A New York school district has put the rollout of a humanoid teaching assistant on hold after parents and teachers raised concerns that its manufacturer is affiliated with the company behind “hyper-realistic sexbots.”
Salamanca City Central School District <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/school-sparks-debate-after-buying-humanoid-robot-teacher?author=Trinity+Gentry&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=10&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=School+Sparks+Debate+After+Buying+Humanoid+Robot+Teacher">purchased</a> the Realbotix robot, named &#8220;Sally,&#8221; for $57,590 to assist 11th- and 12th-grade coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence classes. The stationary humanoid robot has silicone skin and long brown hair, and can move its upper body and make facial expressions 
The project, however, drew backlash after parents and teachers learned that Realbotix is affiliated with RealDoll, a company known for manufacturing AI-powered sex dolls that it bills as the &#8220;world&#8217;s most advanced sex robot,” according to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-29/school-humanoid-robot-plan-paused-links-sexbot-sister-company/106970194">ABC News</a>.
 &#8220;A robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms,&#8221; New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person said.
Parents also questioned how students&#8217; personal information would be collected, stored, and used if they log into the robot, which was designed to provide individualized tutoring and support.
Realbotix said it operates independently from RealDoll despite the affiliation, maintaining separate “management, personnel, payroll, facilities, manufacturing operations, product development, and market strategies,” per <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-29/school-humanoid-robot-plan-paused-links-sexbot-sister-company/106970194">ABC News</a>. The company also rejected suggestions that “Sally” is a repurposed sex doll, arguing that the robot is “newly manufactured” specifically for educational use. 
The district since paused the rollout last week while it works with state education officials on what it described as “enhanced student data privacy agreements.”
Salamanca City Central School District serves about 1,300 students on the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Roughly 32% of students identify as Native American, and about 79% are considered economically disadvantaged. 
State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa also expressed concerns after reviewing the proposal.
“Although you confirmed that the robot would not have any role delivering classroom instruction, a recent presentation to the board characterized the robot as a &#8216;tutoring platform,&#8217;” Rosa wrote in a letter to the district.
Lacey Pihlblad, president of the Salamanca Teachers’ Association and a teacher at the high school, said educators also worried about how student information would be handled. 
“We’re very concerned about the security of the software that they’re implementing, and whether or not the data will be stored, how it will be gathered, [and] the recording capabilities,” she said.
The teachers union also argued that students need “real relationships with caring adults” and raised the possibility that AI tools could eventually replace educators. 
Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler rejected those concerns, saying “Sally” was intended to serve as a virtual tutoring assistant rather than replace teachers. 
&#8220;There is no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school,&#8221; Beehler said. &#8220;Even if it were possible, it would in no way be in the best interest of students. Teaching is a human-to-human process.&#8221;
Beehler added that the district selected Realbotix because the company&#8217;s robots come preprogrammed with Woz Ed, the K-12 education platform created by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak that the district already uses.

Multiracial group of students sitting at desk in classroom

School’s New Robot Has A Sex Doll Problem

Artificial Intelligence

High School

Native Americans

New York

Robots

school district

Teachers

teachers union

Teachers Unions

The largest teachers’ unions and associations in the country are now using their massive reach to pressure tech companies to integrate Left-wing political ideologies into AI tools before K-12 schools adopt them.
In a new groundbreaking <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://defendinged.org/investigations/dei-in-ai-unions-and-associations/___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6Y2IyNDU4YTIzNzJlOWZjNjBhMDc0ZGQ2NDhmZDYzNjA6NzowNWM2Ojg0OGU4YWMzNmI4NzgyNjE5ZTNmNDA1ZjY4YzY2Y2IwNmEyZjYwMmNhMjZiOTgyODhhOGM4Zjg5ODMwNjE0YjQ6cDpUOkY">report</a>, Defending Education found that the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and several other associations are actively promoting the idea that AI tools are created predominantly by white and Asian men, and as a result, provide students and educators with biased answers and solutions from this specific worldview. The teachers’ organizations often refer to this idea as “algorithmic bias.”
The integration of AI into America’s K-12 schools is not a matter of if but when. These organizations understand that whoever shapes AI today will influence what the nation’s students learn in the future. Schools will soon use AI to assist teachers in creating their lesson plans and even grading tests and essays. This is the next battleground in education, and these groups understand that.
The NEA has a sample school board policy that districts can adopt, mandating that tech companies integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives into their AI programs before schools can even consider using them. This is a direct warning to tech vendors that they will not receive a school district’s business unless they embed DEI in their products.
When considering the business a tech company can lose from being blackballed by the largest school districts, such as those in Los Angeles or Chicago, most of these AI vendors will likely cave without a second thought, and the NEA is very well aware.
The AFT’s National Academy for AI Instruction is potentially even more dangerous in this regard. This so-called academy prioritizes the idea that AI can “perpetuate bias” and “undermine educational equity” unless“proper guardrails” are in place to prevent those perceived issues. The goal of this academy is to “provide training and support” to educators in AI usage.
The National Academy for AI Instruction is backed by $23 million in funding and is supported by partnering companies Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic. These are three of the largest corporations building AI on a global scale, and their systems are already used by many school districts.
The troubling reality is that these giant corporations are involved in this endeavor knowing that the end goal is to politicize their AI tools before schools fully adopt them, and they appear to be complicit partners in this initiative. Unfortunately, that is the sway these teachers’ unions, with millions of members, have over corporations.
Most classrooms will adopt AI, in one form or another, within the next few years. These groups intend to shape this new technology before that happens. They intend to make DEI a core pillar before AI inevitably becomes institutionalized in our nation’s schools.
These organizations have spent years attempting to embed left-wing ideology into classrooms, and they see AI as the latest Trojan horse to accomplish that goal. This problem will be much harder to fix if we do not stop it now, while modern AI is still in its infancy.
For better or worse, artificial intelligence will revolutionize the way our schools educate children in approaches that we have not even considered yet. It will become one of the most influential educational tools ever created.
Concerned parents and families must pay attention as their schools begin to adopt AI into their children’s classrooms and school infrastructure. They must follow these issues and speak up before schools agree to integrate AI into their classrooms. Parents still have the power to influence AI during this watershed moment. It is imperative that they provide input now and help shape AI while there is still time.
***
Casey Ryan is a writer and investigative reporter at Defending Education.

Presentation of the AI chatbot “Telli” at a school in Bremen

Teachers’ Unions Push For AI Tools To Integrate DEI In Schools

American Federation of Teachers

DW Opinion

National Academy for AI Instruction

National Education Association

On June 2, Karen Bass emerged from the Los Angeles primary having secured <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/la-mayoral-race-raman-closes-gap-spencer-pratt">roughly 34% of the vote</a>. The math is damning: two-thirds of Angelenos essentially voted to fire their mayor. Yet, the machine delivered a runoff regardless. 
This November, Bass will square off against Nithya Raman, a councilwoman deeply aligned with the city&#8217;s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) bloc. Spencer Pratt, the Palisades fire survivor who campaigned as the authentic outsider, was relegated to third place and is out of the running. This outcome was no statistical quirk. It was the calculated result of a teachers&#8217; union political operation that has spent years colonizing every tier of L.A.’s government and is now poised to seize the final office it does not yet control. 
 
