A far-left activist network tied to teachers unions and left-wing advocacy groups has been distributing a detailed training manual encouraging K-12 students to organize disruptive political protests and school walkouts, according to documents obtained by Defending Education and provided exclusively to The Daily Wire.
The 36-page “Direct Action Training: School Walkouts” toolkit, <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/a-k-12-school-walkout-toolkit-encourages-rule-breaking-and-class-interruptions-to-achieve-social-justice-demands/">uncovered</a> by the watchdog organization, explicitly instructs students on how to organize demonstrations, disrupt school operations, avoid oversight from administrators, and pressure institutions through coordinated acts of “non-cooperation” and “civil disobedience.”
The packet was distributed through activist training webinars connected to the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, a coalition backed by major left-wing education and activist organizations including the National Education Association, Journey for Justice Alliance, Center for Popular Democracy, and Schott Foundation for Public Education.
The training materials themselves were produced by Alliance for Educational Justice, an activist group that has received financial support through leftist nonprofit networks connected to the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Tides Foundation, and other left-wing grantmaking organizations.
The document openly encourages students to engage in actions designed to disrupt schools and force administrators into political concessions. “Direct action is how everyday people use their collective power to force change when systems aren’t listening,” the packet states. It describes walkouts as a tactic intended to “interrupt business as usual and demand accountability.”
The guide specifically promotes tactics including “school walkouts,” “boycotts,” “strikes – No School, No Work, No Shopping,” and even “class takeover,” which it describes as interrupting classrooms for “student-led discussion, training, or teach-ins.”
In one section, the packet explains how students can transform “absence into power” by creating enough disruption that school officials are “forced to respond.”
“When large numbers of students leave together, classes cannot operate normally and school leaders are forced to respond,” the guide states. “Ignoring a walkout often brings greater attention from families, the media, and the wider community.”
The packet repeatedly frames schools as political battlegrounds and encourages students to view disruption as leverage.
It also includes instructions on recruitment, messaging strategy, protest organization, media engagement, and “walkout leader roles.” Another section titled “Out Reach Safety” advises students to use VPNs because “a VPN can make tracking harder,” while encouraging students to refuse questioning from school officials without a parent or lawyer present.
Though the guide insists direct action is “not about causing chaos,” many of the tactics outlined are explicitly designed to undermine normal school operations and pressure administrators through coordinated unrest.
Defending Education warned the materials reflect a broader trend of activist organizations using schools and students as vehicles for political organizing. “Activists have realized they can use students to advance political agendas, and too many schools either won’t push back or will quietly enable it,” Paul Runko, Defending Education’s senior director of strategic initiatives, said to The Daily Wire.
“Parents need to understand that students are increasingly being recruited as foot soldiers in the culture war, and they should have intentional conversations, especially with teens, about how to respond when friends, teachers, or outside groups encourage them to participate in protests or walkouts,” he added.
The materials also reveal how activist infrastructure aimed at adults increasingly filters down into K-12 environments through affiliated nonprofits, education coalitions, and youth organizing initiatives that outwardly present themselves as community advocacy groups.
The document argues that young people are uniquely positioned to pressure institutions because adults are constrained by jobs, caregiving responsibilities, or fear of arrest. Students, meanwhile, are encouraged to use their position inside schools to “step forward when systems refuse to listen.”
Defending Education’s findings come amid a growing left-wing youth activist class and worries from parents over the political activism increasingly embedded in some educational environments, particularly as outside organizations gain influence through partnerships, webinars, and activist training programs directed at students.

St. Paul, Minnesota student anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) demonstrations, January 2026

Action Backpacks And VPNs: Are Left-Wing Groups Training Your Kid To Be A Political Activist?

