The teacher’s classroom discussions are guided by four principles: the 12th graders’ comments must be pertinent, forward-looking, intelligent and concise.
Topics range from the Great Depression to Viktor Frankl, the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and current events. His students call him “Mr. G” and his name is being withheld to allow him to share freely. During class, Mr. G serves as the moderator, asking questions during lulls in the two-hour Socratic seminar.
Eight years ago, he did the same as a student. At an Utah preparatory school, Mr. G developed a learning mantra that he now applies to his teaching: “dare to be disturbed.”
“It’s disturbing for us to sometimes be confronted with paradigms, or with art or with books or with history, that feels very foreign to us,” said the teacher, who started the role in August. “We have to hold space for that discomfort — it’s in that discomfort that we’re able to grow.
”But discomfort extends beyond the four walls of Mr. G’s “oasis” for open and honest self-expression with President Donald Trump back in the White House and Linda McMahon newly confirmed as secretary to lead the U.S. Department of Education, which may not exist for much longer.
In deep-red states such as Utah, and even within school districts in Democratic strongholds, current and future educators are wondering how to safeguard students — and their jobs — under Trump’s executive orders to roll back protections for LGBTQ+ students, expand private school choice, deport undocumented immigrants and restrict how race is taught in schools.
Annenberg Media interviews with K-12 educators, policy experts and nonprofit leaders across the country — in red and blue states — after the election revealed a similar sentiment: What a classroom looks and feels like will change, but the extent of change is uncertain.
Most of Trump’s actions were anticipated; his speed and intensity were not.
McMahon, the former head of the Small Business Administration and wrestling executive, outlined the department’s “final mission” on Monday. In a memo posted to the Education Department’s website, she reiterated Trump’s campaign promises to reinstate a “patriotic education” and limit discussions of race, sex, gender and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in schools.
Shutting down the entire Education Department itself would require an act of Congress and a supermajority in the Senate, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans.
Still, Trump told reporters last month he hopes McMahon will eventually “put herself out of a job,” and there are reports that a draft executive order to eliminate the agency is circulating in Washington.
Julie Marsh, who has taught and researched education policy at the University of Southern California for 14 years, said the idea of eliminating the Education Department is more “symbolic” than anything. Republicans have proposed getting rid of it almost since its inception, sending education “back to the states” and enacting universal school choice to “restore parental rights.”
The federal government accounts for about 14% of public K-12 education funding, primarily supporting low-income students and special education programs. State and local authorities have more power over education — and many of the reforms Trump seeks are already enforced under Republican governors and state laws.
Marsh said she is more concerned about how the Trump administration will “weaponize civil rights enforcements” in classrooms and courts nationwide.
A different kind of Civil Rights
The day after the Nov. 5 election, a transgender student approached Mr. G with an apology that caught him off guard.
The student said that he might be “a little bit more quiet” that day because he had a lot on his mind. Mr. G said the student is usually very engaged and on top of his schoolwork. He privately confided his fears in the solace of his teacher’s desk.
Both ended up crying.
“In my classes, [students] have seen the kind of future that I am, and feel not only that I hold space for their experiences, but that in many ways: I’m a direct reflection of their experiences too,” said Mr. G, who is gay. The teacher said he doesn’t explicitly mention his sexuality in class, but that he’s “99% sure that all of my seniors know.”
In deep-red Utah, where roughly three out of four people have religious affiliations, the ability to express contradictory beliefs, past experiences with hate crimes, self-harm and “all sorts of hard topics” is critical, said Mr. G. The end product often is “strong” and “vulnerable,” he said. Students take pride in sharing their work with the class.
The Office for Civil Rights, housed under the Department of Education, investigates complaints related to discrimination based on race, gender, disability and age in schools. Marsh suggested that Trump could use the office to “advance an agenda” and target transgender students instead of protecting them.
Trump pledged while campaigning he would revoke President Joe Biden’s expansion of Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity “on Day One” of his presidency. On Inauguration Day, Trump followed through and signed an executive order recognizing only “two sexes, male and female.”
From high school to elementary
Holly Kong, a lifelong Southern California resident, attended grades K-12 at the Chino Valley Unified School District.
She’s studying at the University of California, Riverside to become an elementary school teacher, and spends her Fridays volunteering at a kindergarten classroom in her old school district.
Still, Kong doesn’t know if she could ever teach in Chino Valley.
The school board passed a policy requiring staff to notify parents if a student uses pronouns or bathrooms designated for a gender other than the one assigned at birth in July 2023. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School District a month later. After more than a year of back and forth, the policy was permanently blocked by a state judge in September.
For supporters of the district’s policy, such regulations are seen as a way to give parents more oversight over their child’s education. There are parents across the country who fear liberal teachers are trying to indoctrinate their kids with “woke” ideology.
Chino Valley Unified President Sonja Shaw told the Associated Press that state officials have repeatedly “shut parents out of their children’s lives.”
But for Kong, it’s callous and cruel to shut children out of their own lives.
“School should be a safe space,” said Kong. She constantly debates whether to look for a job elsewhere or return to her former school district to try and enact change under Trump.
“You think teaching is standing in front of a classroom and teaching kids — like math and the ABCs — but I think there’s a lot of hidden things that aren’t talked about,” said Kong, who will graduate in 2026.