The mechanics are not complicated. The L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which represents 800,000 workers across 300 unions and counts United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the American Federation of Teachers&#8217; (AFT) L.A. affiliate, among its members, <a href="https://thelafed.org/news/los-angeles-labor-movement-endorses-mayor-karen-bass-for-re-election/">formally endorsed Bass for re-election in November 2025</a>. 
UTLA&#8217;s own 2026 endorsement slate skipped the mayor&#8217;s race and built out the rest of City Hall around her. Council picks Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, and Estuardo Mazariegos, <a href="https://utla.net/campaigns/2026-endorsements/">all listed on UTLA&#8217;s official endorsement page</a>, belong to the same DSA-aligned bloc reshaping the city. The fix was in months ago. 
 
What did the union have to fear from Spencer Pratt? Look at what he told Bill Maher on his podcast in May. Maher asked whether Pratt was strong enough to &#8220;buck the unions.&#8221; Pratt answered that union leadership was running &#8220;a scam&#8221; on its own members and pledged to push back. &#8220;You had me at hello,&#8221; Maher <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/you-had-me-at-hello-bill-maher-fawns-over-authentic-spencer-pratt-in-podcast-appearance/">told</a> him. 
Pratt was the only candidate in the field who promised to take on the racket controlling California schools and run it into the ground. He was the candidate the union needed to be gone. On June 8, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-mayor-election-bass-raman-pratt-2026/">CBS News</a> called the runoff for Raman over Pratt. Within days, Pratt acknowledged defeat. The union got the November matchup it wanted. 
 
The union&#8217;s political project does not stop at L.A.’s city limits, and it is not abstract. A new Defending Education <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/diverted-state-and-local-teachers-unions-spending/">report</a> finds that state and local teachers union affiliates have funneled $336 million to left-wing groups and political action committees since 2015. 
UTLA itself has spent more than $7 million on this kind of activity. The California Teachers Association&#8217;s PACs have spent over $106 million. None of that went to teaching kids to read. It went to elections, ballot measures, and ideological allies. Some of it went directly to anti-ICE organizing. The union is not even pretending the money is for classrooms anymore. 
 
What has all that buying bought? Ask Bass. In April 2026, UTLA threatened a massive strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District. Bass personally jumped into the talks. &#8220;I stepped into negotiations to make sure that every effort was made to find an agreement,&#8221;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-schools-open-negotiations-labor-deal/"> she said afterward</a>, citing her concern about disruption to kids and parents. Within days, UTLA had a tentative two-year contract with an <a href="https://laist.com/brief/news/education/la-unified-school-district-reaches-tentative-labor-deal-with-teachers">11.65% raise and a $77,000 starting salary</a>. Two months later, the union helped deliver Bass her runoff slot. Call that a coincidence if you want. The union didn&#8217;t. 
 
For Angelenos, the November ballot is a runoff with no real choice. Bass and Raman are both progressive Democrats. Raman ran to Bass&#8217;s left as a DSA ally and gained ground in the count precisely because the city&#8217;s most committed left-wing activists turned out for her. 
The roughly two-thirds of LA voters who picked someone other than Bass wanted accountability for the coalition that delivered Bass to a runoff against an even further-left challenger. In both cities, the candidate who threatened to break the union&#8217;s hold lost. The Teacher Freedom Alliance was founded because teachers should never be conscripted into politics they did not choose. Voters should not be either. 
 
AFT president Randi Weingarten has spent the last several months touring bookstores promoting a manifesto her members paid for. Her local affiliates have used the same months to hand themselves their next mayor. They have until November 3 to make it stick. Same machine, same playbook, and the same political casualty: anyone who tried to compete with the union for the right to govern an American city. 
 
L.A. didn&#8217;t pick its mayor on June 2. UTLA did. November is the formality.
*** 
 
Ryan Walters is the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance and former State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma.

Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman hold mayoral election forum

How Teachers’ Unions Torpedoed Spencer Pratt And Picked L.A.’s Mayor

Democratic Socialists Of America

Karen Bass

L.A. mayoral election

Nithya Raman

Spencer Pratt

United Teachers Los Angeles

Today, the Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-additional-partnerships-strengthen-coordination-individuals-disabilities-programs-bolster-civil-rights">announced</a> four additional interagency agreements as part of the Trump administration&#8217;s broader effort to return education to the states.
In typical fashion, the teachers’ unions and their political allies immediately attempted to spread fear, claiming that federal protections are being eliminated, a claim with no basis in reality. Instead, it’s yet another strategic step to reduce unnecessary federal bureaucracy, improve services, and move education decisions closer to the students, families, and communities they affect most.
The first agreement establishes a partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Some opponents immediately claimed that students with disabilities would lose protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Yet IDEA predates the Department of Education, and nothing in this agreement alters the rights and protections guaranteed under federal law.
Instead, the partnership allows agencies that already serve individuals with disabilities to work more effectively together. Families often navigate multiple programs across multiple agencies. Better coordination can improve services while reducing administrative barriers.
<a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-additional-partnerships-strengthen-coordination-individuals-disabilities-programs-bolster-civil-rights">According to</a> Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, “Through our partnership with HHS, we will align federal services with the goal of strengthening academic outcomes and supporting individuals with disabilities so that they can achieve greater independence, key life skills, and meaningful employment.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-additional-partnerships-strengthen-coordination-individuals-disabilities-programs-bolster-civil-rights">weighed in</a> on the agreement between agencies: “Together, we will improve education and employment outcomes, uphold the rights of individuals with disabilities, and help every child reach their full potential.”
The second agreement strengthens collaboration between the Department of Education&#8217;s Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice. Protecting students from discrimination remains an essential federal responsibility, but effective enforcement does not require maintaining duplicative bureaucratic structures. By leveraging the expertise of both agencies, the partnership aims to strengthen enforcement while improving efficiency.
The third agreement focuses on student privacy and parental rights. At a time when parents across the country are demanding greater transparency and accountability from educational institutions, strengthening the enforcement of federal privacy laws should be welcomed. Parents have a right to access information about their children&#8217;s education and must be informed about decisions affecting their children.
The fourth agreement establishes a Training and Advisory Services Partnership with the Department of Justice related to school desegregation efforts and civil rights compliance. Rather than duplicating functions across multiple agencies, the agreement assigns technical assistance responsibilities to the agency with the greatest expertise in the field. Taken together, these agreements ensure that essential federal protections remain firmly in place while allowing agencies to work together rather than in silos.
The Trump administration continues to demonstrate that returning education to the states is not about rhetoric. Rather, it requires rethinking how government operates, eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy, and ensuring that agencies are organized to better serve students.
Despite claims from the opposition, none of these agreements eliminate federal protections. Students with disabilities remain protected under IDEA. Civil rights laws remain fully enforceable. Student privacy protections remain intact. Parents retain their rights under federal law.
What changes is that the federal government becomes more focused on its core responsibilities while creating greater flexibility for states and local leaders to innovate and respond to the needs of their communities.
For decades, layers of education bureaucracy have accumulated while student outcomes have remained horrifically low. Despite massive federal spending and increasing administrative complexity, student learning results remain far below where they should be. On average, only three out of 10 public school children are learning to read or do math at grade level. Additionally, parents are dissatisfied and continue to demand greater transparency and responsiveness from schools, while employers report a lack of workforce readiness from graduates.
The problem is not a lack of federal involvement or funding. The problem is that the system has historically prioritized bureaucracy over real results. But the Trump administration is working overtime to change course by taking decisive steps to downsize the Department of Education and return it to the states where it rightfully belongs.
Contrary to naysayers, returning education to the states does not mean abandoning students or weakening essential protections. It means acknowledging a fundamental reality: states, local communities, educators, and parents are far better positioned than federal bureaucrats to make decisions about education. It also requires a serious reorientation of government — one that prioritizes students over systems, directs resources away from bureaucracy and toward classrooms, and ensures responsibilities are carried out by the agencies best equipped to deliver results.
The future of American education is moving away from Washington, D.C., and back to the states, and ultimately closer to communities, classrooms, and parents. These agreements represent real structural reforms that restore balance, reduce duplication and inefficiency, and strengthen the ability of those closest to students to focus on what actually matters — equipping every child to learn, achieve, and thrive.
***
<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.

