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A Madison, Wisconsin, high school teacher allegedly told a student she must publicly identify her political leanings for a class assignment despite the student’s concerns that doing so could subject her to harassment from classmates.
Moms for Liberty Wisconsin chair Scarlett Johnson said the incident took place at Middleton High School during a U.S. government class.
According to Johnson, students were instructed to write their names on red, blue or gray squares and identify themselves as Republican, Democrat or Independent. The assignment required students to present their choices publicly in the school hallway.
One student declined to participate after hearing older students point to the red squares and say, “All those people are Nazis,” Johnson wrote in a post on X.
A government course activity at a Madison, Wisconsin, high school allegedly required students to identify political issues they wanted to change and their political party before stapling their identification onto a bulletin board. (iStock)
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The student later explained her concerns to her history teacher, Andrew Hartman, but said he dismissed them and told her she would be required to complete the assignment in the next class.
“When she told her history teacher she was afraid — she was visibly shaking — and explained what she’d heard, he dismissed her fears and ordered her to participate anyway,” Johnson posted.
In a follow-up post, Johnson shared more details from the student’s written account of what transpired.
The student recalled being asked to list three political issues that she wanted to resolve, such as immigration or abortion, and explain why, in front of classmates, before posting her paper with her political affiliation to the bulletin board.
Symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Immediately after the presentations, she said she observed students she believed to be seniors pointing to her friend’s paper on the board and remarking, “All those people are Nazis.” She told her teacher she refused to do the assignment, but he told her she was wrong about the comments she had heard and said she would be completing the assignment the next class.
Hartman did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District confirmed the assignment was part of the curriculum for a semester-long civics and government course that has been taught at Middleton High School for more than a decade.
“As part of the semester-long government simulation process, students declared a party affiliation (Democrat, Republican, Independent) in order to form leadership structures and caucuses,” the district said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The Capitol building is seen from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 9, 2024 (Aaron Schwartz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Teachers of the course follow a prescribed curriculum, which has been taught at our high school for 12 years. It has long been a popular class among students that emphasizes student agency, civil discourse, and a collaborative approach,” the statement continued.
The district said students who requested to opt out of the activity were allowed to do so and denied that any teacher threatened or intimidated students. However, officials acknowledged that the public nature of the assignment made some students uncomfortable.
“Through our conversations with students and their families, we learned publicly declaring a party affiliation as part of the course has made some students uncomfortable. Because of safety concerns and student input, we have removed the political spectrum display where party declarations were documented. Going forward, students in the course will continue to be given the opportunity to make a party declaration privately,” the district said.
It added that the district is “actively and aggressively investigating any reports of student-to-student harassment as a result of participation in this activity” and said that an anonymous harassment reporting tool is available to students.
Moms for Liberty later shared that parents from “multiple” school districts within Dane County had come forward to say their children were given the same assignment, with one parent calling the activity divisive.
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