ending Indoctrination Strategy.” It will include <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a plan</a> for “eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; and protecting parental rights.”
The historic week also included the Trump Administration U.S. Department of Education issuing a <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-enforce-2020-title-ix-rule-protecting-women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> stating that it “will return to enforcing Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex in school and on campuses.” This was a necessary measure as <a href="https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=411780">the Biden Administration’s rule</a> had redefined the term sex to include ‘gender identity,’ therefore removing protection and equal opportunity for women.
The week prior, under the direction of the President, the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-takes-action-eliminate-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Department of Education</a> took action to “eliminate harmful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.” <a href="https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_89d2f95a-da74-11ef-881f-c31173f69a5c.html?seyid=48320" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More specifically</a>, “The agency said staff leading DEI initiatives have been placed on administrative leave, and over 200 web pages with DEI resources that ‘promote or endorse harmful ideological programs’ have been deleted. It also killed over $2.5 million of DEI contracts.”
President Trump is far from alone in the charge to reform education and empower parents with educational choice for their children. At the state level, last week, the Tennessee House and Senate passed the <a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Education Freedom Act of 2025</a>. With Gov. Bill Lee’s signature, Tennessee will become the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/with-gov-lees-signature-tennessee-will-become-13th-state-to-enact-universal-school-choice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13th state in the nation</a> to enact universal (or near-universal) school choice, joining Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia.
At the federal level, last week, Senators Bill Cassidy and Tim Scott, along with <a href="https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-scott-lead-colleagues-in-reintroducing-bill-to-expand-school-choice-educational-opportunity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24 Republican colleagues</a>, introduced <a href="https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ECCA.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Educational Choice for Children Act</a>. The <a href="https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2025/01/29/cassidy-scott-introduces-bill-expanding-school-choice-and-education-opportunity/77716817007/">bill</a> “would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits for individuals and businesses to fund K-12 scholarships.” If passed, roughly 2 million children across the country will have access to scholarship funds for private school tuition and fees, and other educational expenses, including homeschooling.
According to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, <a href="https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1885388215692988724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">during a briefing</a> on Friday, President Trump communicated that “American education should focus on cultivating patriotic citizens who are ready for the workforce.” The President is not only right, but his executive orders last week to empower parental choice and end radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling are essential and foundational steps in the right direction.
More of these swift and sound common-sense measures are needed and undoubtedly on the way from this Administration.
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<a href="https://www.discovery.org/p/ingraham/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Keri D. Ingraham</a> is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Mom and Son Walking to School for First Day of Classes