Students at Catholic school.

The New Department Of Education Agreements That Just Gave More Power To The People

Department of Education

Public Schools

Trump Administration

Perhaps no person more frequently represents themselves as the spokesperson for educators than Randi Weingarten, the infamous president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
With her tenure at the helm of the nation’s second-largest teachers union approaching two decades and no term limits for AFT officers, Weingarten has had ample opportunity to entrench herself as a key player in the progressive media and political apparatus.
But as can occur in the classroom — or any institution, for that matter — lengthy tenure untethered from performance and accountability breeds hubris and entitlement. And the greater the power, the greater the opportunity to abuse it.
To that end, two new reports released this week provide fresh evidence of Weingarten using her perch at AFT to leverage members’ dues for her own personal benefit.
The <a href="https://www.freedomfoundation.com/national/sparing-no-expense-how-aft-members-unknowingly-financed-randi-weingartens-literary-vanity-project/">first analysis</a>, produced by my organization and first <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/19/us-news/aft-boss-randi-weingarten-tapped-union-resources-worth-over-1-4m-to-write-manifesto-book/">reported on</a> by the New York Post, examined AFT’s most recent annual financial disclosure to the U.S. Department of Labor and discovered that the union appears to have financed the production, publication, and promotion of Weingarten’s recent book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers (WFFT), entirely with members’ dues.
Among other things, AFT footed the bill for Weingarten’s apparent ghostwriter — progressive commentator and communications consultant Sally Kohn — who received more than $400,000 from AFT during the year Weingarten’s book was in production.
In response to inquiries from the New York Post, AFT argued that not all the payments to Kohn were related to WFFT. That may be technically true, but the most Kohn had previously been paid by the union in a year was only $125,000, and Weingarten herself described Kohn in her book’s acknowledgments as “indispensable as a day-to-day thought partner and collaborator.”
Other payments associated with WFFT were beyond even such minor quibbles.
AFT did not dispute paying $6,000 to an editor in Montana to fact-check WFFT, nor did it deny paying $5,200 to a Juilliard-trained celebrity photographer for the black-and-white author photo appearing on the inside dust jacket at the back of Weingarten’s book.
The union’s members also unwittingly funded $64,000 in payments to Weingarten’s literary agent, to say nothing of the untold thousands of dollars expended on her cross-country book tour, or the time invested by dozens of AFT personnel in assisting in Weingarten’s literary pursuits.
That AFT members were not asked whether they wanted to underwrite Weingarten’s self-promotional work of antifascist political commentary in the first place is bad enough. But the real kicker is what happened to the proceeds.
In past comments, Weingarten emphasized that half of the royalties from WFFT would be donated to two AFT charities under Weingarten’s control, but never indicated she would benefit financially from the book sales.
In reality, the $375,000 in advance royalties from the book were divided into thirds among AFT, two Weingarten-controlled charities, and an opaque Delaware-registered LLC. When pressed by the Post about the Freedom Foundation’s analysis, AFT <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/19/us-news/aft-boss-randi-weingarten-tapped-union-resources-worth-over-1-4m-to-write-manifesto-book/">admitted</a> that the LLC served as a conduit for payments to Weingarten herself.
Weingarten already receives a compensation package worth <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/360725240/202501219349302720/full">nearly $600,000</a>, and it’s not clear how leveraging members’ dues for Weingarten’s personal pecuniary benefit aligns with AFT officers’ <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/501">legal obligation</a> to hold the union’s “money and property solely for the benefit of the organization and its members.”
Similarly, a second <a href="https://networkcontagion.us/reports/mission-aborted-a-report-on-institutional-governance-financial-transparency-and-policy-influence-in-major-teachers-unions/">report</a> released this week documenting the pervasive progressive political advocacy of the AFT and its larger counterpart, the National Education Association, flagged a $10,000 contribution by AFT to Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, which it describes as “a New York-based synagogue led by Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (now Rabbi Emerita), Randi Weingarten’s wife.”
Taxpayers have also been left holding the bag for Weingarten’s union activism.
In 2023, the Freedom Foundation <a href="https://www.freedomfoundation.com/labor/aft-president-randi-weingarten-qualified-for-public-pension-for-years-spent-out-of-the-classroom-on-union-leave/">documented</a> that Weingarten’s time as a New York City public school teacher — which she often hearkens back to in her writing and speeches — amounted to a grand total of three years full-time and three years as a substitute.
Her limited classroom tenure was not enough to qualify her for pension benefits, but thanks to a sweetheart deal with the city, her 11 years as president of the United Federation of Teachers were credited toward her pension seniority, securing her a taxpayer-funded retirement potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Weingarten may want to pose as the champion of American educators, but unfortunately, her track record at AFT starkly illustrates the need to empower educators with alternatives to her corrupt enterprise.
Through projects like <a href="https://www.optouttoday.com/">OptOutToday.com</a>, teachers can take steps to cancel their membership in far-left unions like the AFT and the NEA. Conservative educators seeking support can turn to non-union professional associations such as the <a href="https://www.teacherfreedomalliance.com/">Teacher Freedom Alliance</a>.
For their part, policymakers should follow the example of states like Idaho, which recently <a href="https://www.freedomfoundation.com/press-release/idaho-ends-taxpayer-support-for-teachers-unions/">adopted legislation</a> prohibiting direct and indirect taxpayer support for teachers&#8217; unions.
Until union executives like Weingarten and the organizations they steer face meaningful accountability, it should be no surprise that they continue to exploit their members and taxpayers alike.
***
Maxford Nelsen is director of research and government affairs at the Freedom Foundation.