Education

Leftism

Schools

Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos blasted New York City’s socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, saying that if the corporate giant operated like the Big Apple’s broken public school system, customers wouldn&#8217;t see their packages for well over a month.
In a scathing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/20/cnbc-exclusive-transcript-jeff-bezos-speaks-with-cnbcs-andrew-ross-sorkin-on-squawk-box-today-.html">televised sit-down</a> on CNBC, the high-flying billionaire unloaded on Mamdani over a record-breaking $44 billion education budget that has yielded nothing but abysmal returns. Bezos slammed the city for blowing an astronomical $44,000 annually per student — outspending rivals like Los Angeles and Chicago by roughly 30% — even as student numbers plunge and exam performance craters.
&#8220;If we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system &#8230; your packages would take six weeks to arrive,&#8221; the e-commerce kingpin told anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin from a Blue Origin factory floor. &#8220;We’d have to charge you a $100 delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, it’d have the wrong item in it anyway.&#8221;
The tech titan, boasting a jaw-dropping $269 billion net worth, hit back hard at Mamdani&#8217;s obsession with soaking the rich. Bezos insisted that doubling his own hefty tax bill would do absolutely nothing to support frontline educators, because the massive mountain of cash is swallowed whole by a bloated, management-heavy bureaucracy.
&#8220;None of this money is getting to the teachers, I promise you,&#8221; Bezos said, targeting the army of middle managers choking the system.
Mamdani couldn&#8217;t wait to clap back, taking to X to snap: &#8220;I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ. <a href="https://t.co/JEnRnM2xII">https://t.co/JEnRnM2xII</a>
&mdash; Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/2057137240904511564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The fiery clash erupted shortly after the Bezos Family Foundation <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/20/us-news/jeff-bezos-torches-mamdani-for-pouring-43b-into-mismanaged-nyc-schools/">pledged</a> up to $150 million toward early childhood programs across Gotham via a massive anti-poverty endowment. Meanwhile, the struggling mayor has managed to scrape together a pitiful $3.5 million toward his own heavily hyped $20 million childcare fund.
The 62-year-old mogul, who was raised by a teenage mother and a young Cuban immigrant, argued that clueless politicians constantly look to manufacture wealthy villains instead of fixing real operational messes. Rather than finger-pointing, Bezos urged leaders to look at systemic tax reform. His pitch? Wipe out the tax bills entirely for lower-income working-class families, including struggling local nurses.
&#8220;When people are starting out and they’re struggling, stop taxing them. We don’t need it,&#8221; Bezos concluded. &#8220;I don’t want to reduce it; I want to eliminate it.&#8221;

2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Mark Guiducci – Arrivals

Jeff Bezos Humiliates NYC’s Socialist Mayor

Amazon

Jeff Bezos

New York City

Taxes

Zohran Mamdani

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
We’ve seen the same headlines over and over: Gen Z isn’t <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/aug/comment-generation-z-love-crisis">dating</a>, or <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/05/17/gen-z-less-likely-get-drivers-license/73678202007/">driving</a>, or <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/13/lifestyle/gen-zs-breakup-with-alcohol-is-happening-much-earlier-than-past-generations/">drinking</a>, or <a href="https://www.silouhealth.com/blogs/blogs-silouhealth/the-friendship-recession-why-gen-z-is-lonelier-than-ever">making friends</a>, with record numbers of young people today <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/17/why-many-young-adults-in-the-us-are-still-living-with-their-parents.html">living with their parents</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/opinion/gen-z-work.html">refusing to build careers</a> well into adulthood. These statistics paint a grim picture of my generation, but beyond our specific cohort, they point to an overall culture of dependency that is antithetical to the free citizenry our democracy relies on — a culture that was built by the failure of our institutions, and especially our schools. 
As veteran teacher Paula Edwards (not her real name) told IW Features in a recent <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/documentary/the-hidden-crisis-in-new-mexicos-classrooms/">documentary</a>, “If we don’t have a literate society, we really don’t have a free society.” She recounted the abysmal classroom environment in the New Mexico public schools she has worked in, from deteriorating academic and behavioral standards to ideological indoctrination.
Edwards reached her breaking point and transitioned from teaching to coaching after a second-grade student who was not potty-trained allegedly began smearing feces on his peers when he was angry and wanted to skip his lessons. In this single anecdote alone we can identify several failures: of the state not to assess the child’s home environment, of the school to allow a child who was not potty-trained to be in a general class, and of the school not to remove him from the classroom, give him the environment he actually needs, and protect other children from being traumatized by his behaviors. It’s not the child’s responsibility to train himself in basic functions; it’s the duty of adults, who either failed him or, in the case of teachers like Edwards, were not allowed to give him the help he needed.
This is perhaps an extreme (albeit not rare) case, yet such bad outcomes as this arise precisely because of an educational philosophy that has prevailed in schools for decades, even in less difficult situations than this student’s. Generations of students have been coddled to their own detriment, being given passing grades they do not deserve and free rein to act out and hurt themselves and others in the name of “compassion.” 
Of course, there is no compassion at all in enabling students’ worst behaviors. The behavioral anarchy that has come to dominate far too many schools around the country and make teaching an impossible profession has its origins in Obama-era policies that essentially considered any form of discipline as a potential form of discrimination. While those were revoked federally during the first Trump administration, many states still have unviable policies that make disciplining students impossible and that encourage the sort of conduct that has led to educators like Edwards fleeing the teaching profession.
The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system, which was formally enacted by New Mexico in the last decade, after being introduced by the federal government in the 1990s, forces teachers and administrators to ignore negative behavior and reward positive behavior through prizes and tokens, which amount to “bribery,” as Edwards puts it. These gamified incentives inevitably disappear in the adult world, and yet the responsibilities of adult life remain. So then what? Students who have never acquired the discipline to succeed in school are naturally going to struggle with adult life, rendered incompetent and unable to participate fully in society as adults.
Sometimes, this type of dependency is not just passively but actively encouraged by the school system. In a particularly horrifying anecdote, Edwards told IW Features how the Bureau of Indian Education schools teach Native American children how to fill out welfare applications. Instead of teaching them to read with evidence-based methods and enabling students to lift themselves out of poverty when they grow up, Edwards said, these schools teach students a different lesson: “Be dependent for the rest of your life.”
It doesn’t have to be this way, and it shouldn’t. We have the status quo we have because we choose to tolerate it. We spend billions of dollars on education as a country as it stands, and there is nothing stopping us from redirecting that money from failed progressive endeavors to student behavior reforms and evidence-based instructional methods that actually work. As Edwards advocated, “Get your indoctrination out of the classroom and get us back to the basics. School is for getting our kids to read and write and do math.”
***
Neeraja Deshpande is an Independent Women policy analyst and senior IW Features contributor.