President Trump Is Wasting No Time Reforming K-12 Education

Charter Schools

Department of Education

Executive Orders

Parents rights

President Trump

A private Christian school in Dallas hosted a conference on “belonging and inclusion” that featured talks promoting so-called “gender-affirming care” and deriding “toxic masculinity.”
Students at the Parish Episcopal School — a private Christian school that <a href="https://www.parish.org/admission/fee-and-tuition-schedule">charges</a> nearly $37,000 a year for tuition for high schoolers — were required to attend two talks <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Voices-Views-2025.pdf">at the conference</a>, with many of the discussions promoting far-left ideologies.
The talk promoting transgender ideology was titled “Defer, Delay, Deny: The State of Gender Affirming Care for Adult Transgender Americans” and was offered by a high school teacher.
“Transgender Americans still face many barriers when seeking timely and effective life-saving medication and procedures. Medical professionals can defer treatment. Wait times for surgeries can be delayed years,” the description of the talk reads. “Insurance companies can use deceptive language to deny federal protections.”
The description goes on to imply that medical interventions designed to allegedly change one’s sex are analogous to cases in which men or women receive treatments in line with their biological sex, such as when men undergo testosterone therapy.
“But transgender Americans are not the people who benefit from gender affirming care. Many cisgender Americans take medication or undergo procedures to affirm their gender identity without the same obstructions,” the description went on to say.
“This session investigates this discrepancy for American adults in the 21st century,” it adds. “Come learn about gender affirming care, the barriers transgender patients face, and how advocates are fighting to fix it.”
While other talks addressed apolitical topics like alcohol, communication styles, or cell phone usage, another talk at the school denigrated “toxic masculinity” and explored how feminine traits can be used to foster “healthy masculinity.”
“This session looks at traditional stereotypes and expectations as well as the broadening of the definition in a move towards “healthy masculinity,’” the description of the talk reads. “Healthy masculinity could be as simple as asking for help but also, a willingness to embrace traditionally feminine qualities (nurturing, compassion, caring) in order to build healthy relationships.”
There’s also another talk on “Power, Privilege, and Positionality in Organisation” that uses the framework of “health equity,” a derivative of Critical Race Theory that posits that differences in health outcomes among demographic groups are the result of discrimination and oppression.
“This session explores how power and privilege positions individuals and groups for change,” the talk’s description reads. “Participants will be part of two interactive activities including a simulation as we understand how power is created and maintained, and we will use healthcare organisations and health equity as our central constructs.”
“We will have a conversation about how we can develop as equity-minded leaders with some strategies and resources to get us started on this journey,” it adds.
Parish Episcopal School is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the largest private school organization in the country. The NAIS has been marred by a series of investigative reports into the organization revealing that it pushed <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/02/16/exclusive-footage-private-schools-nation-wide-pushing-queer-inclusive-curriculum-trans-ideology-starting-in-pre-k/">transgender ideology</a> and <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/03/09/exclusive-footage-private-schools-nation-wide-implementing-race-essentialist-curricula-trained-by-black-panther/">Critical Race Theory</a>, even consulting a former Black Panther for guidance.
Parish Episcopal School specifically has a history of pushing leftwing ideologies, despite its location in deep-red Texas. It <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/education/2023/01/12/private-christian-school-rejects-talk-dangers-fentanyl-hosts-sessions-race-gender-identity/">rejected</a> law enforcement’s offer to give a presentation to students at the 2023 conference on the risk of fentanyl because “the topic would talk about the open border, and they felt it would be too controversial.” The conference included various controversial topics, however, including refugee resettlement, transgenderism, and toxic masculinity.
The school also previously created <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/01/dallas-christian-school-hosts-racially-segregated-school-clubs/">racially segregated</a> “affinity group” programs for students, asking them to only attend meetings of the group that reflected their racial backgrounds.
The Parish Episcopal School did not respond to a request for comment.

Trans flag

Texas Christian School Hosts Talks On ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ And ‘Toxic Masculinity’