Randi Weingarten

How Randi Weingarten Wrote Herself A Fat Paycheck And Left Taxpayers With The Bill

Today is May Day, and we begin hot with nationwide protests in our schools. This shouldn’t come as a surprise — the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of political events. From the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, there is no shortage of political controversy.
What is May Day, you might ask? For months, teachers&#8217; unions and high-profile left-wing nonprofits have <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/a-may-day-2026-host-toolkit-includes-training-information-for-a-coordinated-day-of-action-and-promotes-tactics-such-as-a-school-walk-in-nea-provided-1-7m-in-funding-to-organization-involved/">geared</a> up for mass mobilizations and boycotts to honor the socialist holy day and to flex their political power. Part of the preparation <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/a-sunrise-movement-training-guidebook-calls-for-students-to-take-action-monthly-to-disrupt-business-as-usual-to-bring-about-a-political-revolution/">efforts include</a> training and organizing children to engage in <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/k-12-student-walkout-and-protest-tracker/">school walkouts</a> and protests.
While left-wing activism is not new itself, what is relatively new is the degree to which the education system has been corrupted to engineer new generations to activists. These May Day protests are a feature, a byproduct really, of an education system steeped in radical ideologies designed to mobilize far-left activism and a “<a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/newly-obtained-slides-from-a-sunrise-movement-membership-meeting-calls-for-a-political-revolution-that-includes-the-need-to-structurally-change-the-foundations-of-this-country-to-achieve-eco/">political revolution</a>.”
Nor are these protests the end. They are an opening act for what the professional agitators and activists intend to be an ongoing affair leading up to the 2028 elections. K-12 schools are strategic collateral damage.
This pattern is visible in the series of <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/k-12-student-walkout-and-protest-tracker/">student walkouts</a> since January, many of which focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Less visible to the public, however, is the role of the <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/nea-president-becky-pringle-joins-sunrise-movements-roadmap-to-political-revolution-event-series/">teachers&#8217; unions</a> and <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/group-messages-and-training-documents-suggest-k-12-student-ice-protests-in-minnesota-may-be-organized-by-the-sunrise-movement-and-its-members-including-a-current-ivy-league-student-with-ties-to-past/">nonprofit allies</a> in these protests.
For American children, the learning experience is a constant barrage of heavily lopsided <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/minnesota-eighth-graders-shown-videos-of-ice-arrests-and-alleged-harassment-of-u-s-citizens-principal-says-its-part-of-state-geography-standards/">political messaging</a> meant to train the youngest kids to see the world through a <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/critical-competency-consciousness/2023/12/07/id/1145144/">warped oppressor-oppressed</a> framing and to engage in action or activism to stop the perceived “injustice.”
Whether through <a href="https://web.ped.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/K12ParentandFamilySocialStudiesGuides.pdf">state standards</a> and guidance, such as New Mexico Public Education Department’s Social Studies “<a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/new-mexico-education-documents-for-high-school-history-and-ethnic-studies-include-climate-change-intersectionality-and-january-6-insurrection-content/">Instructional Scope</a>” or <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/liberated-k-12-liberated-ethnic-studies-industrial-complex/">ethnic studies</a> courses, students are being conditioned to be political actors from the <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Liberated-Ethnic-Studies-Model-Curriculum-What-is-Normal_-Slides-presentation-Gr-Pk-2.pdf">earliest ages</a>.
For example, a free <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/liberated-universities-landing-page/">lesson</a> produced by the University of Minnesota’s &#8220;Ethnic Studies Initiative” teaches sixth-grade students about the Black Lives Matter movement through the creation of “protest art.” The middle school students are then required to produce their own social justice protest art.
Such indoctrination is not only reserved for ethnic studies. It has permeated into our school system through Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) <a href="https://defendinged.org/resources/sel101/">programming</a>.
SEL is no less a political tool than ethnic studies. In 2019, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) <a href="https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2021/jagers_skoog-hoffman_barthelus_schlund">mainstreamed</a> “transformative” SEL, which integrates anti-racism and <a href="https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/research-evaluation/youth-organizing-and-transformative-sel">activism</a> into its framework.
Second Step, a popular SEL company that utilizes CASEL’s platform, went further and <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-4.17.30-PM.png">aligned</a> its curriculum with Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards, focusing specifically on action and activism. Learning for Justice is a program of the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-grand-jury-charges-southern-poverty-law-center-wire-fraud-false-statements-and">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> (SPLC).
As students, teachers&#8217; unions, and left-wing activist organizations take to the streets this May Day to champion policies and an ideology that the majority of Americans reject, the public needs to understand that this is the starting gun, not the finish line.
Left-wing actors desperately want a “political revolution” and have no problem using other people&#8217;s children to achieve their goals. They have no issue turning the K-12 education system into a far-left activist pipeline. What we’re seeing now is just the beginning.
* * *
Rhyen Staley is a researcher 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 coaching experience from junior high to Division I.

May Day Workers Rally

Teachers’ Unions Celebrate Socialist Holy Day

Leftists

Protests

Students

Teenagers

Thousands of activists, union members, and left-wing organizers are mobilizing across the country Friday for sweeping May Day demonstrations, with organizers calling for an “economic blackout” aimed at disrupting daily life.
More than 3,000 events are expected nationwide — more than double last year’s total — under the banner of “May Day Strong,” a coalition that includes labor unions, immigration groups, and political organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America. The coordinated effort centers on a simple directive: “No School. No Work. No Shopping.”
Organizers say the goal is to flex collective economic power. “We’re really trying to actually start organizing people to see that the power that we collectively have to do economic disruption is really the power that we need in this moment,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/may-day-economic-blackout">said</a> Neidi Dominguez, executive director of Organized Power in Numbers.
In New York City, demonstrators including Amazon workers and Teamsters marched from the public library toward corporate offices, demanding the company sever ties with federal immigration enforcement. In Washington, D.C., activists blocked intersections, carrying signs reading: “WORKERS OVER BILLIONAIRES” and “HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE.”
Across the country, similar scenes are expected to unfold in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, with rallies, walkouts, and block parties planned throughout the day.
The demonstrations are not limited to labor issues, as many of the same groups planning these protests are the same that organize the “No Kings” series of protests. Organizers have tied the labor movement to a broader set of political demands, including abolishing ICE, opposing U.S. military actions abroad, expanding voting access, and raising taxes on high earners.
“This includes unions, nonprofit groups, grassroots groups and faith groups,” said Pedro Trujillo of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. “We’re bringing back that energy of shutting it down.”
In Chicago, major unions, including the Chicago Teachers Union, have backed a citywide “day of civic action,” with leadership framing the protests as part of a broader ideological fight. “This is about building a more popular united front,” said union president Stacy Davis Gates. Teachers and students are playing a visible role in the demonstrations. In North Carolina, at least 15 school districts gave educators the day off to participate in rallies, while student organizers across multiple states coordinated walkouts.
Some organizers have been explicit about their long-term goal: a nationwide general strike. While such strikes have been heavily restricted under federal law since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, union leaders have floated plans to align contracts in an effort to enable mass work stoppages in the coming years.
Despite the fresh coat of paint, the May Day Strong demonstrations bear much of the same activist infrastructure behind earlier anti-Trump mobilizations. Groups like Indivisible and the Democratic Socialists of America — both heavily involved in the “No Kings” protests — are again helping drive turnout, messaging, and coordination. The overlap suggests these are less an organic eruption of worker-led activism and more a repackaging to project momentum rather than reflect it.
Critics argue the one-day boycott is unlikely to have meaningful economic impact, and could instead hurt smaller businesses. Economist Peter Morici dismissed the effort as largely symbolic. “If you&#8217;re talking about non-perishable activities, like going to the movies, you&#8217;ll go see the same movie on Saturday,” Morici <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/may-day-protests-take-place-friday-agitators-across-us-push-workers-billionaires-motto">said to Fox</a>. “It&#8217;s not a hit on the billionaires.”
He added that shifting consumer behavior for a single day may simply redistribute spending rather than reduce it. “Somebody will go to store B instead of store A,” he said.
May Day itself has a long and contentious history. Originating in the late 19th century as a labor movement demonstration tied to the push for an eight-hour workday, the holiday later became closely associated with socialist and Marxist movements worldwide, particularly after the Russian Revolution.
In the United States, early May Day demonstrations turned violent, most notably during the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, where clashes between anarchists and police left multiple people dead and sparked a national controversy that still reverberates today.
Modern organizers have embraced that legacy as they attempt to tap into large-scale labor activism in the U.S. “When the billionaires break every rule, it’s going to take more than a rally to stop them,” the May Day Strong&#8217;s <a href="https://maydaystrong.org/">website reads</a>. Leah Greenberg of Indivisible described the effort as a test run for more aggressive tactics. “We are asking people to take a step into further exerting their power in all aspects of their lives,” she said, calling the blackout a “structure test” for future actions.
Whether Friday’s demonstrations remain peaceful or escalate into broader disruption remains to be seen. Organizers have made clear, however, that they view this year’s protests not as an endpoint, but as a stepping stone toward more sustained and coordinated economic action.