Young student feeling disappointment, sitting alone by lockers.

Teachers Blow The Lid On What Is Happening In Schools And Why Gen Z Is Struggling

Generation Z

Upstream

According to a new law, all public and private schools in Pennsylvania will be required to add cursive handwriting lessons into their curriculum beginning next month.
The bill was signed into law by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) last month and will take effect on April 12. It also had bipartisan support and passed the House 195‑8 and the Senate 42‑5 before being signed by the governor, according to <a href="https://www.fox29.com/news/pennsylvania-schools-will-be-required-teach-cursive-again-starting-april">Fox 29 Philadelphia.</a>
PA Senator and bill sponsor Wayne Langerholic (R) said in a statement that &#8220;by reintegrating cursive into the curriculum…we are investing in our students’ cognitive development, strengthening their legal preparedness and preserving their connection to historical literacy.&#8221;
&#8220;Cursive is more than handwriting. It’s a bridge,&#8221; Rep. Dane Watro (R), a cosponsor of the bill, said in a statement. &#8220;It connects us to our history, strengthens learning and deepens our understanding of the world. By teaching cursive, we’re equipping students with skills that sharpen the mind and safeguard our shared heritage.&#8221;
There’s been a big debate over cursive writing instruction ever since the Common Core Standards for public school education, which were adopted in 2010, did not include a cursive handwriting requirement. Those standards stressed printed writing and keyboard skills to be used for writing instead. 
One recent <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943480/">study</a> found that cursive helps children with brain development. 
“The Neuroscience Behind Writing” found that “cursive writing involves greater activation of the motor cortex and cerebellum, as it requires fine motor coordination and smooth transitions between letters.” The report went on to note that, …this fluidity enhances memory retention and cognitive engagement, as the writer must anticipate the next letter in a continuous motion.”
Per the website <a href="https://mycursive.com/states-that-require-cursive-writing/#:~:text=Arizona,introduced%20as%20recently%20as%202022.)">MyCursive</a>, almost half of states still require or encourage cursive instruction in the classroom. That number has been steadily increasing over the years. 
New Jersey just updated their cursive writing requirements earlier this year as Governor Phil Murphy (D ) signed a cursive mandate into law just before leaving office in January. The new standards will go into effect next school year for students.
“We owe it to our students to give them a well-rounded education that ensures they have the tools to fully understand our rich history and become competent leaders,” Murphy said in a statement at the time, per the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/20/us-news/nj-flips-script-mandates-teaching-cursive-writing-in-schools-starting-next-fall/">New York Post</a>.

cursive handwriting

Cursive Makes A Comeback In Pennsylvania Schools

Cursive Handwriting Instruction Will Be Required In Pennsylvania Schools

Josh Shapiro

Pennsylvania

Public Schools

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was the subject of multiple federal raids on Wednesday.  Multiple reports confirmed that authorities conducted searches of both his home and his office.
An affidavit was filed in connection with the <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/lausd-superintendent-carvalho-raid/3853654/">searches</a>, but officials stated that the details remain under seal. Another search was executed at a Miami property also connected to Carvalho, who has been the head of the second-largest school district in the United States since 2022. Carvalho previously worked for 14 years as superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
No details have been released regarding the reason for the searches, but the FBI Los Angeles office released a statement confirming the action: &#8220;We can confirm that the FBI is serving a court-authorized warrant at those locations. However, the affidavit in support of the warrant has been sealed by the court and we, therefore, have no further comment.&#8221;
According to a <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/fbi-raids-lausd-headquarters-superintendent-alberto-carvalho-home">report</a> from local FOX affiliate FOX11, employees were evacuated from the Los Angeles school district offices while officers searched the premises. Other officers searched his home in San Pedro, California. Drone footage captured by local news outlets showed multiple FBI agents entering and leaving the properties, some carrying boxes.
Complicating matters further, President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration joined a lawsuit against LAUSD alleging that the district discriminates against white students by funneling money and resources to schools based on the racial demographics of the attending students.
The lawsuit, filed by the 1776 Project Foundation, states that LAUSD uses a race-based label to designate certain schools as &#8220;PHBAO&#8221; (Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other non-Anglo). The complaint then argues that schools without that designation — meaning they are predominantly white — often do not receive the same funding considerations or allocation of resources. The DOJ asserts that, in addition, students from &#8220;PHBAO&#8221; schools receive preferential treatment when they seek to transfer to magnet programs.
The FBI has not indicated whether the searches are related to the lawsuit and the school district as a whole or are directed specifically at Carvalho.