Transgender

It is National School Choice Week in America, and the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam scores were released on Wednesday. The horrifically low student academic performance scores make the undeniable case that American government-run K-12 education is an epic failure.
According to the NAEP results provided by The Nation’s Report Card, <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69% of fourth-grade students</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">70% of eighth-grade students</a> aren’t proficient at reading — that’s only 3 out of 10 schoolchildren learning to read soundly. When students can’t read at grade level, it significantly hinders their other academic learning.
The NAEP math scores similarly confirm that a change of course in K-12 education is desperately needed. An astonishing <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/?grade=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">61% of fourth-grade students</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/?grade=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">72% of eighth-grade students</a> aren’t proficient in math.
As a nation, we can no longer justify restricting children to these failing schools for their education. Nor can the ever-increasing astronomical spending — well over<a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/public-school-spending-per-pupil.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> $850 billion</a> annually — on the public education system continue to support the status quo. Change is urgently needed. And that change will require competition.
As Andy Puzder, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5102389-trump-andrew-puzder-fast-food-chain-ceo-eu-ambassador/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Trump’s nomination for U.S. Ambassador to the European Union</a>, recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IyfK6emqCA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>, “Competition is the only thing that increases quality and decreases price.” It’s the basics of a free market, which is long overdue in K-12 education in the United States.
With the 2025 legislative sessions now underway in almost all states and Congress, there is an opportunity to enact critically needed school choice laws. Bills should be put forth from all angles to provide parents access to alternative educational avenues from the government-run, teacher union-controlled public education monopoly.
This year, several red states will work to pass new school choice programs or expand eligibility for existing programs. Since 2021, a dozen states — <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/11/17/opinion/why-trump-was-the-candidate-for-educational-freedom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11 of which had a Republican trifecta at the time</a> — have signed universal or near-universal school choice into law. Thirteen <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/State_government_trifectas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republican trifecta states</a> have yet to pass widespread school choice programs. This is the year several of those states have a shot at successfully setting all families statewide free to select an education alternative from the public school system.
While the state-level universal education freedom wins are happening in red states for now, parents living in purple and blue states must be empowered with educational options for their children. Congress passing the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9462/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Educational Choice for Children Act</a> would be a critical step forward in this effort. The Act would allow up to two million students to receive a scholarship from a non-profit granting organization. According to the <a href="https://investineducation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Invest in Education</a> website, “Scholarships would be funded with private donations, not federal dollars, and donors would receive a federal tax credit.”
Additionally, at the federal level, on Inauguration Day, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-rep-hern-introduce-school-choice-legislation-prioritizing-the-right-to-a-quality-education-for-every-child" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> the <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/student_empowerment_act_20251.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Student Empowerment Act</a> to expand the allowed usage of 529 tax-deferred education savings plan funds. That would include usage for <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-rep-hern-introduce-school-choice-legislation-prioritizing-the-right-to-a-quality-education-for-every-child" target="_blank" rel="noopener">educational expenses</a> beyond tuition, such as “school curriculum, books, tutoring, testing fees,” and educational therapies for students with disabilities. Parents could use their 529 funds for the qualifying K-12 educational expenses regardless of whether their student is enrolled in a public or private school, or homeschool.
U.S. Representative Kevin Hern (R-OK), a co-sponsor of the bill, <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-rep-hern-introduce-school-choice-legislation-prioritizing-the-right-to-a-quality-education-for-every-child" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented</a> that “Expanding 529 accounts is a game-changer for education, giving students, workers, and families the freedom and opportunity they deserve, whether that’s in a traditional classroom setting or homeschool. It’s time to make education more affordable and meet the evolving needs of our workforce.”
Beyond private school choice and homeschooling, parents must also have choices within the public school system. That should come in the form of states passing open enrollment laws allowing students to enroll in a different public district school within (intra-district) and outside of (inter-district) their residential assignment as space allows. Zip code must not bind a student to a certain public school. That’s not how other taxpayer-funded government services, such as public parks and libraries, work.
Public charter schools, magnet schools, and other choice schools are no different, and laws must be enacted at the state level that allow families to select these schools. Laws must also not restrict growing the supply of these sought-after public school options.
The education of our future generation is too important to allow the public education monopoly to continue to trap children in failing schools, robbing them of their future. It’s past time for the market forces of competition to reign in America’s K-12 education environment — increasing quality and decreasing price. As a nation, we must keep advancing school choice through all means. Our children deserve nothing less than access to a high-quality education.
* * *
<a href="https://www.discovery.org/p/ingraham/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Keri D. Ingraham</a> is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Students taking test in class

