Members of the Democratic Socialists of America have quietly gained leadership posts in K-12 education to push anti-capitalist and anti-Israel views on youngsters across the US, according to a parental rights watchdog group.
Parents Defending Education, a grassroots organization that backs the “restoration” of non-political schooling, has identified dozens of DSA members who have landed or sought top school board and teachers union positions in at least 15 states — from California to Kentucky and from New York to Texas.
“The Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, has long had the goal of using the K-12 system as a way to proselytize to a captive audience of other people’s children,” Parents Defending Education outreach director Erika Sanzi told The Post.
“Their anti-Jewish and anti-Israel messages in the K-12 context are not at all new but many more people have become aware of them since October 7th,” she added. “The DSA is poison in schools.”
The DSA promoted a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on Oct. 8 in New York. A demonstrator was seen displaying a swastika on their phone.
The DSA became infamous after boosting a hate-filled pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed an estimated 1,200 people — including 33 Americans.
The demonstration featured protesters burning and stomping on an Israeli flag and at least one flashing a swastika image on a phone to taunt counter-protesters who supported the Jewish state.
Socialism on the school boards
Over the past decade, at least 26 DSA members have either won or sought school board posts — and at least six of those have held leadership positions, according to Parents Defending Education, which notes that its list is not “exhaustive.”
One such example is in Republican-leaning Suffolk County, where Colin Palmer serves as the board president of the Riverhead Central School District.
“[DSA members] advocate for dismantling capitalism, pushing for the Green New Deal, defunding law enforcement, implementing critical race theory, and supporting minors seeking gender surgery without their parents’ consent. Their goal is to push these topics on children as young as 5 years old,” the report says.
One DSA member, Milwaukee Public Schools board official Missy Zombor, posted the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” on Oct. 22 of this year, according to a screenshot of her X account included in the report.
The slogan is widely understood to be a call for the extermination of the state of Israel and its citizens.
“I want to make it clear that I condemn terrorism and genocide. I denounce all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia,” Zombor told The Post Tuesday. “I mourn for the tens of thousands of innocent lives lost in this horrific war. I believe that both Palestinians and Israelis have a right to live freely ‘from the river to the sea’ and my statement comes from a deep concern about the deadly humanitarian crisis threatening the lives of civilians in the region –– especially children.”
In Los Angeles, at least two DSA members are on the board of the Unified School District, including Jackie Goldberg, its president. At least two others are vying for seats in next year’s election.
The local chapter of the DSA passed a resolution calling for the “Green New Deal for Public Schools LA” in 2021 and re-upped it the following year.
“We have an opportunity to join a national DSA campaign to advance anti-capitalist demands for green investment in public education; retrofitting schools to create healthy learning environments, calling on LAUSD and other county institutions to create pressure for green energy, and creating green union jobs in the process,” the resolution says.
Public education quickly emerged as a front in the culture wars. DSA’s influence in teachers’ unions.
Additionally, the report finds at least seven major teachers’ unions that either have some links to or key members who have worked with the DSA.
In Colorado, teacher and DSA member Bryan Lindstrom submitted a resolution to the Colorado Education Association, the largest union of educators in the state.
The resolution proposed that the CEA affirm “that capitalism requires exploitation of children” and state that the way to “fully address systemic racism (the school-to-prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new, equitable economic system.”
The resolution was approved with slightly tweaked language, but still stated that “capitalism inherently exploits children, public schools, land, labor, and resources” and was “in opposition to fully addressing systemic racism … climate change … patriarchy … education inequality and income inequality.”
I’m going on record now: At the end of the day it’s just my students and me in our classroom and we will be discussing race, class and gender in my history classes, regardless of what laws and policies people want to pass. Critical race theory is a component of everything I do
In June 2021, Lindstrom ripped conservative uproar over the teaching of critical race theory, calling it “the new Red Scare” and vowing to espouse such teachings in his classroom.
“I’m going on record now,” he wrote. “At the end of the day, it’s just my students and me in our classroom and we will be discussing race, class, and gender in my history classes, regardless of what laws and policies people want to pass. Critical race theory is a component of everything I do.”
“They [the DSA] have very deliberately partnered with teachers unions and worked to get on school boards and into classrooms and then they exploit these positions to push politically charged and even radical content on students,” Sanzi said.
Parents Defending Education fears that if the DSA goes unchallenged, the socialist org will dramatically influence the US political system.
Adults aren’t the only ones embracing the DSA. The group’s youth activist arm, Young Democratic Socialists of America, runs active or past student clubs in at least a dozen school districts across the country, according to the report.
YDSA pushes for various far-left objectives such as divesting schools from fossil fuels, defending “immigrants through campaigns for sanctuary campuses,” labor activism, and more.
DSA plans to keep up its K-12 push
In August, during the DSA’s 2023 convention, its governing body greenlit a resolution calling for more DSA candidates to run for school boards.
“The teacher movement is the tip of the spear of a revitalized labor movement and school board races are a clear way to build relationships with teacher unions by showing ourselves to be the strongest fighters for teachers and quality public education for all,” said the resolution, which emphasized backing “trans and queer rights, and to defending democracy” as well as countering “right-wing and neoliberal attacks on public schools.”
A DSA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Post also attempted to reach more than a dozen groups and individuals mentioned in the report, but either did not receive a response or the recipient declined to comment.
The new Parents Defending Education report on DSA penetration of K-12 schools comes as the House Committee on Education and the Workforce steps up scrutiny of higher education institutions
Republicans on the panel recently announced a probe of antisemitism on campus and have teased that deeper reforms to post-secondary education are in the works.