LAUSD, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho,

FBI Raids Home And Office Of Los Angeles School Superintendent

Los Angeles

Los Angeles Schools

A U.S. District Court judge blocked California from forcing teachers to lie to parents about their children&#8217;s secret gender transitions in a major <a href="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46/6949e11ea6bae817c8eaf637_Dkt%20%20307_MSJ%20Order.pdf">ruling</a> on Monday.
The case stemmed from a class-action lawsuit brought by two Christian teachers who pushed back against the law requiring them to hide students&#8217; gender transitions from parents and use students&#8217; preferred pronouns. Monday&#8217;s ruling from Judge Roger T. Benitez &#8220;permanently&#8221; ends &#8220;California&#8217;s dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools,&#8221; according to the Thomas More Society, which filed the lawsuit.
“In a landmark class-action ruling, Thomas More Society achieved a historic victory in Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al., ending California’s gender secrecy policies and restoring transparency and parental involvement in public education,&#8221; the Thomas More Society <a href="http://t.co/cD3Ue3I02P">said</a>. &#8220;The decision and federal court order issuing a class-wide permanent injunction—issued by U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez just days before Christmas—secures justice not only for teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West who began the lawsuit, but for all parents and teachers harmed by these policies statewide.&#8221;
Benitez wrote that the case dealt with “four questions about a parent’s rights to information as against a public school’s policy of secrecy when it comes to a student’s gender identification.” Those questions were:
<ol>
<li>Do parents have a right to gender information based on the Fourteenth Amendment’s substantive due process clause?</li>
<li>Do parents have a right to gender information protected by the First Amendment’s free exercise of religion clause?</li>
<li>Do religious public school teachers have a right to provide gender information to parents based on the First Amendment’s free exercise clause?</li>
<li>Do public school teachers have a right to communicate accurate gender information to parents based on the First Amendment free speech clause?</li>
</ol>
“In each case, this Court concludes that, as a matter of law, the answer is ‘yes,” he wrote. “Parents have a right to receive gender information and teachers have a right to provide to parents accurate information about a child’s gender identity.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“California’s public school system parental exclusion policies place a communication barrier between parents and teachers,” he opined. “Some parents who do not want such barriers may have the wherewithal to place their children in private schools or homeschool, or to move to a different public school district. Families in middle or lower socio-economic circumstances have no such options.  For these parents, the new policy appears to undermine their own constitutional rights while it conflicts with knowledgeable medical opinion.  The State Defendants are, in essence, asking this Court to limit, and restrict a common-sense and legally sound description by the United States Supreme Court of parental rights.  That, this Court will not do.”
“The parental exclusion policies create a trifecta of harm: they harm the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse. They harm the parents by depriving them of the long-recognized Fourteenth Amendment right to care, guide, and make health care decisions for their children, and by substantially burdening many parents’ First Amendment right to train their children in their sincerely held religious beliefs  And finally, they harm teachers who are compelled to violate the sincerely held beliefs and the parent’s rights by forcing them to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students,” he concluded.

BRAZIL-CLIMATE-COP30-UN

Federal Judge Blocks California Law Requiring Teachers To Hide Children’s Gender Identity

