The Chicago Public Schools are facing a major truancy problem…among teachers.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) was up in arms over suggestions that classes should be held on May 1 when teachers wanted to be out protesting. Called International Workers’ Day, May Day is a global day of protest for socialist, communist, and unionist groups.
The CTU was upset when parents objected that canceling a day of class for teachers to join a political protest was a burden for working parents. These teachers believe that they are teaching something far more important through their activism. In defending the demand for publicly subsidized protests, CTU Vice President Jackson Potter explained that “teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks.”
While that does not help with the dismal proficiency scores of actual students, it is vital to training students as political foot soldiers.
The CTU and the National Education Association recently collaborated on a “curriculum build” to bring “social justice into the classroom” ahead of May Day. Dave Stieber, a history teacher in Chicago Public Schools is shown declaring that “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…So this is a continuation and a buildup of that.”
In the meantime, with only 2 of 5 students reading at grade level, the Chicago teachers chose to lower proficiency levels rather than improve their teaching record.
While failing on actually teaching students, the CTU is proficient at instructing politicians such as Mayor Brandon Johnson through the use of union dues to fund Democratic campaigns. The CTU and other teachers’ unions funneled millions into Johnson’s campaign. By one estimate, 93 percent of Johnson’s campaign budget came from unions.
The CTU has long held the distinction of being the most radical teachers’ union in the country. It was a CTU delegation that went to Venezuela during the Maduro regime to praise conditions under socialism. In a country where dissenters and reporters were being jailed and killed, the Chicago teachers gushed about how “we did not see a single homeless person!”
Chicago area teachers have been charged with violent protests.
Suggesting that teachers should work rather than attend May Day protests set off the Chicago teachers. Now, the union has confirmed that classes will be held without the participating teachers, and Chicago Public Schools will pay for buses for both students and educators to go to the protests.
The city further promised that there would be no repercussions for either students or teachers playing hooky from school.
This is not the first time unions and teachers have allowed students to skip classes to support left-wing protests. In New York, teachers and students were allowed to skip school to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. Previously, students were allowed to skip school to protest climate change.
These school districts do not show the same participatory support for protests on the right. There is no accommodation or city-subsidized buses for pro-life protests or demonstrations in favor of Israel.
Nevertheless, the Chicago school system is declaring that this is what schooling is all about in the Windy City. CPS CEO Macquline King stated that “the agreement honors the proud history of civic action in Chicago and beyond.”
Decades ago, my parents helped create an organization to stem the exodus of families from public schools and to reinforce academic standards in the Chicago Public School system. They convinced more families to remain in the system because they believed (as I do) that public schools can play a critical role in shaping citizens through a diverse and shared experience.
I was long skeptical of voucher systems because of that commitment to public education. However, teacher unions and administrators are destroying public education in America. They are treating families as captive audiences while infusing education with social and political agendas. The only way to break this decades-long cycle of failure, in my opinion, is to give families alternatives by allowing them to send their children to schools with core educational (as opposed to advocacy) priorities.
Nevertheless, Mayor Johnson celebrated the funding of the May Day protests:
“We are pleased all parties are working together to ensure school communities can participate in commemorating International Workers Day…Encouraging participating allows Chicagoans to honor our history while advocating for our future. We look forward to a day of meaningful solidarity and community resistance to the forces trying to tear us apart.
Schools have long been a target for indoctrination by radical elements. The Cultural Revolution in China was the most extreme example where children were forced into protests and taught that political activism came before scholastics under the slogan “to rebel is justified.”
Mao declared that “our educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and become a worker with both socialist consciousness and culture.”
In the CTU/NEA seminar, Kirstin Roberts, a pre-school teacher in Chicago Public Schools, is shown explaining that the purpose is to “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.”
The erosion of the line between education and advocacy is now occurring on every level of our educational system. Some universities now have “resident activist” programs or offer degrees in advocacy.
In my book Rage and the Republic, I discuss the rise of the “new Jacobins” in the United States, including a cadre of radical educators who use our schools to pursue fundamental changes in our constitutional system. Law professors and deans are now calling for trashing our Constitution as a threat to the nation while teachers are using classes to radicalize students.
Chicago’s subsidy of May Day protests uses public funds in the struggling school system to foster radical political agendas. It removes any doubt for parents about the priority of Johnson, the CTU, and many of these teachers.
Some of the sentiments expressed in Chicago could have been ripped from Mao’s Little Red Book and speeches. He insisted “education must serve proletarian politics” and demanded “the period of schooling should be shortened, education should be revolutionized.”
