EXPOSED: Inside a Private Activist Teacher Organizing Call to Radicalize Public Education

See Inside The Meetings They Don't Want You To See

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Last night, I infiltrated a private strategy call hosted by Rethinking Schools, a radical leftist organization focused on advancing a Marxist agenda in American classrooms. This group, deeply connected to the Zinn Education Project, works to reshape K-12 curricula through a lens of systemic oppression, intersectionality, and identity politics. Their goal is clear: to indoctrinate students with left-wing ideologies, particularly around critical race theory (CRT), gender ideology, and historical revisionism.

The discussion was a strategic war room to resist the Trump administration’s policies, which they view as a threat to their ideological control. From mobilizing against ICE to turning schools into sanctuaries for activism, this call revealed just how far these groups will go to dominate the education system.

Here’s a highlight reel of the most outrageous points from their call:

Key Points of the Panel Discussion:

• Trump’s Authoritarian Agenda
  The activists claim Trump is using education to push authoritarianism. They argue his administration is stripping power from communities by attacking “truth” and education, but in reality, any policy restricting their ideological grip is seen as an attack. The attempt to frame any opposition to left-wing teachings as “authoritarian” is a classic tactic used to undermine resistance and stifle debate.

• Red Folder Project
  The Red Folder Project aims to flood the courts with essential documents to delay ICE’s actions. Instead of working within legal boundaries, this strategy seeks to overwhelm the system with paperwork and appeals, creating chaos and stalling any enforcement actions. Their goal is to keep pushing their radical agenda without regard for the law, hoping to create a legal bottleneck.

• Chicago’s Resistance
  Activists proudly claim that Chicago Public Schools are resisting ICE by refusing to cooperate. This narrative casts principals as brave defenders of students, but the reality is that they are obstructing law enforcement and enabling lawlessness in schools. This is the model they want to replicate across the country—schools as political battlegrounds where the rule of law is secondary to ideological goals.

• Data Suppression for Student Safety
  Schools are being encouraged to stop collecting sensitive data like students' birthplaces or hometowns, ostensibly to protect them from ICE. While the intention is framed as “safety,” it’s really about preventing any legal accountability or tracking of students by federal authorities, further creating an environment where activist-driven policies can flourish without oversight.

• Public Schools as Sites of Oppression and Liberation
  The panelists suggest that public schools, which have long been centers of inequality, can now become hubs of resistance and liberation. By framing the education system as fundamentally broken and oppressive, they justify the need to overhaul it with their radical agendas.

• Targeting Trans Youth
  They claim the Trump administration’s policies aim to erase trans youth by preventing them from participating equally in schools and society. This rhetoric is designed to paint any opposition to gender ideology as a direct attack on the rights of transgender people, ignoring the fact that such policies may aim to preserve parental rights and freedom of expression in schools.

• Mandated Lies in Classrooms
  The panel claims that nearly half of all U.S. students are being “forced to lie” about race, gender, history, and human rights in schools. The accusation that educators are being forced into silence by laws limiting CRT instruction is a deliberate exaggeration meant to rally support for their cause and paint themselves as martyrs in the battle for ideological control over education.

• Parallels to McCarthyism
  According to the activists, the restriction of anti-racist and gender-inclusive curricula is akin to the McCarthy-era purges of communists and homosexuals. By drawing this parallel, they attempt to frame their political opponents as authoritarian figures bent on silencing free speech and oppressing dissent—while ironically seeking to do the same to their ideological opponents in schools.

• Resisting ICE in Schools
  A central theme of the call was to advocate for non-compliance with ICE. Activists are calling for schools to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, turning them into “sanctuary” spaces that actively shield students from legal enforcement. This is a dangerous move that undermines the rule of law and promotes a culture of defiance and lawlessness.

• Empowering Teachers and Students
  The activists encourage teachers and students to educate themselves about their “rights,” pushing them to reject laws they disagree with and turn schools into political battlegrounds. The emphasis on grassroots resistance and community organizing is designed to bypass legal systems and create an environment where leftist ideologies can thrive unchecked.