California

Teachers

Transgender

A couple who won a landmark Supreme Court victory in favor of parental rights said their Christian faith helped them through the dramatic ordeal that began when their daughter took a book pushing transgender ideology home from her Maryland school.
In April, Chris and Melissa Persak, a Catholic family, found themselves and other allied parents arriving at the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in their case against the Montgomery County Board of Education over whether they had the right to opt their kids out of instruction on transgender ideology. In June, the Persaks, who were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, won a decisive 6-3 victory with the Supreme Court majority declaring that they and other parents had expansive oversight over what their children were taught at schools.
“We said prayers of the Holy Spirit, and just felt this unbelievable calmness as we&#8217;re walking in. Even with the protesters, even with members of the leadership of Montgomery County, who were protesting against us live that day,” Chris told The Daily Wire.
“We just felt like this was the right thing that God was saying, ‘Yep, this is exactly what I asked you to do. It&#8217;s been 24 months, and I know you guys have taken shrapnel and things that have come at you and people threaten your children, and you and your friends, and it was vindication day,” he added.
On Tuesday, the Persaks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfCn1zWnXGQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> on Becket’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfCn1zWnXGQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stream of Conscience</a>” podcast alongside Jeff and Svitlana Roman, another family who challenged Montgomery County’s opt-out policies.
The legal battle began in March 2023, when the school board said that it would no longer let parents opt out of books pushing transgender and queer ideology. In response, a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish parents challenged the county in Mahmoud v. Taylor.
Svitlana said during her appearance on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfCn1zWnXGQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a>, which was previewed by The Daily Wire, that she became involved in the legal fight because she just wanted parents like her to have the option to opt their elementary-aged kids from sexualized materials in the classroom.
“All I would like to ask is, one, to make it very clear that the teachers have an optionality to teach it or not, and then two, give the choice to parents to opt in,” she said.
Melissa Persak echoed that sentiment.
“This whole lawsuit was we just wanted the rights to our own children and what they&#8217;re gonna learn,” she said. “It has nothing to do with anybody else&#8217;s kids, but, you know, obviously, in the process, now, we want to protect everyone, all the parents, and all of their children.”
<div id="attachment_1002015" style="width: 1952px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1002015" class="size-full wp-image-1002015" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-17-at-3.44.53-PM.png" alt="" width="1942" height="1089" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-17-at-3.44.53-PM.png 1942w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-17-at-3.44.53-PM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-17-at-3.44.53-PM-1024x574.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-17-at-3.44.53-PM-768x431.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-17-at-3.44.53-PM-1536x861.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1942px) 100vw, 1942px" />The Romans and Persaks appear on the Becket podcast.</div>
Chris, her husband, added that the entire saga revealed how citizens could fight for their rights under the Constitution. He described being at the Supreme Court as a “powerful moment” because “citizens can stand up for what we believe protected under the Constitution by a system that was essentially set up nearly 250 years ago.”
“We just want the best for our kids and our families and have access to the freedoms granted under the Constitution,” he added. “And the ability to see that happen in real time at the political level has been awesome, it&#8217;s been awe-inspiring.”
When the decision was announced, Chris said the “jubilation was unbelievable.”
Becket Lawyer Will Haun told The Daily Wire that the decision in Mahmoud came 100 years after the Supreme Court issued a decision protecting the rights of parents to send their kids to religious schools.
“It took a long time for the Supreme Court to confirm that parents don&#8217;t lose that freedom when they send their children to public schools,” he said. “But thanks to the heroic example of Chris and Melissa and all the parents who stood with us, that is confirmed in the law now as well.”
In light of the decision, Montgomery County has rolled out a system known as &#8220;refrigerator curriculum,” giving parents broad access to essentially every material used in the classroom. The breadth of material has prompted some parents to worry they might miss something, but Haun said it was a sign that things were changing.
“Business as usual in Montgomery County when it came to opt outs was not acceptable anymore,” he said. “And I think that became abundantly clear with the Supreme Court&#8217;s decisive victory for the parents.”

Mahmoud v. Taylor

Caught In A SCOTUS Clash Over Trans Ideology, Parents Turned To Faith And The Constitution

Maryland

Parental Rights in Education

Religious Liberty

Supreme Court

Today, the Supreme Court will hear <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/chiles-v-salazar/">Chiles v. Salazar</a>, a case about censorship in private counseling conversations regarding gender identity not sanctioned by Colorado state law. The results will have a lasting influence not only counselors, parents, and children in Colorado, but throughout the United States.
I know, because our family learned the hard way when our 11-year-old daughter went to her school counselors in Wisconsin for advice. 
So many times, just being able to talk about things with someone who knows how to listen can make a life-changing difference. What our family learned, however, was that these people did not know how to listen. They were interested in making a life-changing difference, yes, but mostly in changing my daughter’s life to suit their social sensibilities, not to do what was best for her.
COVID hit at just about the same time my daughter entered into a very real personal crisis. She was 11 years old and decided she hated herself. She hated her looks, hated her personality — everything. The isolation of the epidemic left her with too much time to think about all of that and too few people to talk to about what she was feeling.
Sometimes, as a kid, it can help to know that other kids around the same age are struggling with the same issues. But our daughter was mostly alone with all her growing worries, fears, and frustrations. She didn’t know how to talk to me about what she was feeling, and she started reading about kids who were &#8220;changing&#8221; themselves. That sounded like the answer to everything: changing herself.
Looking back, she says, she doesn’t think she was really feeling that much gender dysphoria. She wasn’t especially wanting to be a boy — she just didn’t want to be herself.
That turned out to be very easy to arrange. In fact, a teacher’s aide approached my daughter and said that, if she wanted to give the people in the front office a new name and new pronouns, they’d happily take care of the paperwork.
They might have suggested that she first talk a little more with her parents about what she was feeling and give us a chance to listen and help her work through these things. But no one — not the school officials, not the doctors she eventually talked to — ever suggested anything like that.
To them, what we as her parents thought and felt was irrelevant. Our love for our child and our authority to influence her life choices didn’t matter at all. All of these strangers just assumed they knew best and had the right to keep her parents out of the conversation.
For that matter, they didn’t include our daughter much, either.
At no time did anyone at school or in the medical facilities our daughter visited ever suggest that there might be a healthy alternative to her social transitioning. They never suggested that she might just be struggling with the kinds of things lots of boys and girls have trouble with — dealing with the pains and awkward changes of puberty and the problems of fitting into a sometimes-crazy teenage culture.
That’s why my husband and I <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/tf-and-bf-v-kettle-moraine-school-district/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">sued</a> our Wisconsin school district with the help of our attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom. As parents, we have had to really fight for what should be a given — our basic legal right to be involved in our child’s life. And — with our love and support — she had to find her own way out of the confusing jungle of emotions she was dealing with.
We’re glad she was able to do that, but we still wonder how much easier it might have been if someone with the right skills had just been there to help her find the trail — and if her school officials hadn’t tried so hard to block her from finding it.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="How Tammy&#039;s Bold Stand Saved Her Daughter from &quot;Social Transitioning&quot;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z5le_6Qwe8o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That’s also why we’re so interested in another ADF client, Kaley Chiles, and <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/chiles-v-salazar/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">her case</a> being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today. Ms. Chiles is a counselor who wants to offer help to young people like our daughter, who are going through the kinds of things she’s been going through.
We’ve read a lot about her. She does what it seems like a counselor ought to do. She listens. She asks thoughtful questions. She helps young people figure out where they want to go and how to get there. She’s there to walk with them — not push them through a pre-chosen door or force her own ideas on their disturbed minds and hurting hearts.
To me, that’s what every young person going through what my daughter went through needs. But in Ms. Chiles’ home state of Colorado, it’s actually against the law for a counselor to help a minor that way.
My own state has a similar law. And these laws allow counselors to point the way to transitioning and encourage it, but they can’t offer an alternative or do anything to support a young person who leans toward another conclusion.
That reminds me so much of what my daughter has experienced these last few years. People — professionals — with no interest in helping her, just in changing her.
Ms. Chiles’ attorneys will be making good arguments for why that’s a terrible approach … one that can be life-changing for children and teens in all the wrong ways.
I just hope the justices know how to listen.
* * *
Tammy Fournier and her daughter reside in Wisconsin.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=fall40&amp;utm_content=fallsale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial">Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout!</a>

