Chambana Sun

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) doesn’t see how Chicago Public Schools system officials can justify a lesson a teacher at Polaris Charter Academy in Humboldt Park recently shared with her young students.

“Teachers should not be teaching kids that violence is acceptable,” Halbrook told the Chambana Sun. “This is wrong. It is not the role of teachers to force their radical ideology onto students.”

Several media outlets have reported second-grade teacher Katy Heavener recently told her students that rioting is sometimes part of protest when she shared a video from some of the rioting that broke out across much of the country following the police killing of George Floyd.

“There is no place for violence in our society,” Halbrook added. “I condemned the riots on Jan. 6th and I condemned the violence last summer in cities across the country. Teachers should not be teaching kids that violence is acceptable.”

Halbrook argues the fact that the Polaris curriculum has progressive activism built into it for its 434 students doesn’t justify Heavener going as far as she did.

“It is not the role of teachers to force their radical ideology onto students,” he said. “What we need is an emphasis on reading, writing, math, science and history. We need to teach kids the principles and ideas upon which our nation was founded. We need to take the politics out of the classroom and do a better job of educating our students.”