webp

May Day Protests Take Up The Left-Wing Pet Project Mantle From ‘No Kings’

No Kings

Politics

Social Issues

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), never a group to shy away from radical posturing, has officially <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2026/03/12/chicago-teachers-union-plans-to-join-may-1-no-school-no-work-day-of-action-wants-classes-canceled?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23559714611&amp;gbraid=0AAAAA9e-Tg6UY-KZu4aY-vqEU5Q5EQU0F&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwntHPBhAaEiwA_Xp6Rne5i-_eFc1MaVw8HXTBnMkL6ujFJ6xP1F5YdsN8qKwMcpc80urKABoCOCQQAvD_BwE">declared its intent</a> to abandon the classroom on May 1. In a move that effectively amounts to a one-day strike, the union’s 730-member House of Delegates approved a resolution joining a national movement calling for a day of “no school, no work, and no shopping.”
The CTU isn&#8217;t just asking its members to walk out; it’s demanding that Mayor Brandon Johnson and the school board use state law to excuse students so they can participate in what the union calls “civic action.”
The choice of May 1 is no coincidence. While the date’s origins trace back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago, it was quickly co-opted by the global far-Left. In 1889, the Second International—a collection of socialist and labor parties—designated it as a day of demonstration. By 1917, it became the premier state holiday of the Soviet Union, complete with Red Square parades featuring tanks and missiles intended to signal the &#8220;proletariat&#8217;s&#8221; triumph over capitalism.
While the United States spent decades trying to distance itself from these connotations—establishing &#8220;Loyalty Day&#8221; and &#8220;Law Day&#8221; on May 1 to counter communist influence—the CTU appears eager to revive the day’s most radical sentiments.
The CTU&#8217;s resolution reads less like an educational mandate and more like a manifesto from a bygone era of class warfare. The union’s demands are explicitly political and heavily flavored with the &#8220;tax the rich&#8221; rhetoric synonymous with communist agitation.
According to the resolution, the CTU intends to:
<ul>
<li data-path-to-node="10,0,0">Target the Wealthy: The union is demanding that the government “tax the rich to support our schools,” echoing the classic Marxist refrain of wealth redistribution.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="10,1,0">Abolish Enforcement: In a direct challenge to federal law, the union is calling for “ICE out of our cities,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="10,2,0">Attack &#8220;Authoritarianism&#8221;: The resolution rails against &#8220;MAGA politicians,&#8221; &#8220;billionaire donors,&#8221; and &#8220;corporate interests,&#8221; claiming these groups are &#8220;attempting to cement authoritarian power.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
CTU Vice President Jackson Potter stated, &#8220;Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the President sends federal agents to occupy our cities &#8230;&#8221; Meanwhile, CTU member Kevin Moore justified the walkout by claiming &#8220;public education is under attack,&#8221; asserting that taking children out of school to participate in political rallies is a way of &#8220;teaching our students how to use their voice.&#8221;
Instead of math and literacy, the CTU wants students to engage in &#8220;age-appropriate&#8221; civic education, which apparently includes &#8220;mass resistance training&#8221; and &#8220;political education,&#8221; according to the union&#8217;s <a href="https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/mayday-resolution/?link_id=2&amp;can_id=17ebc6e1a278c81ea80307c4c5703485&amp;source=email-ctu-members-vote-to-join-may-1st-no-school-no-work-no-shopping-day-of-civic-action&amp;email_referrer=email_3140500&amp;email_subject=ctu-members-vote-to-join-may-1st-no-school-no-work-no-shopping-day-of-civic-action">resolution</a>. The union is also using the platform to weigh in on foreign policy, writing, &#8220;Trump has illegally declared war on Iran built on lies and deception.&#8221;
Mayor Johnson, a former CTU organizer himself, signaled support for the &#8220;direct action,&#8221; though he vaguely promised to ensure &#8220;no loss of instruction time&#8221;—a difficult feat when the union is actively calling for &#8220;No School.&#8221;
As the CTU pivots from education to overt political activism, it remains to be seen how Chicago parents will react to their children being used as pawns in a movement that shares more DNA with the Soviet Union’s &#8220;Workers&#8217; Day&#8221; than with the American classroom.

OPED-CHICAGO-TEACHERS-WALKOUT-EDITORIAL-TB

‘No School, No Work’ Teacher Strike Takes A Page From Communist May Day

Chicago

Communism

Education

U.S.