New National Test Scores Make Undeniable Case For School Choice

Children

Elementary Schools

School Choice

Schools

Ted Cruz

Testing

An Ohio school district is facing a federal complaint over a discriminatory employment program that may have illegally barred teachers from participating on the basis of their race and sex.
Parents Defending Education (<a href="https://defendinged.org/">PDE</a>), a non-profit organization dedicated to opposing left-wing ideology in the education system, filed the complaint against Middletown City School District over the district’s discriminatory affinity group programming, which is open only to black male teachers.
“PDE and its members oppose racial discrimination and political indoctrination in America’s schools. Middletown City School District is offering educational and affinity group programming for Black male employees that are not offered to all employees in the District,” reads the complaint from PDE, first obtained by The Daily Wire.
The complaint comes as school districts across the country have adopted controversial diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies that often discriminate against individuals on the basis of their race and sex in attempts to diversify the staff or faculty of a given institution.
&#8220;Schools should be focused on making training and resources available to ALL teachers, not arbitrarily excluding teachers and staff based on race,” Michele Exner, Senior Advisor for Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Wire. “This is a blatant violation of employment laws and it’s why we are calling for an investigation into this program. Students and teachers deserve better than a system that chooses divisiveness over results.&#8221;
The complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission points specifically to the district’s <a href="https://www.middletowncityschools.com/middletown-middle-school-news/entry/the-admiral-squad/">Admiral Squad</a>, a race and sex-based affinity group program that seeks to “address the shortage of Black males in education” and aims “to hire 25 Black male classroom teachers.”
“As the Commission is aware, ‘the important purpose of Title VII’ is ‘that the workplace be an environment free of discrimination, where race is not a barrier to opportunity,’” PDE writes in its complaint.
The complaint goes on to explain that the hiring and retention model proposed by the district also includes a number of race-based goals, such as securing a “50% increase in the number of Black male educators from 32 to 52,” “developing a diverse pipeline,” and offering a “fellowship for Black and Brown candidate student members.” The district also intends to “work with He is Me Institute, which offers a fellowship to support Black males in high school and college who are interested in becoming teachers.”
“The District has even committed to working with nearby universities to target, hire, and retain Black male classroom educators,” it adds, detailing the extent of the district’s race and sex-based recruiting and hiring operation.
A representative of the school district contended that the Admiral Squad program is compliant with federal employment law in a comment to The Daily Wire, also adding that &#8220;while the Admiral Squad is an affinity group for Black male educators, nothing is stopping a Middletown City School District educator of any other race or sex from being part of the group.&#8221;
The district representative also added that the Admiral Squad is “used as a retention and recruitment tool for current Middletown City School District educators” and “was created as a result of the fact that less than 2% of the teaching population nationwide are Black males.”
The Middletown City School District is hardly the only district that appears to be engaging in race-based discrimination, however. PDE also filed a federal complaint against Minnesota’s Rochester Public Schools after the district allegedly used funds to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minnesota-school-district-hit-with-federal-complaint-over-race-based-discrimination">support affinity group programs</a> and professional development initiatives that discriminated against white employees.
The district also boasted the “Grow Your Own” program, which intended to “increase and support the number of educators of color in our district.” The initiative’s description went on to add that the program “will support teachers/individuals of color who want to pursue a career in teaching.”
There’s also California’s La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District, which PDE hit with a federal complaint after discovering that the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-school-district-hit-with-calls-for-investigation-into-racial-discrimination">district set out</a> to “achieve an increase in diversity” for new hires.
One district document outlined “strategies to encourage diverse candidates,” with another detailing the district’s goal of achieving “an increase in the diversity of the workforce in at least 75% of new hires.”

High school classroom

EXCLUSIVE: Ohio School District Hit With Federal Complaint Over Discriminatory Hiring Program

Diversity

Equity

inclusion

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/minnesota" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota</a> school district was hit with a federal complaint by Parents Defending Education (PDE), which claims that the district engaged in race-based discrimination.
The complaint against Minnesota’s Rochester Public Schools was filed after the district allegedly used funds to support affinity group programs and professional development initiatives that barred white employees from participation.
“Parents Defending Education (PDE) brings this complaint against Rochester Public Schools in Rochester, MN for discrimination on the basis of race in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance in violation of both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the organization wrote in its <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/OCR-Rochester-Public-Schools_Redacted.pdf">federal complaint</a> to the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
The complaint goes on to explain that the district received over $136,000 in grants from the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board in support of various different race-based programs. One such program, called the Employees of Color Resource Group, appears to discriminate against white professionals as it offers paid professional development opportunities.
“We have funds to pay for equity PD for our group, so if there are opportunities that you are interested in, please contact us so we can set it up,” the employee group site reads.
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The district also boasted an initiative called “Grow Your Own,” which sought to “increase and support the number of educators of color in our district.” The description of the initiative went on to add that the program “will support teachers/individuals of color who want to pursue a career in teaching.”
The race-based program offered participants access to scholarships, “partnership with Minnesota PELBS Accredited University,” “Advising and Navigator Support,” and “Employees of Color Resource Group Access.”
“We ask that the Department promptly investigate the allegations in this complaint, act swiftly to remedy unlawful policies and practices, and order appropriate relief,” the complaint from PDE concludes.
The complaint from PDE comes after the organization previously filed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-school-district-hit-with-calls-for-investigation-into-racial-discrimination">different federal complaint</a> against California’s La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District over hiring practices that specifically sought to “achieve an increase in diversity” among new hires.

School classroom

Minnesota School District Hit With Federal Complaint Over Race-Based Discrimination

Minnesota

U.S.