• White Teachers Called to Action
  White teachers are urged to use their privilege to step up and take action against what they view as fascism. By framing this as a moral obligation, they are seeking to further radicalize educators and enlist them in the broader ideological fight against the Trump administration.

Who was there?

• Daniel McNeil
  Top lawyer for the American Federation of Teachers, leading the charge in using the courts to protect union control and ideological programs in schools.

• Kate Redburn
  Legal strategist from Columbia, pushing trans activism through federal law and school policy.

• Stacy Hickox
  NEA legal counsel, coaching teachers on how to block ICE and turn schools into sanctuary zones.

• Jesse Hagopian
  Radical educator and CRT author, preaching that banning anti-racist curriculum is a modern-day lynching.

• Tabitha Sookdeo & Cris Cabrera
  Immigrant student organizers, mobilizing against deportation and building resistance cells inside schools.

• Leslie Blatteau & Mary Moyer Stubbs
  Union leaders demanding teachers take to the streets and weaponize libraries against “fascist book bans.”

Speaker: Daniel McNeil – Head of General Counsel, American Federation of Teachers

Summary:
McNeil paints the Trump administration as lawless and more dangerous than before, calling executive orders a “torrent” and labeling them illegal. He encourages teachers to ignore federal policies they disagree with, framing any pushback as a constitutional crisis. His plan is to overwhelm the system with litigation and reassure teachers they can continue pushing radical ideologies under state-level policy.

Direct Quotes:

"These executive orders and these dear colleague letters and proclamations from the government... it is a torrent. Every day is something new."

"In this way this is different than the first Trump administration because there are more competent people, competent in the most evil way."

"A lot of these executive orders that are coming out... they are illegal. They are Trump's view of the world."

"When the president says it, he can't change existing law... so there's... the Congress gets to make the laws."

"It violates the separation of powers... It also violates the administrative procedures act."

"The dear colleague letter... bans a lot of stuff that is protected speech and associational rights..."

"They're opposing my administration and therefore they don't deserve to have collective bargaining—that violates the Constitution first amendment rights."

"We are required to teach... about the genocide that happened in World War II and the genocide that's happening in Gaza."

Translation:
McNeil is constructing a legal shield to protect ideological control in the classroom. He is telling teachers the law doesn’t apply if they don’t like it and greenlighting disobedience, daring the courts to stop them, and framing every pushback as a constitutional crisis. His message is clear: teach what you want, ignore the feds, and we’ll handle the fallout.

Speaker: Stacy Hickox – Office of General Counsel, National Education Association

Summary:
Hickox paints a dystopian picture of schools under attack by ICE, claiming that students and faculty are living in fear. She advocates for policies that make schools “safe zones” by refusing to cooperate with ICE, blocking federal law enforcement at the schoolhouse door.

Direct Quotes:

"We've sort of re-upped everything that we had in place for the first Trump administration and doubled down on that."

"ICE agents going on to university campuses... abducting people... abducting students... abducting faculty and staff... now they're starting to seize even grade school children from their homes, from schools."

"We're hearing from our members that their students are afraid to come to school... afraid that they might come home and their parents will have been abducted."

"You can expect that that's going to come down to the K12 level as well... they're going to be next on the hit list."

"ICE has even said schools with these policies scare us... we don't go into those schools."

"Schools should not be collecting even where the child was born or their hometown and making that part of their student record."

"The school does not have to allow them onto the property just based on an administrative warrant."

"Dormitories... are private spaces. ICE agents can't just wander in and start knocking on doors."

"These are cards that people can present... say 'I don't need to talk to you... unless you show me a judicial warrant.'"

Translation:
Hickox is laying out a blueprint for turning schools into autonomous resistance cells. Her message to educators: don’t comply, don’t cooperate, and don’t collect information that could be used by ICE. This is about undermining federal law to create political safe havens in schools.

Speaker: Kate Redburn – Columbia Center for Gender and Sexuality Law

Summary:
Redburn argues that the Trump administration’s crackdown on trans rights is both unprecedented and accelerating. She calls for litigation, bureaucratic slowdown, and local organizing to lock in gender ideology before the federal government can reverse it.

Direct Quotes:

"The current landscape for trans youth reflects an acceleration and a magnification... the scale of the attack is bigger... it's become a focus of the federal government."

