Reading, writing, and arithmetic, step aside. Some educators have decided to focus on how to deal with – and, in some cases, resist – Donald Trump’s presidency and policies. It’s hard to fathom that the National Education Association (NEA) – the largest teachers union in the United States, with more than 3 million members – believed it was necessary to host a webinar to help educators learn how to combat a president. But that’s what happened, and just before Inauguration Day.
The union’s website stated: “NEA members are a crucial part of the community coming together to protect public education under a second Trump administration. As we prepare for this new era, we know we must be united, proactive, and focused on our vision for the future of students, educators, and public schools.”
The webinar, titled “Preparing for a Second Trump Administration,” was presented on Zoom and made it clear that this wasn’t about techniques to help students learn core subjects. Instead, it focused on a few subjects, such as LGBTQ+ issues and immigration reforms related to Trump’s policies and goals.
Educators Against Trump
As Komo News pointed out, the “Firewall for Freedom” page on the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) website said the organization is “urging states to ‘just say no to Trump’s radical agenda.’” It offers a “playbook” on how to “defend our fundamental freedoms.”
The meeting started with Caitlin Ehlers, a member of the NEA’s Aspiring Educators Program, who talked about the traditional lands “upon which the participants of this call live and work,” honoring the first peoples. Parents Defending Education said the seminar was led by a “transgender individual leading a ‘land acknowledgment’” that “accused the United States of ‘settler colonialism’” and “accused Trump of wanting to carry through with ‘land grabs.’”
The main topic, however, was immigration. One unidentified speaker said, “I would stress the unpredictability. That it is one thing for people at a Trump rally to hold up signs that say ‘mass deportations now,’ it is something completely different for agents from ICE to be going into schools and grabbing kids, and that is the moment where it becomes shocking to people.”
President Trump has been very vocal about his mass deportation plans, but he has also said that the first goal is to go after those committing crimes (other than illegal immigration). Jennifer Berkshire, author of The Education Wars, said during the webinar session: “There is a real role for teachers, including aspiring educators, to play in having conversations with those groups and finding out … what can we do, within the school space, to try to make those kids feel less afraid.” Here’s a suggestion: Stop verbalizing images of ICE agents barging into classrooms and dragging out crying and screaming children.
Berkshire then labeled parental rights organizations as “extremist groups” and said they “move from issue to issue,” claiming that right now, they are not as strong as when they were protesting critical race theory.
Under the president’s “restoring sanity” agenda, one executive order addressed “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in federal agencies. Part of that was making it an official government policy that there are only two genders: male and female.
Chelsie Acosta, a member of the NEA and the ACLU, went into a long speech during the webinar about how the ACLU is prepared to bring “legal observers” to assist teachers holding protests. Referring to Utah’s legislation that prohibits teachers from flying rainbow pride flags in classrooms, she said she has no intention of following those rules: “I’m here to tell you the pride flag’s going to be in my classroom. I don’t care what anyone says. The pride flag’s going to be there. So is the trans flag. So is the Black Lives Matter flag. They’re going to be in my room.” Will there be enough space for the American flag?
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