A Southern California school district paid far-left transgender activists $12,000 for a six-hour training on transgender inclusion, a contract obtained by The Daily Wire reveals.
The activists administered the training on behalf of an organization called <a href="https://transfamilysos.org/">TransFamily Support Services</a>, which was paid the five-figure sum by the San Dieguito Union High School District, located in northern San Diego County.
“In just six hours, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/teamtfss/">#TeamTFSS</a> trained 1,100 staff members across the entire San Dieguito Union High School District! Working with school districts is more crucial now than ever, especially as anti-trans rhetoric continues to infiltrate classrooms and campuses,” an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C-of_vDs21L/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&amp;img_index=5">Instagram post</a> from the radical organization reads.
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“We need our teachers and staff to be equipped to support and include trans youth, creating the space for them to feel safe and know that they’re valued at school,” it goes on to say. Images in the post indicate that the training was led by two activists with the far-left organization.
&#8220;There is no justification for a school district engaging with this organization that is steeped in pseudoscience, ideology and deception of parents,” Erika Sanzi, the Director of Outreach at Parents Defending Education told The Daily Wire.
TransFamily Support Services encourages children to identify as the opposite sex and provides them with binders and packers through its “<a href="https://transfamilysos.org/gender-junk/">Gender Junk</a>” program. “With the help of grants, we assist transgender youth in need to feel more at home in their bodies and alleviate gender dysphoria,” the organization states.
The group offers to provide the items to children who don’t have &#8220;affirming families” that will purchase them the items.
The far-left organization has also endorsed the use of irreversible surgeries and medical interventions for children who identify as transgender. TransFamily Support Services even co-hosted an online training <a href="https://transfamilysos.org/services/transyouth-care/">event</a> with the head of the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital’s Center for TransYouth Health and Development. The center’s director, Johanna Olson-Kennedy was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y6espcXPJk">caught on camera</a> downplaying the severity of medical sex change attempts on children in 2018.
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“If you want breasts at a later point in your life, you can go and get them,” she posited. Olson-Kennedy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/celebrated-trans-doctor-sued-for-medical-negligence-over-removal-of-14-year-old-girls-breasts">is now being sued</a> for medical negligence over the removal of a 14-year-old girl’s breasts. She is the<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/05/09/exclusive-republicans-demand-answers-nih-transgender-youth-experiments-study-left-2-dead-others-sterilized/"> co-author</a> of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health on the psychological effects of cross sex hormone therapy on youth. Two participants in the<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/05/09/exclusive-republicans-demand-answers-nih-transgender-youth-experiments-study-left-2-dead-others-sterilized/"> study</a> committed suicide, while another 11 experienced suicidal ideation.
Also present at the event co-hosted by TransFamily Support Services was Johanna Olson-Kennedy’s significant other, Aydin Olson-Kennedy. Aydin, who identifies as transgender, doesn’t believe that children should have to get approval letters from therapists before undergoing medical transitions, and even <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170220090227/https://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/aydin-olson-kennedy-msw-urges-gender-surgery-for-down-syndrome-child-in-intensive-care-unit/">promoted a fundraiser</a> to allow a person with Down syndrome to get a double mastectomy.
One potential step to curtail the influence of far-left organizations on public schools could be to federally mandate increased transparency around outside contracting organizations, Sanzi explained.
&#8220;The federal government could require more transparency around curriculum and contracts with consultants and vendors as a way to disincentivize partnerships with these kinds of organizations—failure to comply with transparency requirements could put funding at risk.&#8221;
The Daily Wire asked the San Dieguito Union High School District if staff members refer students who identify as transgender to the outside organization but did not receive a response.
TransFamily Support Services did not respond to a request for comment.