Parents Defending Education, a grassroots organization that backs the “restoration” of non-political schooling, has identified dozens of DSA members who have landed or sought top school board and teachers union positions in at least 15 states — from California to Kentucky and from New York to Texas.
“The Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, has long had the goal of using the K-12 system as a way to proselytize to a captive audience of other people’s children,” Parents Defending Education outreach director Erika Sanzi told The Post.
“Their anti-Jewish and anti-Israel messages in the K-12 context are not at all new but many more people have become aware of them since October 7th,” she added. “The DSA is poison in schools.”
The DSA promoted a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on Oct. 8 in New York. A demonstrator was seen displaying a swastika on their phone.
The DSA became infamous after boosting a hate-filled pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed an estimated 1,200 people — including 33 Americans.
The demonstration featured protesters burning and stomping on an Israeli flag and at least one flashing a swastika image on a phone to taunt counter-protesters who supported the Jewish state.
Socialism on the school boards
Over the past decade, at least 26 DSA members have either won or sought school board posts — and at least six of those have held leadership positions, according to Parents Defending Education, which notes that its list is not “exhaustive.”
One such example is in Republican-leaning Suffolk County, where Colin Palmer serves as the board president of the Riverhead Central School District.
“[DSA members] advocate for dismantling capitalism, pushing for the Green New Deal, defunding law enforcement, implementing critical race theory, and supporting minors seeking gender surgery without their parents’ consent. Their goal is to push these topics on children as young as 5 years old,” the report says.
One DSA member, Milwaukee Public Schools board official Missy Zombor, posted the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” on Oct. 22 of this year, according to a screenshot of her X account included in the report.
The slogan is widely understood to be a call for the extermination of the state of Israel and its citizens.
“I want to make it clear that I condemn terrorism and genocide. I denounce all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia,” Zombor told The Post Tuesday. “I mourn for the tens of thousands of innocent lives lost in this horrific war. I believe that both Palestinians and Israelis have a right to live freely ‘from the river to the sea’ and my statement comes from a deep concern about the deadly humanitarian crisis threatening the lives of civilians in the region –– especially children.”
In Los Angeles, at least two DSA members are on the board of the Unified School District, including Jackie Goldberg, its president. At least two others are vying for seats in next year’s election.
The local chapter of the DSA passed a resolution calling for the “Green New Deal for Public Schools LA” in 2021 and re-upped it the following year.
“We have an opportunity to join a national DSA campaign to advance anti-capitalist demands for green investment in public education; retrofitting schools to create healthy learning environments, calling on LAUSD and other county institutions to create pressure for green energy, and creating green union jobs in the process,” the resolution says.
Public education quickly emerged as a front in the culture wars. DSA’s influence in teachers’ unions.
Additionally, the report finds at least seven major teachers’ unions that either have some links to or key members who have worked with the DSA.
In Colorado, teacher and DSA member Bryan Lindstrom submitted a resolution to the Colorado Education Association, the largest union of educators in the state.
The resolution proposed that the CEA affirm “that capitalism requires exploitation of children” and state that the way to “fully address systemic racism (the school-to-prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new, equitable economic system.”
The resolution was approved with slightly tweaked language, but still stated that “capitalism inherently exploits children, public schools, land, labor, and resources” and was “in opposition to fully addressing systemic racism … climate change … patriarchy … education inequality and income inequality.”
I’m going on record now: At the end of the day it’s just my students and me in our classroom and we will be discussing race, class and gender in my history classes, regardless of what laws and policies people want to pass. Critical race theory is a component of everything I do
In June 2021, Lindstrom ripped conservative uproar over the teaching of critical race theory, calling it “the new Red Scare” and vowing to espouse such teachings in his classroom.
“I’m going on record now,” he wrote. “At the end of the day, it’s just my students and me in our classroom and we will be discussing race, class, and gender in my history classes, regardless of what laws and policies people want to pass. Critical race theory is a component of everything I do.”
“They [the DSA] have very deliberately partnered with teachers unions and worked to get on school boards and into classrooms and then they exploit these positions to push politically charged and even radical content on students,” Sanzi said.
Parents Defending Education fears that if the DSA goes unchallenged, the socialist org will dramatically influence the US political system.
Adults aren’t the only ones embracing the DSA. The group’s youth activist arm, Young Democratic Socialists of America, runs active or past student clubs in at least a dozen school districts across the country, according to the report.
YDSA pushes for various far-left objectives such as divesting schools from fossil fuels, defending “immigrants through campaigns for sanctuary campuses,” labor activism, and more.
DSA plans to keep up its K-12 push
In August, during the DSA’s 2023 convention, its governing body greenlit a resolution calling for more DSA candidates to run for school boards.
“The teacher movement is the tip of the spear of a revitalized labor movement and school board races are a clear way to build relationships with teacher unions by showing ourselves to be the strongest fighters for teachers and quality public education for all,” said the resolution, which emphasized backing “trans and queer rights, and to defending democracy” as well as countering “right-wing and neoliberal attacks on public schools.”
A DSA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Post also attempted to reach more than a dozen groups and individuals mentioned in the report, but either did not receive a response or the recipient declined to comment.
The new Parents Defending Education report on DSA penetration of K-12 schools comes as the House Committee on Education and the Workforce steps up scrutiny of higher education institutions
Republicans on the panel recently announced a probe of antisemitism on campus and have teased that deeper reforms to post-secondary education are in the works.