In Chicago, the “period for schooling” is now being shortened in favor of “solidarity and community resistance.” While the students may not be able to actually read, they will learn the three R’s of modern education: resisting, raging, and rebelling.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution
I’m past the point of making this-is-like comparisons: the modern left are a regime. They are part of a globalist regime. It is a regime that is in direct opposition to our Constitution. If you are still voting blue, that is what you are voting for, it would at this point take a literal head made of thick wood to not see it, and though i know the stalwart on the left are out there: it’s the kicker, I don’t think most of us are, anymore. The fraud is real, but TDS is real, too, so is prejudice against anything a centimeter to the center of left. We are living in interesting times, alright. Really: our survival is likely more at stake than it was in 1942 given the levels of infiltration and indoctrination. do not think it is a coincidence that in terms of candidates and policy, that on the left it’s pretty much a mirror to Britain today, they were one of the first to fall.
Although Obama was a snake in every respect, we need look no further than his dealings with Iran to sum him up, and all that has come after him.
Drunk again eh.
James: Did you notice the news (in print and TV) of Obama and Mamdani singing and telling stories to little pre-school children? “Mamdani brings Obama to NYC for meeting.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/18/mamdani-nyc-obama-00879884
“The fraud is real, but TDS is real, too, so is prejudice against anything a centimeter to the center of left. ”
“Not a Democrat” is currently enough to get my vote (even if I need to hold my nose), and possibly yours as well, but the Dems will prevail with most of their registered voters, even when those voters know damned well they are voting for frauds and charlatans, unless and until Republicans are able to sell them on a clear alternative path. Frankly, I’m not sure whether most of them are capable of that.
Why Disastrous Blue Model Failure Isn’t Producing A Red Shift
https://thefederalist.com/2026/04/17/blue-model-failure-isnt-producing-a-red-shift/
“All over the blue states, obvious decline and cultural madness are producing anger among Democratic voters. They see that the progressive status quo is a failure, and dysfunction is spreading rapidly. This message is building to a crescendo, but it isn’t turning into politics. That is, it isn’t turning into a rising blue state shift to the Republican Party, or to a growing movement of Democratic Party centrism.”
Republicans vote for sex pests and those who commit sex assault, even on minors.
Chicago is perfecting the art of redistribution for democrat control and power. Public education has become a democrat ponzi scheme as they funnel the money away from the students.
The democrats are done with waiting forever for voters to select them so they are selecting the voters instead.
Functional illiteracy seems to be the goal. Mission Statement: ‘Educate only the proficient and matriculate all others.’ The grindstone needs lubrication, doesn’t it?
I used Matriculate as a Metaphor!
In other civic action news:
Chris Murphy 🟧
@ChrisMurphyCT
awesome
Ali Vaez
@AliVaez
At least 26 Iranian shadow fleet vessels bypass US blockade
5:49 PM · Apr 20, 2026 3.9M Views
the fallout from Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat) “awesome” Tweet regarding support for Iran, was actually him activating one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sleeper cells in America. Anonymous sources at the PffffftAtlantic are reporting that the National GOP expected IRGC sleeper cells to arise from Virginia this election cycle, considering Leftists have beaten the snot out of Republicans in VA for years. This may explain in part why the National GOP ran away from today’s Virginia’s election, and the 2025 election for VA Governor, the 2024 election for US Senator (Tim Kaine), the 2020 election for US Senator (Mark Warner) 4 years ago and ….
CNNLOL is reporting that VA Governor Sayyidat al-Na’oot al-Azeema (Lady of Grand Epithets) Spanberg al-Barqaar screamed Allaahum Akbari (which means absolutely nothing in Arabic) while bowing towards Fairfax.
/s
Previewing Virginia’s redistricting election
Democratic-aligned groups have played a conspicuous role in funding the Yes campaign. More than half of the money raised by Virginians for Fair Elections ($38.1 million) originated from House Majority Forward, a nonprofit organization tied to House Democratic leadership. Additionally, the Democratic Party of Virginia has contributed close to $1 million, while influential groups on the left like the SEIU ($500,000) and the League of Conservation Voters ($300,000) have also donated.
By comparison, none of the fundraising by groups opposing the amendment — including the main committee, the similarly-named Virginians for Fair Maps — has a clear connection to national- or state-level Republican committees.
https://decisiondeskhq.substack.com/p/virginia-redistricting-election-preview
Teacher’s Union: “teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks.”
Sensible position since under teacher’s unions students can no longer read any books.
The left has become so radical that I no longer believe there is a possibility of rational interaction with them.
They are openly demonstrating that they are dedicated enemies of democracy, America, and, in fact, Western Civilization.
