Latest news with #DepartmentofDefenseEducationActivity
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Department of Defense sued over book removals, curriculum changes in its schools
A group of 12 students sued the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) over changes that have been made to curriculum and book removals in its schools. The lawsuit accuses the DODEA of eliminating curriculum that deals with subjects such as slavery, Native American history, and LGBTQ issues, taking books off shelves and canceling events the government says are promoting 'gender ideology' or 'divisive equity ideology.' The changes come after President Trump signed several executive orders aimed at the military, transgender people, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Military schools are under the direct control of the administration, which allows for implementation of these changes at a much quicker rate. 'Learning is a sacred and foundational right that is now being limited for students in DoDEA schools. The implementation of these [executive orders], without any due process or parental or professional input, is a violation of our children's right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities,' said Natalie Tolley, a plaintiff on behalf of her three children in the department's schools. 'I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity. The administration has now made that verboten in DoDEA schools,' she added. The 12 students, ranging from pre-K to 11th grade, represent six families stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan. The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Virginia and the ACLU of Kentucky in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. A DODEA spokesperson told The Hill that the department does not comment on ongoing litigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
16-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Department of Defense sued over book removals, curriculum changes in its schools
A group of 12 students sued the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) over changes that have been made to curriculum and book removals in its schools. The lawsuit accuses the DoDEA of eliminating curriculum that deals with subjects such as slavery, Native American history, and LGBTQ issues, taking books off shelves and canceling events the government says are promoting 'gender ideology' or 'divisive equity ideology.' This comes after President Trump signed several executive orders aimed at the military, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and transgender people. Military schools are under the direct control of the administration, which allows for implementation of these changes at a much quicker rate. 'Learning is a sacred and foundational right that is now being limited for students in DoDEA schools. The implementation of these [executive order]s, without any due process or parental or professional input, is a violation of our children's right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities,' said Natalie Tolley, a plaintiff on behalf of her three children in DoDEA schools. 'I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity. The administration has now made that verboten in DoDEA schools,' she added. The 12 students, ranging from pre-K to 11th grade, represent six families stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan. The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Virginia and the ACLU of Kentucky in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Whitewashing' the curriculum: ACLU takes aim at Department of Defense schools
An aerial view of the Pentagon on Oct. 28, 2018. (Photo by Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Quinn Hurt/Department of Defense) The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the U.S. Department of Defense over what it calls a sweeping campaign of censorship in public schools run for military families, including one in Virginia, accusing federal officials of banning books and curricula related to race, gender and civil rights in violation of students' First Amendment rights. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the ACLU National, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the ACLU of Virginia allege that the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth have systematically stripped school libraries and classrooms of age-appropriate, award-winning materials. These include canonical works about slavery, the civil rights movement, gender identity, and sexual orientation, which were removed following a series of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump earlier this year. The complaint, filed on behalf of eleven students at DoDEA schools around the world — including two at Crossroads Elementary in Quantico, Virginia — claims these actions have 'irreparably harmed' children by denying them access to essential knowledge and perspectives, solely on the basis of 'disfavored' political viewpoints. 'The Department of Defense Education Activity is quarantining library books and whitewashing curricula in its civilian schools,' the suit states. 'With no regard to how canonical, award-winning, or age-appropriate the material, DoDEA today is scrubbing references to race and gender from its libraries and lessons.' As of now, the Department of Defense has not responded to the lawsuit. The erasure campaign, according to the ACLU, stems directly from a trio of Trump administration executive orders — EOs 14168, 14185, and 14190 — aimed at purging 'gender ideology,' 'divisive concepts,' and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programming from all federal agencies, including the military school system. DoDEA operates 161 schools in the U.S. and overseas, serving more than 67,000 children of military and civilian Defense Department personnel. While DoDEA says the effort is about safeguarding children from 'radical indoctrination,' the plaintiffs argue the opposite is true and that students are being denied the opportunity to learn about foundational elements of American history and society. 'Learning is a sacred and foundational right that is now being limited for students in DoDEA schools,' said Natalie Tolley, a plaintiff on behalf of her three children. 'The implementation of these EOs, without any due process or parental or professional input, is a violation of our children's right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities,' Tolley said. 'I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity. The administration has now made that verboten in DoDEA schools.' In many schools, they say, books were pulled without notice and cultural events like Black History Month and Women's History Month were abruptly canceled. Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, emphasized that students in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools are entitled to the same constitutional protections as any other young people — regardless of their families' military ties. 'Students in DoDEA schools, though they are members of military families, have the same First Amendment rights as all students,' he said. Sykes described the current censorship push as particularly offensive, given the diversity and academic excellence of the DoDEA system. 'Like everyone else, they deserve classrooms where they are free to read, speak, and learn about themselves, their neighbors, and the world around them,' he said, adding that removing books and lessons that reflect the experiences of women, LGBTQ people, and people of color serves only a narrow political agenda. 'Our clients deserve better,' Sykes said, 'and the First Amendment demands it.' The suit includes detailed examples of books removed from shelves, including 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'Fahrenheit 451,' 'The Kite Runner,' 'Well-Read Black Girl,' and 'Julian is a Mermaid.' At least one AP Psychology course dropped an entire unit on gender and sexuality. In some cases, parents say they repeatedly requested a list of banned titles but were stonewalled by administrators. In one particularly revealing memo cited in the complaint, DoDEA officials instructed librarians to remove any books related to 'gender ideology' or 'discriminatory equity ideology' from student sections and place them into staff-only 'professional collections' for further review. The result, plaintiffs say, has been a chilling and confusing environment for both students and educators. 'Students' limited access to disfavored viewpoints will lead to a reduction in diversity of thought and critical thinking skills,' the lawsuit contends. 'Defendants' actions are impairing the ability of students to seek out independent research or self-study opportunities in school libraries.' The ACLU argues that DoDEA's censorship campaign violates legal precedent, particularly the Supreme Court's landmark 1982 decision in Island Trees School District v. Pico, which held that school officials cannot remove books from libraries simply because they disagree with their ideas. 'The First Amendment protects both the right to speak and the right to receive information,' the complaint says. 'Defendants' conduct infringes on students' right to receive information from DoDEA school books and libraries, free from partisan, political censorship.' The lawsuit seeks both declaratory and injunctive relief, asking the court to block the implementation of the executive orders as applied to public education, restore removed books and lesson materials, and affirm students' constitutional rights to access ideas and information. If successful, the case could reshape how federal agencies implement education policy, especially in schools where military and civilian communities intersect, and where the children of public servants are now at the center of a nationwide debate over who controls classroom content. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Julianne Moore slams Trump administration for banning children's book
Taking to Instagram the actress reported her 2007 book, Frecklface Strawberry had been removed from schools within the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) as part of Trump's plans, to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the armed services. "Freckleface Strawberry is a semi-autobiographical story about a seven-year-old girl who dislikes her freckles but eventually learns to live with them when she realizes that she is different 'just like everybody else.' It is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle…'
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The White House said book bans aren't happening. Now JD Vance's memoir is a target.
Vice President JD Vance's memoir became a political lightning rod that propelled him to office, but now 'Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis' has been caught up in a censorship controversy sparked by the White House. The 2016 bestseller, adapted for film by Netflix four years later, is one of over a dozen books reportedly pulled from the shelves of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) school libraries. The DoDEA runs 161 schools across the globe for children from active-duty U.S. military families and DoD civilian families. The agency has not outright banned 'Hillbilly Elegy,' but its officials have flagged the book for a compliance review, according to PEN America, a freedom of expression advocacy group. The pending review appears to be a case of 'soft censorship,' which occurs when officials temporarily pull books for evaluation, require parental permission for students to read, relocate materials to certain parts of libraries or impose other restrictions short of a ban. The claims of censorship come after President Donald Trump's administration issued executive orders prohibiting the Armed Forces from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), divisive concepts concerning race or sex, and 'gender ideology.' For similar reasons, DoDEA schools are reportedly no longer celebrating cultural heritage months like Black History Month or allowing trans students to play on sports teams or use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Schools have also scrubbed references to historical figures including Susan B. Anthony, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman from bulletin boards, multiple outlets have reported. Jessica Tackaberry, communications director for DoDEA's Europe region, where some of the censorship claims originated, said in a statement to The 19th that the agency is reviewing its current policies and instructional resources to comply with the White House's recent executive orders and Department of Defense guidance. 'At this time, we are conducting a review,' she said. 'No materials have been permanently removed from our school libraries pending completion of the review. During this period, materials under review will have access limited to professional staff.' Tackaberry would not confirm which books have been pulled from shelves or disclose when the compliance review period will end. DoDEA officials have a March 3 deadline to complete the review, according to Task & Purpose, which covers military news. On February 7, Rep. Jamie Raskin posted a memo to X addressed to teachers at a DoDEA school. The directive informed them that books 'related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics' will be removed from circulation so they can be assessed. It also advised the teachers to evaluate books in their classroom libraries for potential violations of recent executive orders. Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said his constituents are outraged that military families have been subjected to censorship. 'One asked a school official why they removed photos on the walls of Susan B. Anthony and Dr. King but not Leonardo DaVinci and was told: 'He was a real historical figure,'' he shared on X. Many of the books DoDEA schools reportedly flagged for review implicitly or explicitly promote diversity. That includes 'Hillbilly Elegy,' a race-conscious book in which Vance often likens the White Appalachian population to other marginalized groups, particularly the Black and Latino communities. At times, Vance revels in the diversity around him. Describing his experience in a constitutional law seminar at Yale Law School, Vance writes: 'We called ourselves the island of misfit toys, as there was no real unifying force to our team — a conservative hillbilly from Appalachia, the super smart daughter of Indian immigrants, a black Canadian with decades' worth of street smarts, a neuroscientist from Phoenix, an aspiring civil rights attorney born a few minutes from Yale's campus, and an extremely progressive lesbian with the fantastic sense of humor, among others — but we became excellent friends.' Discussing his time in the Marines, Vance recalls being pleasantly surprised by the diversity in his boot camp platoon. The members were White, Black and Hispanic; Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, atheist; rich and poor, he points out. The Trump administration has directed DoDEA schools to give their students a patriotic education that avoids divisive concepts related to race or sex. In 'Hillbilly Elegy,' Vance critiques the government by suggesting that the child welfare system lacks the cultural awareness to understand how Black, Latino and Appalachian families function. In these communities, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins play an influential role in children's lives rather than the nuclear family alone, Vance posits while discussing how his troubled mother almost lost custody of him. But social service agencies ignore this, he continues. They not only require extended family members to obtain licenses to become foster parents to their young kin but are also just as likely to place vulnerable youth with strangers than they are with blood relatives. 'In other words, our country's social services weren't made for hillbilly families, and they often made a bad problem worse,' Vance says. While the book makes no reference to transgender people, it discusses sexuality throughout — that of the author and of others. In fact, Vance, who convinced himself he was gay as a child, takes aim at the church for focusing more on the 'gay agenda' than on Christian character. The memoir's sympathetic portrayal of LGBTQ+ people and descriptions of substance use disorder would be enough to get the book banned in both red and blue states, if not in DoDEA schools. It is also littered with the F-word and other foul language — 'Do you want to suck dicks?' his grandmother asks him when Vance frets over his sexuality. The Office of the Vice President did not respond to The 19th's request for comment before publication. Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022 and sworn in as vice president in January. It's not as clear why the DoDEA has targeted other books, such as Oscar winner Julianne Moore's 2007 picture book 'Freckleface Strawberry.' Illustrated by LeUyen Pham, the children's book contains no references to race, gender or sexuality, but it tacitly celebrates diversity. The protagonist, who doesn't like how her red hair and freckles make her stand out, comes to appreciate these features. She realizes that her classmates also have unique characteristics, and she is shown playing with a diverse group of friends, including girls who appear to be Black and Asian American, though the book never calls out their race or ethnicity. 'Freckleface Strawberry is a semi-autobiographical story about a seven-year-old girl who dislikes her freckles but eventually learns to live with them when she realizes that she is different 'just like everybody else,'' explained Moore on Instagram, adding that she graduated from a Department of Defense-run school. 'It is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle, but are united by our humanity and our community.' PEN America reports that DoDEA officials also pulled an Advanced Placement psychology book because it includes a chapter on 'sexuality and gender' and a social studies lesson for fourth-graders called 'A Nation of Immigrants.' A publication for elementary school students called 'How Does Immigration Affect the US?' and a biography of a transgender man who served in the Civil War were also flagged. 'The removal of these titles is yet another indicator of the new administration's flippant and autocratic approach to K-12 education,' Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America's Freedom to Read program, said in a statement. News of censorship in DoDEA schools comes just weeks after the Trump administration denied that censorship is an issue in schools, calling such claims a 'hoax.' Instead, schools are simply removing materials that are obscene or grade level-inappropriate, the administration said in a January 24 press release announcing that the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights would not be investigating multiple claims of book banning. PEN America says that over the past three years, book bans have nearly reached McCarthy-era levels, referring to Sen. Joe McCarthy, who led the charge against communist influences in government, the arts and other parts of society during the 1940s and '50s. The organization has recorded almost 16,000 instances of book bans nationally since 2021. Other books PEN America says have been pulled for review from DoDEA schools: 'Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family' by Amy Ellis Nutt 'No Truth Without Ruth' written by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Nancy Zhang 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley 'An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States' by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 'Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves' by Glory Edim 'War: How Conflict Shaped Us' by Margaret MacMillan Instructional materials for sixth graders for Black History Month The post The White House said book bans aren't happening. Now JD Vance's memoir is a target. appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