In recent years, sharp-eyed parents and investigative reporters have exposed the racial resentment and antisemitism prevalent in DEI. But as public opinion and policymaking turn against this racial discrimination in disguise, a large association of private schools continues to push the radical agenda.
If the biased activity at these elite schools remains unchecked, legal advocates and policymakers will be fighting the same civil rights battles with the next generation of college students.
Today’s battles are certainly yielding good fruit. Lawsuits exposing segregation in schools under DEI’s banner have prompted state and federal lawmakers to reinforce civil rights laws. These laws have helped snuff out mandated “affinity groups” (where participants are separated by race, ethnicity, and/or sex), illegal hiring quotas, and doctrinaire DEI statements required by so-called diversity staff in K-12 schools and universities.
Curiously, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), a K-12 private school association, is not moved by the lawsuits and new legislation — nor by DEI’s racial preferences. Later this month, on <a href="https://www.nais.org/events/nais-meetup-for-dei-practitioners-8">April 29</a>, NAIS will even hold a “meetup” for DEI staff working at the association’s institutions.
NAIS is a membership organization for private schools. The group holds conferences and posts job openings for its member institutions on its website and otherwise provides resources on what NAIS deems as best practices.
Some of the “practices,” though, are little more than exercises in segregation. Member schools tout race-based <a href="https://www.merion-mercy.com/about/blog-posts/single-blog/~board/blog/post/what-is-an-affinity-group-and-why-do-they-matter">affinity groups</a> on their <a href="https://www.tescharlotte.org/diversity/affinity-groups.cfm">websites</a>, and NAIS advertises diversity staff positions at its member schools via its <a href="https://careers.nais.org/jobs?keywords=diversity&amp;place=">job bank</a>.
Institutions infused with DEI crowd out competing opinions and create radical echo chambers of a biased orthodoxy. Small wonder that NAIS had to issue an apology in 2024 when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/15/nyregion/antisemitism-conference-private-schools.html">speakers</a> at one of the association’s DEI events “characterized Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide and the establishment of the state of Israel as a racist project.”
The American Jewish Committee and Prizmah, an organization for Jewish day schools, were among the groups that wrote to NAIS, saying, “The pervasiveness of this rhetoric and the absence of any alternate perspectives created an atmosphere that was hostile for many Jewish students and faculty members in attendance.”
In 2025, NAIS <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/12/us-news/private-school-group-axes-dei-events-over-political-landscape/">canceled</a> its “People of Color Conference,&#8221; but resources on its website suggest DEI remains a priority. NAIS simply <a href="https://www.nais.org/events/gather">renamed</a> the conference, now calling it the “Gather: A Convening for Renewal and Growth, Belonging, and Impact.” This title sounds benign, but NAIS specifically describes the event as a reinvention of its People of Color meeting. The conference will feature more “affinity group work,” as well as sessions on “inclusion and belonging,” a new title for “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
NAIS remains out of step with civil rights laws. The U.S. Department of Education has been ferreting out racial discrimination in K-12 schools across the country. In February, the agency announced it is investigating Portland public schools because the district operates a racially <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-initiates-title-vi-investigation-portland-public-schools">segregated</a> academic program.
The federal agency has opened similar cases over the last year. In 2025, the Education Department canceled some $600 million in grants to schools for teacher training because the grant applications contained racial preferences, some in the form of DEI initiatives.
State lawmakers in Arkansas, Ohio, and Kentucky <a href="https://datavisualizations.heritage.org/education/dei-a-state-legislation-tracker/">adopted</a> prohibitions on DEI in 2025, following earlier legislative activity in Florida, Idaho, and Texas. Today, there are nearly two dozen states with such legislation.
NAIS member schools are preparing the next generation of college students, likely students at elite universities. Faculty and staff at schools like Harvard and Columbia have been among the worst violators of civil rights, allowing antisemitism to persist. DEI offices on these campuses and others have done nothing to stop such activity. Just last month, the Education Department opened yet <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-opens-two-new-probes-harvard-university-continued-discrimination-campus">another</a> investigation into Harvard for racial discrimination.
Independent schools are private institutions, but that does not exempt them from all civil rights laws nor does it excuse antisemitism. Racial discrimination should be exposed to withering scrutiny in public schools, universities, and yes, even private schools.
* * *
Jonathan Butcher is Acting Director of the Center for Education at The Heritage Foundation.

Trump Administration Freezes Federal Funding To Harvard And Threatens School’s Tax-Exempt Status

Elite Schools Insist It’s About ‘Belonging’ — Critics Say It’s Discrimination All Over Again

antisemitism

BIPOC

Civil Rights

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Harvard

Heritage Foundation

Ivy League

Private Schools

One of the nation&#8217;s largest teachers unions promoted a “summer of resistance” against the federal government and claimed that students had been kidnapped by federal officers. 
The United Teachers Los Angeles union gave a presentation last year on “Preparing for ICE at your school” that pushed its members to engage in political activism and suggested utilizing school resources to thwart Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, according to <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/united-teachers-of-los-angeles-utla-planning-documents-and-materials-appear-to-advocate-for-use-of-school-resources-as-form-of-resistance-against-ice-promote-engaging-students-in-community-se/">materials obtained</a> by Defending Education. The training came after parts of Los Angeles were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-are-coming-for-you-feds-reveal-more-charges-against-anti-ice-rioters">rocked by violent anti-ICE riots</a> that prompted President Donald Trump to send in the National Guard. 
The presentation pointed educators to how they could fight back against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and urged parents and teachers to collaborate on &#8220;resistance&#8221; efforts. It appeared to be created as part of the union&#8217;s broader <a href="https://utla.net/app/uploads/2025/08/Immigration-Enforcement-Safety-Review-FINAL.pdf">efforts</a> &#8220;to build a comprehensive to immigration enforcement.&#8221; 
Defending Education director of research Rhyen Staley told The Daily Wire that the training was another example of how teachers&#8217; unions push leftist politics over education. 
“Unfortunately, these documents are another reminder that the teachers&#8217; unions, especially UTLA, are focused on far-left social justice activism and advancing unpopular ideologies over how to improve the academic outcomes of the students they serve,” he told The Daily Wire. “But what is deeply appalling is the willingness of teachers to incentivize minors to engage in radical practices that could potentially put them in harm&#8217;s way.”
The training, which Defending Education noted was created by two members of the union and teachers at the Los Angeles Unified School District, walked educators through legal actions taken to block certain ICE operations in Los Angeles over the summer that culminated in a leftist judge blocking the agency from conducting broad immigration sweeps. 
The training did not appear to mention the violence of the anti-ICE protests, which included setting cop cars on fire, vandalism, and assaults on state and federal law enforcement. 
<div id="attachment_1041161" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041161" class="size-full wp-image-1041161" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2219241406.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 08: Protesters hold up flags during protests after a series of immigration raids on June 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Tensions in the city remain high after the Trump administration called in the National Guard against the wishes of city leaders. " width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2219241406.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2219241406-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2219241406-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2219241406-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.</div>
“The fight is far from over, we need to keep fighting together!” a slide shared with educators read. Another slide titled &#8220;What can you do?&#8221; instructed educators on how to take action against ICE operations. 
The suggested actions included joining &#8220;court watch and rally calls,” and funding &#8220;community defense work.”
“The government will likely fight back. But the spotlight is now on DHS’s unlawful practices — and our resistance is working!” the slide read. These resources appeared to be pulled from the used materials from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
<div id="attachment_1041165" style="width: 2028px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041165" class="size-full wp-image-1041165" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-10.58.52-AM.png" alt="" width="2018" height="1104" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-10.58.52-AM.png 2018w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-10.58.52-AM-300x164.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-10.58.52-AM-1024x560.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-10.58.52-AM-768x420.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-10.58.52-AM-1536x840.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2018px) 100vw, 2018px" />Training obtained by Defending Education.</div>
Another slide highlighted alleged “student kidnappings,” including one that involved a 6-year-old boy with leukemia who was <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/30/dhs-debunks-fake-news-media-narratives-june#:~:text=The%20implication%20that%20ICE%20would%20deny%20a,regularly%20by%20medical%20professionals%20while%20in%20custody.">kept</a> with his illegal immigrant parents after an immigration judge ruled against their case. He was not denied or prevented from accessing medical treatment, as was suggested in some reports. 
One slide listed specific actions the United Teachers Los Angeles had taken regarding the ICE raids. This included partnering with “other unions for the summer of resistance” for “20 days of non-violent protest and action.” 
It also noted that the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District had agreed to “bargaining language” that declares that “the buildings and grounds of LAUSD (including pick-up and drop-off sites at all entries and exits) are sanctuary spaces for all students, parents, administrators, bargaining unit members, and community members at the school for school-related business and jointly committed to defend the right to a free and safe learning environment to the extent permitted by law.”
A spokesman for the district told The Daily Wire that it &#8220;follows applicable laws and District policies, which employees are expected to follow during the workday and in their interactions with students.&#8221;
The next slide featured suggested actions for members of the union, including “community patrols,” “age-appropriate rallies,” and in-school student protests.
<div id="attachment_1041173" style="width: 2033px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041173" class="size-full wp-image-1041173" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-2.21.20-PM.png" alt="" width="2023" height="1226" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-2.21.20-PM.png 2023w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-2.21.20-PM-300x182.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-2.21.20-PM-950x576.png 950w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-2.21.20-PM-768x465.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-09-at-2.21.20-PM-1536x931.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2023px) 100vw, 2023px" />Training obtained by Defending Education.</div>
The training documents also suggest using Local School Leadership Councils “as a form of resistance.” These are groups of elected parents, community members, and school officials who oversee certain aspects of school policy. 
One of the policy areas this group oversees is discipline and student safety, and suggestions included the LAUSD “revamping tardy policy to get students into building,” pushing “LAUSD for ‘lock down’ if ICE is on/near campus – shelter in place,” “engaging students in community self-defense – offer service learning hours,” keeping “students away from gates at lunch/recess,” and “patroling school sites depending on community.”
<div id="attachment_1041517" style="width: 2040px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041517" class="size-full wp-image-1041517" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-8.48.16-AM.png" alt="" width="2030" height="1242" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-8.48.16-AM.png 2030w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-8.48.16-AM-300x184.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-8.48.16-AM-941x576.png 941w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-8.48.16-AM-768x470.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-8.48.16-AM-1536x940.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2030px) 100vw, 2030px" />Defending Education.</div>
Other notes suggested using professional development time to make “immigration kits.”
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schools-arent-off-limits-for-ice-raids-trump-dhs-says">withdrew</a> a Biden-era policy that stipulated that schools were off limits for immigration enforcement operations. 
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said on January 21.