Recently, Kong learned she should always keep lollipops in her future classroom. If there’s ever an active shooter, the lollipops could keep her elementary schoolers quiet and calm, ensuring they don’t cry.
“It’s kind of terrifying to know [something like] that could happen to me,” Kong said.
The ‘Republican Playbook’ for education
On the campaign trail, Trump said he will pull federal funding for any school pushing “critical race theory,” an academic framework of analyzing American history through the lens of systemic racism, “transgender insanity” or “any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children.”
Trump’s executive order to end “radical indoctrination” fulfills his campaign promises, following in the footsteps of other Republicans.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a close ally of Trump who previously served as his White House press secretary, signed the LEARNS Act into law soon after taking office in 2023.
The sweeping legislation established a voucher program where families can receive almost $7,000 to send their children to private schools. The LEARNS Act raised teachers’ salaries but revoked several workplace protections, including salary structures and due process rights for dismissal.
The law also prohibits classroom instruction of critical race theory, sexual orientation and gender identity.
Judith Yañez, who taught math for five years in Arkansas, calls it the “Republican Playbook” for education.
An empty home
There is no clear guidance on what is legally justifiable on school grounds regarding mass deportations under an executive order.
Trump’s administration rescinded a longstanding policy that prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from conducting unauthorized raids at “sensitive” locations, such as places of worship, hospitals and schools.
More than 7% of K-12 students nationwide have undocumented parents. Education and nonprofit leaders are most worried about the psychological toll on families.
Students not attending school. Parents not sending their kids to school. Or worst of all, a child coming home from school to an empty home.
Yañez is a child of undocumented immigrants herself. She said she grew up attending “failing schools,” where Yañez said she often felt “stuck in the corner to learn by myself.”
Yañez went back to school in her early 20s to become a math teacher, determined to rebuild her skillset and future. Navigating the system as a young teacher and single mother — which was “trial by fire,” she said — drove her to found the nonprofit, RootED. The northwest Arkansas-based organization works to help immigrant families understand and access their educational options.
“Within the Latino immigrant community, the kids become the cultural brokers,” Yañez said. Her parents immigrated to Los Angeles from Mexico, then moved to Arkansas seeking economic mobility. “How do we shift that back to the parents? So they feel empowered … and understand what is needed to advocate [for their kids] throughout not just school, but all these systems that exist,” said Yañez.
After November 5, the only conversations Yañez has with parents now are concerning the power of attorney: “If I get deported, who gets my child?”
Yañez said there’s no trust in any government agency within the undocumented community, especially public schools in deep-red states. She said she has no doubt that Sanders and other Republican governors will cooperate with all of Trump’s immigration mandates. She also finds Trump’s executive order to designate English as the official language this week “particularly alarming” for families and students to access essential information in Spanish.
“I don’t think people really, truly understand the trauma this is causing — even [for] their children,” Yañez said.
David and Goliath
Nehemiah Frank — the founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of “The Black Wall Street Times” based in Tulsa, Oklahoma — has an archnemesis.
Frank’s family survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, where a violent white mob destroyed Greenwood, a prosperous Black district, and killed hundreds of its residents. Now, his newspaper is published in the same historic neighborhood.
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s education superintendent, has been Frank’s adversary since taking office in January 2023. He has earned national media coverage for his attempts to incorporate religion in classrooms.
Walters purchased more than 500 Bibles for Advanced Placement government courses in November and established a new department to “promote religious liberty and patriotism.” He also mandated that all public schools incorporate the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, into their curriculums for grades 5 through 12 in July.
Walters, a Republican, is a staunch Trump ally.
The state Department of Education banned the Black Wall Street Times from interviews with Walters, citing posts made by Frank on his personal X account that called the superintendent “trash.” Officials also blocked Oklahoma City television station KFOR from access to public State Board of Education meetings and press conferences, but the station sued and won back access under a federal settlement in December.
Frank called Walters “an extremist” who is “more emboldened” under Trump.
“I’ve never seen anything like it ever in my life,” said Frank, who used to teach middle school English, literature and history at the Sankofa School of Creative and Performing Arts. “Teachers are afraid and books are being snatched off of shelves… [Children] should learn about that history.”
Frank said Trump’s strategy is to overwhelm and distract educators from taking action. He worries about the future of civil rights, public schools and lesson plans.
“[If] Black history programming is seen as DEI, will funding be halted from those schools with no oversight from the federal government?” Frank said.
Frank said he knows the impact representation in curriculums can have, recalling one student from his first month of teaching: an 8th grader who never seemed to care or pay attention in class.
One day, Frank read aloud from “Up from Slavery” by Booker T. Washington. He reached the part where Washington finally arrives at the gates of Hampton University, after a long, grueling journey without proper food, water or shelter.
“The sight of [the building] seemed to give me new life,” wrote Washington. “I resolved to let no obstacle prevent me from putting forth the highest effort.”
Frank said he remembers “seeing the emotion in his [student’s] eyes” as the middle schooler engaged in the class for the first time.
“Wow,” said the 8th grader. “He wanted to go that bad.”
From that day on, Frank said he never had issues with the student; his classroom discussions prospered.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional context.