SCOTUS I

When My 11-Year-Old Daughter Began Hating Herself, The School Told Her To Change Her Pronouns

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Children

Gender Identity

LGBTQ

Opinion

Parents rights

Pronouns

Asylum Seeking Migrants Wait In Line For Immigration Customs Enforcement Appointments

Another Horrifying Reason We Need Mass Deportations Immediately

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Islam

Leftists

Matt Walsh

Michigan

Minnesota

Muslims

Somalia

America is in a global artificial intelligence (AI) race. The stakes are historically high with economic and national security implications. As President Trump <a href="https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1949249312363626843">declared</a> in July, “Whether we like it or not, we are suddenly engaged in a fast-paced competition to build and refine this groundbreaking technology that will determine so much about the future of civilization.”
The President, First Lady, and the Trump Administration are taking decisive steps to ensure America is prepared and positioned to win one of the most consequential competitions among nations in modern history, determining future global dominance.
On Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump hosted a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education. Michael Kratsios, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, serves as the chair of the task force. Other members include the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Energy, Director of the National Science Foundation, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, Assistant to the President for Policy, and Assistant to the President for the Office of the First Lady.
<div id="attachment_969609" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-969609" class="size-large wp-image-969609" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2233064229-865x576.jpg" alt="Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., from left, US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, during a dinner with tech leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Trump said he would be imposing tariffs on semiconductor imports &quot;very shortly&quot; but spare goods from companies like Apple Inc. that have pledged to boost their US investments. Photographer: Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2233064229-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2233064229-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2233064229-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2233064229.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
The task force is providing vital leadership for implementing the actions outlined in the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/advancing-artificial-intelligence-education-for-american-youth/">Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth</a>” executive order, signed into law by President Trump on April 23. As the executive order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/advancing-artificial-intelligence-education-for-american-youth/">states</a>, the President and First Lady recognize that “to ensure the United States remains a global leader in this technological revolution, we must provide our Nation’s youth with opportunities to cultivate the skills and understanding necessary to adapt to and thrive in an increasing digital society.” K-12 education and workforce development training are foundational avenues for this to occur.
Students need to not just learn about artificial intelligence; education in America must be modernized to incorporate this rapidly advancing technology, thereby personalizing and enhancing student learning.
While artificial intelligence tools are the latest form of student academic dishonesty, they cannot be excluded from the learning process in the future based on fear. Students must be taught and held accountable for the appropriate use. Developers are designing educational technology tools that strengthen critical thinking and other essential cognitive skills — enhancing rather than supplanting learning — to meet the quickly accelerating market demand.
With clarity and candor, the Trump Administration has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/advancing-artificial-intelligence-education-for-american-youth/">cast the vision</a> for charting a strategic path forward: “Early learning and exposure to AI concepts not only demystifies this powerful technology but also sparks curiosity and creativity, preparing students to become active and responsible participants in the workforce of the future and nurturing the next generation of American AI innovators to propel our Nation to new heights of scientific and economic achievement.”
As part of promptly putting this plan into action, First Lady Melania Trump recently launched the <a href="https://www.ai.gov/initiatives/presidential-challenge">Presidential AI Challenge,</a> which aims to cultivate interest and expertise in artificial intelligence technology among elementary through high school students and educators. Mrs. Trump beautifully <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Presidential-AI-Challenge-Guidebook-for-Participation.pdf">articulates</a> that the “President’s National Artificial Intelligence Challenge invites every student in America — from kindergarten to 12th grade — to unleash their imagination and showcase the spirit of American innovation.” Speaking directly to students, she explains, “our extraordinary educators will guide and empower you through this process to build a brighter, stronger future for us all.”
Acknowledging that America’s K-12 education institutions are largely unprepared to step into this moment, the Trump Administration has created crucial public-private partnerships to provide resources and advanced technological expertise and tools necessary to bring this vision into reality. Already, over 135 companies and organizations have signed the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/edai/">Pledge to America’s Youth: Investing in AI Education</a>.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai <a href="https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/ai-education-efforts/">announced</a> at the White House Task Force meeting that $150 million of the company’s $1 billion pledge, made in August, will support education and workforce training through AI education grants. This includes $2 million to the Flourish Fund, which provides financial support for nonprofit organizations that assist foster care youth with workforce development tools as they age out of the system. Additionally, it includes $3 million for Code.org to incorporate artificial intelligence features into its curriculum.
Winning the AI race isn’t merely aspirational. The Trump Administration is working with undeniable resolve because winning the AI race is imperative for ensuring the American Dream remains alive and thriving for future generations.
In January, the President hit the ground running, signing the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/removing-barriers-to-american-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence/">Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence</a>” executive order. In July, the White House released the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf">Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan</a>.” These executive orders are key, setting the stage to advance artificial intelligence nationwide through accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading the world in diplomacy and security. The action plan <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/white-house-unveils-americas-ai-action-plan/">asserts</a>, “Winning the AI race will usher in a new golden age of human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security for the American people.”
President Trump has proven he can win, is winning, and will never stop working to win for the American people. And in the race for AI, as in every fight for America’s future, his leadership is driving our nation not only to lead the world, but also to secure a new era of strength and prosperity.
* * *
<a href="https://www.discovery.org/p/ingraham/">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.