ICE Immigration Protest

‘Summer of Resistance’: Docs Reveal How California Teachers Were Trained To Fight Back Against ICE

‘Summer of Resistance’: Docs Reveal How Teachers Were Trained To Fight Back Against ICE

California

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Los Angeles

As tensions in Minnesota continue to flare up over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions and allegations of rampant fraud, far-Left actors and activists have decided that it would be expedient to inflame the issues further. So, it shouldn&#8217;t come as a shock that the teachers unions and their activist allies have chosen to join in and provoke further unrest and strife.
In fact, a recent <a href="https://x.com/BGOnTheScene/status/2011524444905435353">video</a> posted on X claims to show K-12 students and teachers in Saint Paul, Minnesota walking out of school in protest over ICE. Days later the Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) put out a <a href="https://x.com/JennaReports/status/2011493535812338109?s=20">statement</a> calling for its members to engage in a “Day of Action” and stating that there would be “no work, no school, and no shopping.” Unsurprisingly, the communiqué comes with a list of demands such as the removal of ICE from the state and the defunding of the federal agency.
The organization of “educators” then publicly proclaimed that it was “on the side” of the students, while simultaneously shutting down schools in a district where roughly 70% of all elementary students are not <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/minnesota/districts/saint-paul-public-schools-104201">proficient</a> in math and reading. However, SPFE and its members are sending a clear message that their top priority is not the education of the children and families they serve, but far-Left social justice activism.
Unfortunately, this is a feature, not a bug, of the dominant ideology permeating the Gopher State’s education system writ large. Social justice activism is now the primary ethos of a system corrupted by Left-wing political actors who have been turning classrooms into street activist training programs in service to a Revolutionary Industrial Complex.
In the Colleges of Education, for instance, teacher candidates are conditioned into far-Left political ideas that are often sold to budding educators as “best practices.” Future K-12 instructors are then expected to incorporate these ideas into their own methodologies.
For example, Minnesota State University Mankato’s College of Education <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/minnesota-state-university-mankato-corrupted/">states</a> in its “Conceptual Framework” that the teacher training program’s vision is to “inspire lifelong learning and professional engagement through racial consciousness, social justice, and inclusion.” The program aims to prepare “anti-racist practitioners” by using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a foundational framework focusing on privilege, oppression, systemic racism, and social justice activism. In fact, future elementary school teachers are required to take a course titled “ED 101 – Introduction to Critical Race Theory in Education.”
But it is not just the training of teachers that is problematic. Some university programs are offering free lesson plans and resources to K-12 teachers that promote Left-wing biases and agendas.
Such is the case with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender &amp; Sexuality Studies (RIDGS) program, which has <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/liberated-university-of-minnesota-twin-cities/">created</a> and made publicly available ethnic studies lesson plans for K-12 schools that are riddled with far-Left ideologies promoting youth activism. For instance, a sixth-grade lesson titled “Protest Art &amp; the Movement for Black Life” focuses on the Black Lives Matter movement and how to “create their own protest art for a cause of their choice.” The multi-day plan reads like a revolutionary training program meant to prepare eleven-year-olds for some yet to be determined protest.
However, if there is any doubt about these ideologies trickling out of the universities and into K-12, look no further than Saint Paul Public Schools’ (SPPS) <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/liberated-saint-paul-public-schools/">critical ethnic studies</a> curriculum. A 2023 RIDGS report on the deeply divisive course highlights the “seven principles” students are taught throughout the year, including “critical consciousness” and “resistance.” According to statements included in the document, students learned about “protests” and “civil disobedience” and were inspired by the Third World Liberation Front.
Like SPPS, Minneapolis Public Schools’ (MPS) <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/minneapolis-public-schools-ethnic-studies-course-teaches-students-that-capitalism-and-western-culture-is-exploitative-and-leads-to-slavery-colonialism-genocide-and-white-supremacy/">ethnic studies</a> courses are also saturated with revolutionary dogmas. In one of the classes, students learn to “challenge the ‘white savior’ narrative” and that slavery, genocide, and white supremacy all stem from capitalism and Western culture. Naturally, the course in question also includes student activism.
So, it should come as little surprise that K-12 students from both SPPS and MPS appear to be <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026_Twin-Cities-Student-ICE-protest-chat.pdf">planning</a> their own mass &#8220;strike” and “walkout” over ICE. Of course, it is highly probable that they are getting “guidance” from parents, teachers, and local activists.
While Minnesota’s streets heat up during the dead of winter, parents and the public need to be aware that far-Left actors inside and outside the education system have been preparing teachers and students for years to be street activists and protestors.
Local and national leaders, first and foremost, need to ensure that the youth and their teachers can peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights safely. But there also needs to be investigations into the Revolutionary Industrial Complex that has taken over Minnesota’s entire education system. Families, students, and communities deserve better from their education system.
 * * * 
Rhyen Staley is a researcher 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.