Transgender flag

California School District Pays $12K For Transgender Activists To Train Staff

trans

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill on Tuesday prohibiting trans-identifying students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that don&#8217;t match their biological sex.
When the law takes effect in 90 days, public and private K-12 schools, along with colleges and universities, must ensure that bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations are divided by biological sex, The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5012298-dewine-ohio-transgender-students-bathroom-use/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The bill was approved by Ohio&#8217;s Republican-controlled state Senate earlier this month. Democrats were united in their opposition to the legislation.
The new Ohio law also bans schools from building multi-occupancy &#8220;all-gender&#8221; facilities. According to the Ohio Capital Journal, the law <a href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/11/27/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-signs-transgender-bathroom-ban-bill-into-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">does not prohibit</a> schools from having non-gendered single-occupancy bathrooms.
Ohio <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/nondiscrimination/bathroom_bans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joins</a> more than a dozen other states that have taken action to ensure that K-12 students use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their biological sex.
The Republicans who sponsored the original state House bill thanked DeWine for signing it into law.
&#8220;Thank you @GovMikeDeWine for signing the bill yesterday that contains HB 183,&#8221; state Rep. Adam Bird <a href="https://x.com/AdamCBird/status/1861759876411920724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. &#8220;[Beth Lear] and I have been working on this bill for over a year and we are thankful that individuals will not have to worry about the opposite sex coming into the restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms.&#8221;
In response, Lear added, &#8220;Yes, thank you @GovMikeDeWine for signing SB 104 to protect ALL students. &#8221;
DeWine was also praised by Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who <a href="https://x.com/DaveYostOH/status/1861778495983985084" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thanked</a> the governor &#8220;for siding with biology, history safety and common sense.&#8221;
Democrats and leftist activists decried DeWine&#8217;s signing of the legislation. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio <a href="https://x.com/acluohio/status/1861787449980080135" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;Transgender people are part of the fabric of Ohio; our families, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods. 🏳️‍⚧️ We remain steadfast in our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and are closely considering next steps.&#8221;
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The new law is yet another victory for conservatives in the state on the transgender issue. Last year, DeWine <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ohio-gop-governor-vetoes-bans-on-gender-procedures-for-minors-biological-boys-competing-in-girls-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vetoed</a> bans on minors undergoing gender procedures and boys competing against girls in the state, but the state legislature overrode his veto in January 2024.

Mike DeWine

Ohio GOP Governor Signs Bill Ensuring Students Use Bathrooms Aligning With Biological Sex

Bathrooms

College

Ohio

More than 100 school districts across the country have &#8220;land acknowledgement statements,&#8221; many of which say the United States was built on “stolen land” and committed genocide.
Districts in at least 17 different states have land acknowledgment statements, a Parents Defending Education analysis exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire shows. A land acknowledgement — which PDE defines as “a formal statement that is intended to recognize Indigenous or Native peoples as the original inhabitants/stewards of the land a school district, staff, and students occupy&#8221; — are often read at the beginning of meetings or other public gatherings.
New Hampshire’s Frances C. Richmond Middle School,  for example, claims that the United States was built on “stolen land” in its land acknowledgement <a href="https://rms.sau70.org/rms-land-acknowledgement">statement</a>.
“We, the RMS community, would like to acknowledge that our school is built upon the unceded land of the Abenaki and Pennacook peoples,” the statement reads before going on to say “the land was stolen.”
Minnesota’s <a href="https://www.rdale.org/discover/land-acknowledgement">Robbinsdale Area Schools</a> say that the district is “located on the homelands of the Dakota and Ojibwe people” before adding that “we recognize the painful history of genocide and forced assimilation of the Indigenous inhabitants of this land.”
&#8220;These so-called land acknowledgments are ridiculous virtue signaling designed to teach kids to hate America,” Michele Exner, Senior Advisor for Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Wire. “It&#8217;s even more insane when you consider that many of these schools are failing to teach basic academic fundamentals, but find the time to push this useless nonsense.&#8221;
The Minnesota school district is far from the only one that argues that the United States was built on genocide. Oregon’s North Clackamas School District blames the United States for “colonization” and “genocide.”
&#8220;We recognize the historic policies of colonization, genocide, relocation, and assimilation that affected Indigenous and Native families both past and present and that will affect those in the future, and honor the resilience and revitalization of our Indigenous and Native communities,&#8221; the district’s <a href="https://www.nclack.k12.or.us/departments/community-engagement/native-land-acknowledgement-in-north-clackamas">statement</a> reads.
Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District used <a href="https://www.bvsd.org/about/land-acknowledgement">similar language</a>, again accusing the United States of genocide.
“We acknowledge the atrocities committed here, including the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to alienate the Indigenous inhabitants from their homeland, supported by the policies of the United States government,” it reads.
California’s Contra Costa Office of Education has <a href="https://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/About-CCCOE/About/Land-Acknowledgement/index.html">multiple versions</a> of its land acknowledgement, with one that reads “we recognize them, the legacy of violence, settlement, and displacement of these people who suffered and survived, and we recognize the importance of reverting this common history, of which we are all a part, by engaging in meaningful indigenous justice work today.”
Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, meanwhile, <a href="https://www.pgcps.org/globalassets/offices/gov-relations-compliance-procedures/docs---ograc/board-policies/2000/board-policy-2513.1---indigenous-peoples-land-acknowledgement.pdf">created</a> a land acknowledgment while replacing Columbus Day with “Indigenous People’s Day.”
“While often well intentioned, land acknowledgments act as a form of virtue signaling by institutions and leadership,” PDE explains, calling them subversive given that they tell students that “they are occupying ‘stolen land’ from Indigenous tribes.”