"The goal is to force trans youth back into the closet by making it impossible to participate equally at school and in society."

"Trump has issued... a flurry of executive orders... condition federal funding on ending access to gender affirming healthcare... investigate trans girls... prevent funding of schools that have trans-inclusive policies... redefine sex itself to essentially erase trans people."

"An executive order... sets the agenda... but it's not a change in the law."

"The Department of Education has brought enforcement actions... the state has been under enormous pressure to change its trans student policy."

"Any of these executive orders... to redefine sex to not include trans people—that's illegal."

"There are all kinds of bills... to prevent students from using a different name or pronouns... but enormous work to protect trans students remains in place."

"We recently amended the constitution to prevent anti-trans discrimination... similar provisions are in state constitutions and anti-discrimination law."

"Students... still have speech rights at school... curricular decisions... about teaching gender diversity are still made at the local level."

"Court orders are the backstop... it's not what's going to ultimately... change culture and protect trans people."

"There was an attempt to ban trans kids from participating in sports... that's grown into a whole movement... able to pressure some hospitals not to precapitulate to these executive orders."

Translation:
Redburn is pushing for an all-out effort to entrench gender ideology in every level of law and policy before federal agencies can act. Her approach is about creating bureaucratic friction and local organizing to stall federal enforcement.

Speaker: Jesse Hagopian – Educator and Activist

Summary:
Hagopian calls for mass resistance, framing the battle for education as a revolutionary movement. He accuses Trump of endorsing slavery and equates any opposition to his radical curriculum with fascism. His goal is to radicalize educators into embracing a left-wing liberation movement.

Direct Quotes:

"President Trump's recent comment that... race relations were fine in the South until Lincoln started a totally unnecessary civil war... just genocidal rhetoric openly white supremacist endorsement of slavery and maintaining... black bondage."

"Thousands of book bans, attacks on anti-racist teaching, the criminalization of queer and trans educators and students, the surveillance in the classroom."

"Nearly half of all public school students in the US attend a school where their teacher is mandated to lie to them about race, about gender, about sexuality, about the basics of US history... genocide of Native Americans... theft of their land... enslavement of black people."

"We are in a moment... that's really as American as the three-fifths clause... as mass incarceration... as redlining... as stolen land... as banning books and buying bullets."

"The first anti-literacy laws were passed... and yet black people refused to be uneducated... taught each other illegally to read and write, defying the law."

"Black people built the public school system... the Democratic Party... burnt down over 600 Black schools during Reconstruction."

"McCarthy era... red scare... lavender scare... if you taught about race you were clearly a communist and they blacklisted you."

"Florida's don't say gay, don't say trans laws... we’re seeing the echo."

"Teaching about Palestine... if you raise your voice... you are also being persecuted and disappeared... kidnapped."

"It's time for us to build a new liberation movement... the type that broke through McCarthyism... now it’s our turn."

Translation:
Hagopian is trying to start an ideological insurgency inside the education system, framing every restriction as fascism and calling for a new liberation movement that defies the legal system in favor of race essentialism, gender ideology, and anti-Israel activism.

Speaker: Leslie Blatteau – President, New Haven Federation of Teachers

Summary:
Blatteau describes organizing “mutual aid” for students and defying ICE. She encourages teachers to host workshops on rights, bypass federal enforcement, and distribute legal aid cards across the city. She praises Latino women for pressuring city leaders to resist federal policies.

Direct Quotes:

"Teachers convening circles with students to make sure that students voices are heard... to process the trauma of knowing that a Trump administration was about to unleash really dangerous and violent tactics on communities."

"That only happened because of the power of the women—primarily Latino women—who led that grassroots coalition."

"We heard what the borders are said—we heard him say that those know your rights workshops are working... slowing down the machinery... the machinery of the fascists."

"We got red cards printed... in Spanish, English, Pashto, Arabic... to ensure our community has the resources they need to protect us."

"We saturate the schools with this critical information."

Translation:
Blatteau is turning public schools into training grounds for political resistance. Teachers are encouraged to bypass immigration enforcement and build parallel support systems to shield students from federal authority.