Yes they will cheat in elections. Yes they will manipulate the legal system. Yes they will do almost anything to gain power. Look at England and Germany and Canada and historical Venezuela and Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union to see what they intend to do with that power.
Someone observed that businesses don’t board windows for Republican demonstrations. We have drifted, and been pushed, very far apart.
An example: https://x.com/KellyRiddell/status/2046417208750805330
Abolish teacher’s unions.
https://instapundit.com/791501
Teachers provide skills education, but to become proficient requires students to actually practice.
You aren’t complaining that a couple hours of Physical education a week isn’t all that is required for NBA level expertise.
The change to an online society has had a great deal of interference with learning to read and becoming proficient. It’s not a teacher problem – it’s a learner and a parent problem.
Now you can go on a racist screed about Chicago and the families who live there, but it’s difficult if both parents have full-time jobs to make ends meet to provide the necessary support at home. Low proficiency is almost certainly tied to poverty.
Anon– “Teachers provide skills education”
You have to have skills to provide them to others.
Of the many areas of study the schools of education have students with the lowest SAT scores.
Demographics are a factor in school outcomes but Mississippi has turned around its system and with far less money is outperforming costly NE schools even with minority students.
Public education in Chicago appears to have become a grasping union racket with little to offer children but much for the union and Democrats.
Much of what happened in Mississippi has been due to the threat of mandatory grade retention and the subsequent involvement of parents to avoid that, with an additional move to teaching phonics. The grade retention and teaching basis are decided at the administration level and not by teachers. The added involvement of parents is a huge driver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Miracle
Note from that article that conservative Oklahoma went the other way and saw terrible results.
Of major interest to me:
“Mississippi’s classroom teachers were not expected to change the trajectory of their students alone. Instead, money was devoted to hiring highly trained reading coaches to support students, as well as special literacy-based professional development for all teachers. This embrace of phonics education and the near-complete rejection of whole language theory was a key component of the program’s success.”
Jonathan: I’m glad you’ve come around on school vouchers, but I’m a bit surprised by your previous opposition to them. As you explain in Rage and the Republic, monopolies are inherently destructive; only competition works. That is true in business and government. Why should schools be different?
“ That is true in business and government. Why should schools be different?”
Because conservatives treat schools like businesses. Private schools can be monopolized by corporations as subsidiaries of bigger organizations. Oklahoma had bad experience with this kind of thinking and it cost the state millions with no improvement in student achievement.
Just an observation: After the Swalwell implosion wouldn’t you think that the “3 days growth of a lame beard” thing would have died? Why is Chris, “Iran is awesome” Murphy still donning the ridiculously faux look? Is it an adverse effect of dating a woman the same age as your daughters?
HullBobby,
I use an ad-blocker so I am guessing a lot of the pictures you are referencing to does not appear in my browser.
As to the adverse effect thing, I would never date a woman the same age as my daughter. That is just creepy.
Unfortunately enormous and lasting damage has been done (the least of which is this May 1st lark) to the education of our children. Somehow we have resurrected the long reviled practice of certain civilizations, such as the Carthaginians, of sacrificing the welfare of children to satiate the beliefs of adults. I’m afraid that those responsible will be long gone before the students realize that they have been betrayed by the “adults”.
@Arnold – Sarcasm:
No surprise these oligarchs assert children should be indoctrinated – perhaps according the Spartan approach. If “child” is considered “puny and deformed” or not of defined Spartiate breed, the baby was thrown into a chasm – along with those children whose could not afford to be sent to the Agoge (schools where they were taught to kill). Spartan citizenship was commitment to fund the oligarchical education system and total commitment to turn them into machines devoting themselves to one single aspect of “Sparta” life (May Day Parades). Their education was evalutated and demonstrated by laconical communications – “I hate Trump and all Trump non-haters
Thank you Mayor Brandon Johnson and the CTU helots (state-owned enslaved non-Spartan locals) for reconstructing history.
@Arnold
This didn’t just happen. Large numbers of people didn’t pay attention to anything whatsoever for far too long. They still aren’t paying attention. 🤷🏻♂️
> I was long skeptical of voucher systems because of that commitment to public education.
The commitment is to free education for kids. That does not mean that the education must be done through a specific set of schools and controlled by a specific union.
It should mean exactly the opposite, that every kid gets the education that their parents want them to get
It’s reasonable to set some minimum standards of what should be included, but those should be functional standards, not political ones (a foreign language requirement falls into the political side of the line IMHO)
David Lang
OT. What luck for Swalwell as Mrs. Deremer is in the gossip column.