First Lady Melania Trump Hosts White House Task Force On AI Education

The First Lady’s Undeniable Resolve To Win The AI Race

Artificial Intelligence

Bill Gates

Donald Trump

Melania Trump

Silicon Valley

Technology

White House

Students across the country are getting ready to head back to school, and this year they’ll have the chance to take on a different kind of assignment: the first-ever Presidential AI Challenge. An outgrowth of an executive order signed by President Trump in April, the Challenge aims to inspire students, educators and community leaders to work together to ensure the next generation is ready to take on the unprecedented technological change we can expect in the near future. This goes beyond politics, and asks students to find ways to use artificial intelligence to respond to challenges in students’ local communities.
This initiative has arrived not a moment too soon. New developments in AI are announced almost daily – some promising, some disconcerting. The headlines show us every day that this world-changing technology will need governance and guardrails left firmly in qualified human hands. The Trump White House understands this, and is right to engage America’s youth. Who better to challenge our thinking on emerging tech than those who will be impacted the most?
If educators prioritize safe and ethical engagement with AI in the classroom, this could be one of the most consequential school years in decades. Generation Z is coming close to the end of their school years. Generation Alpha, in school behind them, may well be renamed by history as “Generation AI,” because they will be the first to come of age in a world with all the power of artificial intelligence at their fingertips. The sooner they start working through what that means, the better.
Different schools and communities will inspire students to meet the Presidential AI Challenge in different ways, but there are a few consistent elements that educators, community leaders, and the tech community should strive to instill in American youth so that they learn to engage with AI in responsible, ethical ways.
The first is to reconceptualize the idea of digital citizenship. It’s not just about being nice on social media anymore (although that remains important). But we must make sure students understand that AI is a tool to be used responsibly, and that being a good citizen extends to online communities. Understanding ethical standards is key, as is the constant reminder that technology should serve humanity, and not the other way around. As powerful as the technology will be, the students using it will have to remember that their human mind is still in charge.
If the human minds are to remain in charge, we will need to sharpen critical thinking skills at all educational levels. Switzerland and Sweden, for instance, have integrated these skills into all levels of their curriculum – even into continuing education in their workforce. Critical thinking will be the bedrock of ethical AI use. By fostering skills to question, analyze, and evaluate AI outputs, we empower learners to challenge assumptions and create AI systems that foster trust and respect. The use of AI as a crutch – like writing your term papers for you – is the exact opposite of this. It’s more than just lazy – it sets us back on doing the important work to keep this technology in check.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial">End of Summer Sale &#8211; Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
To stop AI from replacing critical thinking, we should train students to use AI as a tool for exploration and curiosity: start with an idea in your own brain, then explore further with AI-generated insight that you never fully trust and always verify. Once outputs are created, there must always be a &#8220;human in the loop&#8221; by design, evaluating AI outputs and coming up with an original solution based on human judgment. Students can study, design, and ensure solutions reflect steps that allow humans to interject moral reasoning and human creativity.
The next generation will need to understand more than just how to interact with a chatbot in a safe, ethical, and helpful way. AI’s ripple effects will go beyond our screens, as the need for more physical data centers to power AI innovation increases. We must set an example by wrestling with policy questions, like energy access issues, in an empathetic, human-centered way. We don’t want power grids diverting power to data centers while hospitals can’t keep their machines on. AI must be used to uplift communities, as outlined in the Presidential AI Challenge.
We are poised to mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding in a world abounding with technology that our founders could only dream of. But the same values that inspired them, a “decent respect” for freedom, human dignity, and individual rights, should guide us as we explore this uncharted technological territory. The upcoming school year, educators and students alike have a fascinating opportunity to engage with this technology in ways that align with our values.
* * *
Theresa Payton is the founder and CEO of Fortalice Solutions. She served as the White House Chief Information Officer under President George W. Bush, and co-founded the Major-Payton School of Business at Immaculata University.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