Speaker: Tabitha Sookdeo – Executive Director, Connecticut Students for a Dream

Summary:
Sookdeo equates Trump’s immigration policies to Nazi Germany and warns of mass deportations. The Red Folder Project is positioned as a grassroots initiative to prepare legal defenses and flood the courts with challenges, organizing communities for resistance.

Direct Quotes:

"This is pretty scary stuff and the things that we have been seeing being rolled out is reminiscent of what we have seen in Nazi Germany and it's something for us to pause and to be serious about... we're talking about a registry for you know people over 14 years old having to put in their fingerprints and their addresses..."

"What I will say to you is that as advocates especially within the legal realm and when we look at our rights we are bracing for impact when it comes to mass deportations because it's not a question of if it's a question of when."

"We have something that's called the Red Folder Project and it's all about preparing people's documents so that we can flood the court if and when they're picked up... mobilize and have enough time to find attorneys and other types of legal resources."

Translation:
Sookdeo is preparing for an all-out legal and activist confrontation, framing the current political moment as an existential crisis. The Red Folder Project is part of a tactical move to overwhelm the system and organize resistance on a large scale.

Speaker: Jesse Hagopian – Educator and Activist

Summary:
In his closing remarks, Hagopian delivers a chilling statement, claiming that Trump’s push for control over education isn’t just a political strategy—it’s an attempt to “lynch the truth.” He frames the classroom as the battleground for fascism, with the assault on educators directly tied to an effort to silence dissent and rewrite history. Hagopian calls for a mass, multi-racial movement to counter this push, emphasizing that legal resistance alone isn’t enough. His solution is a broader, more expansive strategy that includes social movements, direct action, and community organizing. He stresses the urgency of the National Teach Truth Day of Action on June 7th as a critical moment for collective resistance.

Direct Quotes:

"Trump knows the fastest route to authoritarian rule and fascism really runs through the classroom. And that's why he doesn't just lie, he is lynching the truth."

"That's why he's assaulting educators... using education to pry open the door to fascism."

"We have to build strategies that are not just based in legal strategies... we can win over and over again in courts and he can just dismiss that and move forward."

"What we have to do is use the law... but that has to be one arm of a much bigger strategy... rebuilding the type of social movement that ended McCarthyism."

"This is our opportunity to build a national show of solidarity and push back... June 7th National Teach Truth Day of Action."

Translation:
Hagopian is framing the classroom as the front lines in the battle against authoritarianism. His core message is that Trump isn’t merely lying—he’s deliberately erasing the truth, using education to open the door to fascism. Hagopian’s call to arms is clear: while legal battles are necessary, they must be part of a larger, more comprehensive resistance strategy. His emphasis on the Teach Truth National Day of Action signals a coordinated effort to mobilize educators and activists alike, with the ultimate goal of building a movement that directly challenges Trump’s agenda.

This wasn’t a webinar. It was a war room. They’re planning a full-scale ideological insurgency from inside the school system—using every legal, emotional, and cultural weapon at their disposal.

And they’re just getting started.

You can find the full video in the SPY STREAM archive.

Legal Implications: Is Their Resistance Legal?

While these activists frame their actions as necessary resistance against a fascist regime, many of their tactics are highly questionable from a legal standpoint. Trump’s executive orders, which they claim are illegal, are within his constitutional authority. The notion that educators should disobey these laws or create legal loopholes to bypass them undermines the integrity of the educational system.

Many of the strategies proposed, such as refusing to cooperate with ICE or withholding student data, are direct violations of federal law. Schools have a legal obligation to follow federal guidelines, including those related to immigration enforcement. The idea of turning schools into “sanctuaries” for lawbreakers is not only illegal—it sets a dangerous precedent where lawlessness is celebrated as resistance.

While legal challenges to executive orders are a legitimate part of the democratic process, the activist groups here are advocating for civil disobedience and systematic non-compliance. By promoting resistance without regard for the law, they are undermining the very principles they claim to defend: justice, equality, and fairness. Their goal is to create an alternate system of education that prioritizes political indoctrination over academic rigor, and they are willing to break the law to achieve it.

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