Administrators and State Dept of Ed must be complicit. Dock a day’s pay and retirement or add one day to end of year and protest to your heart’s contented. Put it on State ballot and don’t reelect the current State Superintendent.
Stop covering protests. Boycott protest coverage. Is this speech or disruption of business as conduct. Impeach, protest, impeach, protest…disinterested.
Before the advent of teacher unions, public school teachers were among the most patriotic of of citizens. Then when teacher unions became all-pervasive in the early 1960’s, they switched loyalty from their country to the unions which promised them financial rewards, freedom from control of result-oriented administrators, and political power. The public teachers proved easy to corrupt.
Actually were still more patriotic than you. Go pound sand karen
“Were”.? Yup, you must be a teacher!!
There are still gobs of great teachers in our public schools, ones who are staying away from leftist politics. Let’s not take the beliefs and warped priorities of the SJW activists and paint ALL teachers as thinking the same.
Yes, we have a huge problem to solve. But, some of those currently teaching are neutrals or allies. It is a collossal mental blunder to classify allies and neutrals as “with the enemy” by paranoid association.
Oh no we’re all very far to the left. We’re just way more patriotic than pretty much anyone in these comments.
So the juvenile parasite is a teacher, that explains so much. It explains why he is a nasty juvenile, a far left half-wit, why he is on here all day while not actually teaching students and why he can’t spell, use logic, write or think straight.
HullBobby,
Nah. We are MAGA. We are taking what they have tried to ruin with their anti-America policies and Make America Great Again.
MAGA? Delusional more like it. You’re a complete idiot and your comments prove it.
You’ just some anon POS.
@pbinca providing statistical evidence in confirmation of your statement “There are still gobs of great teachers in our public schools” would be helpful.
Having watched my children go through these systems and staffing Ivy League institutions, I’ve found experientially Prof. Turley may have more accurate findings (see below).
While I completely support freedom of thought and education, we know those teachers you claim to have found keep their heads within the trench and their mouths too. If they have the courage to promote anything other than “progressive” indoctrination – they do so knowing their career in teaching is limited and still only speak as could be interpreted otherwise ONLY after closing the classroom door.
https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/21/study-yale-has-eliminated-all-republican-faculty-from-27-departments/
Good point.
“It was a CTU delegation that went to Venezuela during the Maduro regime to praise conditions under socialism.” Yet they came back. Why? Why not stay in Workers Paradise? Hypocrites.
It was a curated tour by the Venezuelan government. They only saw what the government wanted them to see. They did not “bring back socialist ideology” with them.
^^^from georgie, afraid to sign in as X cuz he knows he’ll be shot down, using “curated” from his plagiarized copy-and-paste
They’re not hypocrites. They just realized that they wouldn’t be very far up the food chain if they stayed. They couldn’t have that. So they came back here to the states where they could delude themselves into believing they are more than just flunkies. The funny thing is, if they actually get what they want, more than a few of them will find themselves standing against a wall t be executed on general principles. After all, that’s what happens to apostates and others who refuse to toe the party line.
I’m sure that most of these people are atheists. However, that doesn’t mean that they have no religion. They do. It has no god but it is a religion nevertheless. Their political doctrine is their religion. After all, they engage in the same practices that religions do. Excommunication for not following the doctrine to the letter, aka “cancelling.” Of course, the most telling behavior is the fact that they accept their beliefs on faith. They cannot, or will not, debate the issues using logic and evidence. The operate from the premise that their beliefs are a given so there is no need to validate their accuracy and no need to justify them to the “deplorables” on the right.
It is time to recognize that the fact that 3 in 5 children in the Chicago Public Schools can not read at grade level is not a failure of the public school system but is instead by design. The aim of the totalitarian state is to NOT have an educated population, especially an educated young, pliable segment of the population that they can easily mold into supplicants. Mao succeeded in doing so and left tens of millions dead or destitute along the way.
Or it could be a result of the Bell Curve…as much as it is hard to believe. People were not designed to live in a rat pile of concentrated stupidity. Good stewards of the land, do not build cornerstone to cornerstone. Biblical aspects aside, there are many things in the Bible that are common sense instruction for a good functioning society. Unfortunately, I believe we have lost that in our downward spiral.
Alan Dershowitz just announced that he has left the Democrat party…and is now a Republican. Jonathan Turley needs to be next judging by all of his columns. After Turley we need Fetterman to switch parties too.
Dershowitz? He’s an idiot. Turley will never switch parties, especially now since the Republican Party is not faring too well. They are not going to be very happy after the midterms.
Did he keep his underwear on?