Christopher Columbus

EXCLUSIVE: School Districts Across The Country Say America Was Built On ‘Stolen Land’

Critical Race Theory

A California school district compelled high school freshmen to audit their “privileged” identities and present on “systems of oppression,” documents first obtained by Parents Defending Education reveal and exclusively shared with The Daily Wire.
California’s Alameda Unified School District’s ethnic studies curriculum required students to assess their own level of privilege as they were taught Critical Race Theory and extreme gender theory. Students were given handouts including “My Relationship with Privilege and Oppression,” which purports to tell students “whether you are privileged or oppressed.” White, male, Christian students without a criminal record are singled out as the epitome of privilege.
The document lists 29 different identities and characteristics—including race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, religion and education level—that are used to determine one’s alleged level of privilege or marginalization. “Who am I as an intersectional human being,” it asks students. Another assignment, called “A Map of Myself,” asks students to audit their own identities, categorizing each as a “position of privilege or marginalization.”
“For each identity domain … consider if it puts you in a position of privilege or marginalization,” the assignment reads before asking students to list their race, ethnicity, biological sex, sexual orientation, and religion. Footnotes cite &#8220;anti-racist&#8221; author Robin DiAngelo and argue that “race is a socially constructed system.”
“Considering all your social identities listed in the table above, on a daily basis, which ones are you most aware or conscious of?” the assignment inquires before going on to ask what “the most negative or difficult” thing about that identity is.
The documents appear to be representative of the course writ large. An ethnic studies course syllabus divides the class into four sections, including “power and oppression,” which focuses on “who creates the master narrative and how that impacts the lived experiences of different groups” by creating the “understanding that laws &amp; policies are not objective.&#8221;
“Individuals obsessed with forcing this oppressor vs. oppressed paradigm are poisoning the minds of children,” Parents Defending Education senior adviser Michele Exner told The Daily Wire. “They want to perpetuate a victimhood mentality based on how many ideological boxes someone can check off. What they should be teaching is math, reading, writing, and history—all subjects that will actually help students of all backgrounds excel instead of pushing this divisive content in classrooms.”
Students are expected to “identify social systems that structure and perpetuate power, privilege, and oppression” and “identify how identities intersect to create power, privilege, and oppression.”
The syllabus also details a portion of the course titled “resistance and liberation,” which centers on the “history of resisting oppression as carried out by the oppressed groups themselves,” a theme that supposedly “directly challenges the ‘White Savior’ narrative.” Course vocabulary terms include “white supremacy,” “white privilege,” “microaggressions,” and “colonized mind.”
Another assignment required students to study the “Four I’s Of Oppression&#8221;: &#8220;ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized” oppression. The assignment required groups of students to draw on those &#8220;Four I&#8217;s&#8221; to make a slideshow on “white supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormativity, or cisnormativity.”
One course document indicates that students partook in a “<a href="https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/06/critical-race-trove-from-california-district-tells-students-how-to-use-witchcraft-on-people-who-say-all-lives-matter/">privilege walk</a>,” an exercise in which participants form a line and take steps forwards or backwards depending on their response to a <a href="https://youtu.be/hD5f8GuNuGQ?si=olRh_QdQ_jyyUU-J">series of questions</a>. The exercise is intended to indicate the level of privilege each person supposedly has relative to each other.
“In your own words, describe the emotions and thoughts you experienced during the privilege walk. How has it challenged or confirmed your perceptions of privilege and inequality?”
Students were also asked to write an essay on successful political organizing strategies, including how leftwing movements “use grassroots organizing and social media to be successful.” Students could choose from a list of leftist movements to discuss, including Black Lives Matter and the Black Panthers.
Alameda Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment.

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