School boy in a computer lab.

AI Heads Back To School: Students Face A Challenge That Will Shape The Future

Computer

President Trump

Students

Parents are fighting back after their three young three children were expelled from the Nysmith School for the Gifted after they raised concerns about antisemitic bullying and harassment — about which the headmaster and owner of the school, Kenneth R. Nysmith, allegedly did nothing.
Parents Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy filed a lawsuit with the Virginia Attorney General&#8217;s Office of Civil Rights against the Nysmith School for the Gifted, Inc., and headmaster Kenneth Nysmith. In it, they alleged that their three children were expelled after they complained about antisemitic bullying and harassment targeting their 11-year-old daughter.
&#8220;The school had allowed anti-Semitism to take root in her class—in, for example, this picture of a social studies class project depicting the attributes of a &#8216;strong historical leader&#8217; &#8230; That photo, featuring the unmistakable face of Adolf Hitler, was shared with the entire school community. It was followed by a pattern of persistent and severe anti-Semitic harassment of Complainants’ young daughter,&#8221; the lawsuit alleges.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A northern Virginia private school hung up a Palestinian flag in the school gym and taught the kids that H!tler was a “strong historical leader,” before expelling Jewish kids who complained. <a href="https://t.co/sSGphCJTk1">pic.twitter.com/sSGphCJTk1</a>
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarinaMedvin/status/1940025635339956552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Vazquez and Roy stated that other students began bullying their daughter because she was Jewish shortly after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 Israelis, raping and torturing men, women, and children on October 7, 2023 — and that they&#8217;d informed Mr. Nysmith of the problem at the time.
The suit alleges that children at the school put &#8220;pro-Palestine stickers on school-issued laptops and lockers&#8221; and referred to Jews as &#8220;baby-killers&#8221; who &#8220;deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;The bullies told their daughter that everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel, which is why they hate you,&#8221; the complaint alleges.
The complaint was submitted by the complaint Louis D. Brandeis Center.
Read more here:<a href="https://t.co/9qyzHBIAoG">https://t.co/9qyzHBIAoG</a>
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) <a href="https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1940041573841998241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The bullies told their daughter that everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel, which is why they hate you,&#8221; the complaint reads.
<a class="c-link" href="https://get.dailywire.com/freedom/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=freedom&amp;utm_content=freedomeditorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/freedom/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=freedom&amp;utm_content=freedomeditorial" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-2388">JULY 4 SALE: Get Six Months Of DW+ Free</a>
&#8220;Mr. Nysmith promised to take action – but did nothing,&#8221; the suit alleges. &#8220;A few weeks later, after Mr. Nysmith decided to hang a Palestinian flag in the Nysmith School gym, the harassment of their daughter grew more severe. Complainants notified Mr. Nysmith that harassment of their daughter had become much worse and pleaded for his help. In response, Mr. Nysmith told them to tell their daughter to &#8216;toughen up&#8217; and abruptly ended the meeting.&#8221;
It was just two days after that meeting that Vazquez and Roy say they were informed that all three of their children were being expelled from the school.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
When the family raised concerns about this and other incidents, the school told them to &#8220;toughen up.&#8221;
Two days after that call, all three of their kids were expelled via email—right before mid-semester grades and after nearby schools&#8217; application deadlines had passed. <a href="https://t.co/Z9OGSLGcBj">pic.twitter.com/Z9OGSLGcBj</a>
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) <a href="https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1940041565176496164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the letter terminating the students&#8217; enrollment, the headmaster put the onus on the parents, claiming that he could not see a &#8220;path forward&#8221; due to the parents&#8217; &#8220;profound lack of trust&#8221; in both him and the school.

Israeli Flag on Flagpole

Virginia School Under Fire For Expelling Kids Who Objected To Antisemitic Bullying

Menu