Please hullbobby, we all should prefer the mentioned maintain their intellectual and moral integrity irrespective of the color jacket they wear. Using that to perform actions is assuredly favorable over changing the color their badge.
All of those you mentioned have demonstrated their value and values. Elephant or Donkey/Ass is just a cartoon character – .”Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks” is reflected in their actions.
[btw, right now, IMHO, Jonathan Turley and his constructionist approach to the rule of law coupled with experience and knowledge make him the finest choice for SCOTUS today – even if he is a bred, born, raised and current registered Democrat. At least he VOTES.]
When corporate employers, both large and small, leave Chicago, the city and its communistic leaders will have no choice but to change or go bankrupt
The article begins: “The Chicago Public Schools are facing a major truancy problem…among teachers”. My question is this: How much less can Chicago students possibly learn, when their “teachers” officially go missing?
Nuts
***************
NEW: Osseo Schools has confirmed to @AlphaNews
that its remodel project at Park Center Senior High includes a prayer room and that foot-washing stations are being added to Osseo Senior High School.
The district, located in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis, says the foot-washing plans “were included in updated plans after hearing from user groups on student needs.”
Remember when libs hated religion is schools.
Dustoff, it’s a Muslim majority district. Schools are not proselytizing islam or christianity. They are must making some basic accommodations even Christians would expect from their public schools. Christian students can already pray and bring their bibles to school. Did you not know that?
Right, X once again you reveal to all that you are truly a moron.
X, come on will ya. Prayer was banned in schools when I was in elementary school…and dinosaurs roamed the earth. They banned even putting up the Ten Commandments and yet you think it is fair to have Muslim prayer rooms? Geez, you really will defend anything as a way of trying to prove you could be a lawyer. But sadly…you can’t be.
Actually, Hullboby, prayer was never banned in schools; students have always been free to pray whenever they wish.
What you seem to be misunderstanding is that it’s simply public school staff who are prohibited from leading students in prayer. Students are—and always have been—welcome to pray or bring their Bibles, Qurans, or Torahs to school.
In a district where the majority of the population is Muslim, providing prayer rooms makes perfect sense—especially since they are the taxpayers funding the district.
Displaying the Ten Commandments is a different issue because it prioritizes one specific religion. If Sharia law and Jewish tenets were displayed alongside them, it would be perfectly legal.
OMG! George the expert educates us—-incorrectly!
Did you really say that george.
It’s OK for muslims (majority district) or not allowing this.
Lets see any school in a blue state allow Christianity rules.
You didn’t know they could do that? The taxpayers in that district approved of it. Because they are also Muslims. That does not mean Christians will be prohibited from using the room if they want to. It’s a basic accommodation that does not mean it is exclusively for Muslims. Come on man, I thought you were smarter than that.
Students have never been prohibited from praying in school or bringing their bibles or other religious books.
Sounds like a great opportunity for the Christian community to demand a prayer room for their children’s morning prayer group of the Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.
We already have a day for this… It’s called Labor Day and the schools are already closed. There is no justifiable reason to grant another paid holiday for an internationally recognized day that isn’t recognized in the US. This is just an excuse to work less for more money. At first I thought fine, trade this for Labor Day, but no… the CTU will never trade, they will only demand both. Sadly, the CPS is a lost school system, beyond repair. Choice and vouchers are the only solution to this. If CPS are so great, parents won’t leave and will gladly send their kids to the public schools and subsidize this insane behavior.
Michael Guo-Brennan,
” There is no justifiable reason to grant another paid holiday for an internationally recognized day that isn’t recognized in the US.”
Well said and spot on!!
Why not? May 1st is the original Labor Day date. The real one. We celebrate it in September because Grover Cleveland didn’t like that it was associated with violent unrest and communism. But they did get us our 8 hr workday and the weekends.
8 hours? No wonder you are here so often to spread your propaganda.
Most of us here are much more productive in the land of opportunity while you guys are melting your tractors because they take human jobs away (and feed pesky dissidents). Mandami should call his ‘grocery’ store Holodomart.
It’s probably no coincidence that Illinois is trotting out some of the more virulent Marxist dialog and proponents to the national stage. Anyone who would continue to dispute that Obama (ex-POTUS and former Senator from Illinois) was a consummate liar and card-carrying communist should take the time to read this:
Obama is anointing Mamdani as his Democratic successor
https://unherd.com/newsroom/obama-is-anointing-mamdani-as-his-democratic-successor/?edition=us
“Anyone who remembers Barack Obama’s meteoric rise to the top of American politics knows that he worked overtime trying to distance himself from charges of secret socialist loyalties. In 2026, though, Obama is happy to join forces with New York City’s socialist Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.”