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

Teachers Unions Shut Down Minnesota Schools For Activism

Children

Critical Race Theory

Ethnic Studies

K-12

Liberals

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Progressivism

Woke Culture

During the summer months, educators across the country flock to professional development conferences, often on the taxpayers’ dime. These events are supposed to sharpen the instructional skills of teachers and equip them with new methods for helping students succeed, addressing real challenges of education, such as declining test scores, reading comprehension, and math proficiency.
But as Defending Education’s analysis of the programming shows, what actually dominates these conferences is not literacy strategies or math interventions.
Instead, the recurring themes are race, social justice, gender, activism, and equity. From English to math, and from history to science, the same ideological buzzwords surface again and again. It’s little wonder parents are concerned, or that the nation has grown more politically divided.
Take the National Education Association (NEA), the country’s largest teachers union. At its <a href="https://web.cvent.com/event/555fe259-c382-4f14-87b0-319c288f9e68/websitePage:83a0a9c7-c495-4fe0-ad95-5eb99de3dbc2">Conference on Racial and Social Justice</a> in Portland this summer, activism, not academics, took center stage.
Unions like the NEA make no effort to hide their contempt for Donald Trump and the values of his supporters. At its annual Representative Assembly, the union <a href="https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/20250706-ratoday-issue-5.pdf">approved business items</a> labeling Trump’s agenda as “fascist” and opposing efforts to eliminate the Department of Education, which it called racist and anti-democratic. In direct response to a Supreme Court decision (Mahmoud v. Taylor) affirming religious parents’ rights to opt their children out of LGBTQ curricula, the NEA allocated $209,000 to push back and expand LGBTQ advocacy in schools. In total, the NEA committed more than $340,000 <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/national-education-association-approves-business-items-accusing-president-trump-of-fascism-and-authoritarianism-opposing-supreme-court-ruling-and-not-using-adl-materials/">toward initiatives</a> designed to counter conservative policies.
This union-driven activism is not confined to Portland. Across the country, teachers are being coached to use classrooms as platforms for reshaping opinions on society’s most sensitive issues. Students are not simply taught about history or literature; they are encouraged to become activists themselves. The worldview behind this approach borrows heavily from Marxist theory, framing society as an endless struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. That lens is being embedded into lesson plans, teacher training, and classroom culture, gradually shifting education away from its original purpose — academic instruction — toward political reeducation.
The sessions at NEA’s conference illustrate this shift. One workshop, “Building Narrative Power for Education Justice,” trained teachers to use storytelling to fight “anti-truth” and anti-LGBTQ legislation. Another warned about “White Christian nationalist forces” allegedly exploiting pan-Asian communities. Additional sessions covered “racial battle fatigue,” blurred lines between racism and ableism, and framed climate change as disproportionately harming communities of color, women, and students with disabilities. One even linked the MAGA movement to Jim Crow and Native land theft. Teachers were urged to affirm transgender student identities, disrupt curriculum challenges, and fight political opponents under the banner of education justice.
The conference also promoted the <a href="https://custom.cvent.com/820B5689CD804AEAA83FC39F9FBC8CD3/files/0a702792cebf4a3ea1c9b294c6c985b5.pdf">NEA’s pronoun guide</a>, which encourages teachers to adopt nontraditional pronouns such as ze, zir, zirs, and zirself, and to display their own pronouns as a sign of being a “safe person.” Misgendering, teachers were told, is itself a form of marginalization.
While parents worry about declining math and reading scores, union-sponsored trainings are focused on dismantling ableism, confronting White Christian nationalism, and embedding queer theory into K–12 classrooms. These are not the priorities of most American families, but within the union bubble, they are treated as urgent and non-negotiable. 
And it’s not just the NEA. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) filled its 2024 <a href="https://s1.goeshow.com/ncte/annual/2024/conference_program_sessions.cfm">conference with sessions</a> such as “Disrupting the Canon with LGBTQIA+ Themes,” “Queer and Trans-Affirming Education,” and “Antiracist Pedagogy Workshop.”
In a perfect example encapsulating how this ideology makes its way into the classroom, one teacher at a school district in New York <a href="https://www.jecsd.org/districtpage.cfm?pageid=3211">reframed Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”</a> as a “cli-fi,” or climate fiction text, using the play as a vehicle to teach climate change.
Math education has not been spared either. <a href="https://www.nctm.org/atlanta2025/">The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’</a> (NCTM) <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/the-national-council-of-teachers-of-mathematics-2025-annual-meeting-features-sessions-on-black-feminist-mathematics-pedagogy-antiracist-math-equitable-grading-social-justice-and-whiteness/">2024 conference</a> features sessions on antiracist math, whiteness, and social justice.
One session, <a href="https://www.aievolution.com/ntm2501/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&amp;ev=1951">Reflecting on My Whiteness</a>, describes math itself as a “white, patriarchal space” and offers strategies to “confront the oppressive forces of whiteness” and “dismantle inequitable practices” in the classroom. <a href="https://www.aievolution.com/ntm2501/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&amp;ev=2046">Another highlights</a> how black women in math education “disrupt systems of oppression” and center “Black Girl Joy.” A third, <a href="https://www.aievolution.com/ntm2501/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&amp;ev=1930">Democracy and Data</a>, claims math should be used to advance democratic participation through a social justice lens.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) follows the same script. At its <a href="https://web.cvent.com/event/b256b940-7874-4081-a4af-34edc50fd735/summary">July conference</a>, sessions focused on “racial harm,” “LGBTQIA+ allyship,” climate activism, and “mass mobilization training.” Teachers were also told to resist curriculum oversight as a political attack. In one session, the AFT admitted the obvious: the pandemic had a “devastating effect” on student literacy.
Yet, the same union that now bemoans literacy loss was a key player in lobbying to keep schools closed during COVID, a decision that fueled the very learning setbacks reflected in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. Despite <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Elementary_and_Secondary_School_Emergency_Relief_%28ESSER%29_funding_by_state?utm_">$190 billion</a> in federal COVID-19 relief funds, the data indicate a failing K–12 education system.
Meanwhile, many educators are turning to <a href="https://defendinged.org/ethnicstudies/">ethnic studies</a>, often presented through a victim–oppressor lens. The radical ethnic studies group, Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing (XITO), held a <a href="https://www.xicanxinstitute.org/summer-2025">2024 Summer Institute</a> that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/xitotucson/p/DKk82TWSPMe/">promoted</a> “decolonial popular education” and urged educators to view teaching as a political weapon. Its sessions featured activists tied to <a href="https://www.ethnicstudiespedagogies.org/gallery/07%20-%20TIAHUI%20-%20A%20Decolonial%20Framework.pdf">anti-Western and antisemitic rhetoric</a>, with the explicit goal of uniting street activism and classroom instruction. And yes, school districts are footing the bill with taxpayer dollars for teachers to attend.
The common thread across these trainings is the glorification of victimhood and activism, with teachers encouraged to turn students into activists for leftist causes. Rather than instilling confidence and agency, this mindset risks fostering learned helplessness, where students believe success is unattainable without intervention.
Summer training conferences are less about improving learning outcomes and more about transforming classrooms into engines of political activism — serving unions and activist groups, but leaving behind the very students schools are meant to serve.
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Kendall Tietz is an investigative reporter for Defending Education.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-18-Sep-2025-09-53-AM-6641

The Public School Activist Pipeline: ‘A Joyous Rebellion’

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Equity

LGBTQ

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