The Chicago Teachers' Union, the National Education Association, and the Zinn Education Project held a joint webinar on April 2 that walked educators through building classroom lessons around the upcoming May Day protests, and critics say the effort amounts to recruiting schoolchildren as political activists before they can read a chapter book.
The seminar, described as a "curriculum build" aimed at bringing "social justice into the classroom," included guidance from two Chicago Public Schools teachers on how to fold protest culture into daily instruction. One presenter, a preschool teacher, urged colleagues not to shy away from raising issues including "workers' rights, anti-racism, pro LGBT, LGBTQIA plus issues, immigration and immigrants rights" with the youngest students in their care.
The North American Values Institute, a research organization that first posted the seminar online, argued the unions are attempting to "groom" students to push social justice platforms in protests across the country, including on May 1. Fox News Digital reported on the webinar's content and the sharp backlash it drew from education policy critics and conservative leaders.
Dave Stieber, a history teacher in Chicago Public Schools, framed May Day as a warm-up for larger disruptions to come. His remarks during the presentation were blunt about the political intent behind the exercise.
"There's probably gonna be a lot worse things that Trump does, and so May Day is a dress rehearsal for maybe there's a random day in, you know, June that we all are, like, no work, no school, no shopping, because of something Pete just did, right? So this is a continuation and a buildup of that."
Stieber's language left little room for interpretation. The point was not a one-off lesson in civics. It was preparation for rolling political action, organized through the school day, aimed at students, and timed to the national protest calendar.
Kirstin Roberts, a preschool teacher also employed by Chicago Public Schools, offered her own guidance. She encouraged educators of young children to embrace the material, not avoid it.
"I did want to say I really encourage teachers of young children not to feel like this is stuff that's way beyond their students, not to be afraid of raising up social justice issues, including workers' rights, anti-racism, pro LGBT, LGBTQIA plus issues, immigration and immigrants rights."
Roberts also addressed how to present protests to children who might see coverage on television or social media. She told attendees the lesson was designed to "introduce the idea that there's going to be marches and protests on Mayday" and to counter how those events are portrayed in the press.
"Sometimes those are made to look really scary on the news and so we, or in social media, and so we want to share images with our children of protests that lifts up the beauty and the humanity of the people involved."
Set aside for a moment the question of whether preschoolers need media literacy training about protest coverage. The more pressing issue is who decided these children, some as young as three, should be learning about political demonstrations at all, and toward what end.
The webinar did not emerge in a vacuum. The Chicago Teachers' Union has been openly organizing around May Day for weeks. The union called for "No School, No Work, No Shopping" on May 1 in a public statement. CTU Vice President Jackson Potter made the political stakes explicit.
"Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the President sends federal agents to occupy our cities and the Governor chooses to continue giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of giving our students the school day they deserve."
Potter went further, tying the May Day action to the November midterm elections.
"If we still want to have democracy in the midterms this November, public schools that provide our students with quality education, and unions to defend workers' rights, then it is up to every Chicagoan to stand up for what we believe in and show the authoritarian billionaire in Washington that when he breaks every rule, we will not go along with business as usual."
That language does not describe a neutral civics exercise. It describes a political campaign, one that uses school closures, student walkouts, and classroom instruction as organizing tools. The pattern of using classrooms to advance ideological agendas is not unique to the United States, but the brazenness of the CTU's approach stands out.
The union's political activity extends well beyond May Day planning. Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported that the CTU appears poised to spend $3.1 million on "political activities." In January, CTU members filmed themselves protesting federal immigration enforcement and anti-DEI measures at a local Target.
Mika Hackner, director of research at the North American Values Institute, told Fox News Digital that the webinar lays bare how the unions view their students and their classrooms.
"The webinar demonstrates clearly that our teacher unions view students as foot soldiers in their political and ideological battles and the classroom as an appropriate venue to wage their war."
Ryan Walters, CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, was sharper. He told Fox News Digital the unions are targeting children at the youngest possible age.
"It's very clear that teachers unions seek to destroy our country by turning our students against it. The Chicago Teachers Union is one of the worst. The fact that they are targeting students as young as 3 years old with this anti-American propaganda should be criminal. The teachers unions will continue to use students as Marxist pawns until we have driven them out of our schools."
Walters's language is strong, but the underlying complaint is straightforward. Public school teachers are entrusted with other people's children. Parents send three-year-olds to preschool expecting finger painting and story time, not curated lessons on how protests are beautiful and why the president is dangerous.
The concern is not that students should never learn about civic participation. It is that the CTU and its partners have turned the classroom into a staging ground for a specific political movement, with specific partisan targets, timed to a specific election cycle. That is not education. It is recruitment.
The April 2 seminar fits into a broader timeline of student-facing political action. Student coalitions held a "National Shutdown" on January 30 and continued protesting through February 3. The CTU has been pushing for schools to close entirely on May Day. Some districts elsewhere have already shut down, Fox News Digital noted that certain districts closed in light of the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers' union, co-hosted the April 2 webinar and has faced criticism over political activism in recent months. The broader pushback against ideological capture in American education has reached institutions at every level, from elite universities to elementary schools.
Fox News Digital reached out to the NEA, Chicago Public Schools, and the Zinn Education Project for comment. The CTU directed the outlet to its public statement calling for the May 1 shutdown. No other responses were noted.
The CTU's own vice president frames May Day as a political action tied to the midterms. A history teacher on the union's own webinar calls it a "dress rehearsal" for future shutdowns. A preschool teacher urges colleagues to push protest culture on toddlers. And the union is prepared to spend more than $3 million on political activities this cycle.
None of this is hidden. It is stated plainly, in the presenters' own words, on a webinar organized by the union itself. The question is not whether the CTU is politicizing the classroom. The question is why any parent or taxpayer should tolerate it.
When a union tells you it plans to use your children as props in its political campaign, believe it the first time.
