Action Steps for Depoliticizing the Classroom

The guidance here includes the most immediate actions — talking with your child at home and raising concerns with a teacher — as well as broader advocacy for lasting change at the district and policy level. You don’t need to do all of it. Start where your concern is most urgent and build from there.

Concerned about what’s happening in your child’s classroom and want to send an e-mail? Use NAVI’s parent-approved templates.

Action Steps At School

Most parents feel something is off before they can explain exactly why. These steps will help you move from a vague concern to a clear action to support your child.

Gather information.

Take time to understand what’s happening in your child’s classes before you reach out to the teacher.
Check online learning platforms like Google Classroom or Schoology, and download or screenshot assignments or materials that raise questions.
Review your child’s worksheets, slides, homework, reading assignments, and reflection prompts.
For help spotting problematic materials, use NAVI’s Action Guides:

Contact the classroom teacher.

Ask your child’s teacher for the lesson materials such as slides, videos, or handouts, the lesson objectives, and where the lesson comes from. (Teachers often deliver lessons that are outside of the curriculum.) A friendly and constructive approach helps make these kinds of requests less intimidating. For help drafting your message to the teacher, use NAVI’s sample emails.
Focus on academics and your child’s learning. Avoid making any assumptions, bringing up politics, or assuming personal bias.
Teachers are more willing to respond and make changes when they understand you’re looking to partner and support your child’s learning, not attack them or their teaching practices.
After the conversation, email the teacher, reviewing what you discussed in order to create a record. When emailing, keep your tone and your message constructive and neutral. Remember, the key is always: curious, not confrontational.

Escalate thoughtfully if needed.

If the issue continues or if the teacher cannot address it, move up the chain to the principal, assistant superintendent of curriculum, superintendent, and finally, the school board.
Bring your notes and summaries of conversations.
You may have the right to opt your child out of certain lessons or activities. To exercise this right:
1. You can use this sample email.
2. You may need to submit your district’s opt-out form (or ask how to proceed if no form exists).
3. Keep a copy of all paperwork, and follow up to ensure your request is honored.

Document everything.

When advocating in schools, one of the most effective tools is keeping a clear record of your conversations with teachers and administrators, as well as what you see and hear around school.
Documentation strengthens your credibility, preserves details, shows a pattern, and moves school boards and other authorities to pay attention. It also helps as evidence if concerns need to be raised with the district, the media, or for legal purposes.
1. Save copies of assignments, emails, and handouts.
2. Keep a journal, with accurate dates, of what your child tells you about class activities, guest speakers, or assemblies.
3. Include notes on conversations and interactions with teachers and administrators, with dates and main points.
4. Follow up in writing after these conversations and interactions in order to confirm and capture what was discussed.

Learn more about exercising your rights around your children’s education.

Action Steps At Home

It can be confusing for kids to hear one message at school and another at home. These steps will help you stay grounded and give your children the confidence and tools they need to think for themselves.

Talk regularly about what's happening in school.

Ask open questions: “What happened at school today?” “Did anything stand out?” Listen first before reacting.
Notice repeated themes about identity, privilege, or oppression, and if something sounds off, stay calm and curious: “Tell me more about what the teacher/classmate said.”
Pay attention to field trip details, plays, or art exhibits that your child may be attending.

Explain and model your family’s values.

Use age-appropriate language to discuss respect, tolerance, and individual worth. Celebrate the importance of individual expression. Emphasize that they are more than group labels or identity categories.
Prepare your children to engage with different viewpoints in a respectful manner by encouraging curiosity, playing devil’s advocate, and modeling dialectical thinking (both/and) as opposed to black and white thinking (either/or).
Demonstrate that people can have good-faith disagreements on difficult topics and still maintain positive connections.
Convey the importance of civic values. Take your children to visit civic centers such as state houses and memorials to observe and honor our democratic process and the diverse individuals who have served to protect our democracy.

Help your child handle pressure to agree at school.

Make it clear they never need to say something they don’t believe to fit in.
Reassure your children that they don’t have to share personal identity details.
Practice simple phrases: “I’m not comfortable answering that.” “I’d like more than one perspective.” “I see it differently.”
Let them know they can tell you if they feel singled out or shamed.

Offer strong, balanced books and media to strengthen what they see at home.

Provide books and films that highlight courage, fairness, and shared humanity.
Include stories showing America’s complexity, both failures and progress.
If a school book feels one-sided, pair it with another perspective and talk about both.

Recommended Books for Children and Teens

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How Can You Help Make a Broader Change?

The steps above address what you can do right now for your own child. The guidance that follows is for when you’re ready to work toward broader change — in your school’s policies, your district’s practices, and your state’s standards. This kind of advocacy takes more time and coordination, but it’s how individual concerns become lasting reform. Finding even one other parent who shares your concerns is the best place to start.

Develop Relationships. Find an Ally.

Build connections. Reach out to teachers, administrators, and school leaders using available contact information. Keep a professional and friendly tone while asking for and sharing information to help build positive relationships.
Find other parents. Connect — ideally in person — and share general concerns about lessons or materials that seem one-sided or unbalanced. Share your concerns about what is happening in the classroom by pointing out lessons or materials that present only one point of view or use biased sources. Keep your concerns general – “this doesn’t sit right with me” or “I’m not sure this is balanced” – to open the door with other parents. Use the sample email to reach out to other parents.
Start with common ground. Focus on shared values like academic rigor, fairness, free expression, and the principle that schools should view all students as equally valuable members of your community. Stay away from politics.
Act together. There is strength in numbers — concerns raised by multiple parents are harder to dismiss and more likely to lead to meaningful engagement with school leaders.

Learn about your school’s performance.

Data on school performance can help you understand the district’s priorities.

Most states make data on your school’s performance — standardized test scores, graduation rates, discipline data, teacher qualifications, and other metrics — available online.
Review your school’s data or report card to measure its performance relative to other schools in your state and nationwide. This can help you advocate for better outcomes for all students.

Advocate for School Policies that Depoliticize Classrooms

1. Learn about your school district’s policies and your state’s education standards. Understanding the basics will make you a more effective advocate for change.

Understand the difference between state standards and school curriculum. See NAVI’s Action Guide: Can They Teach That? Curricular Standards in K-12 Setting.
Learn about your school’s grade-specific curriculum and programming so you can understand what children are learning on and off the curriculum.
Request curriculum and materials from the school or district using this sample email. If these are not readily available, you may need to file a formal request through a Freedom of Information Act or right-to-know policies. See NAVI’s Action Guide: Basic Guidelines to FOIA and Template: Federal FOIA Requests.

2. Ask your district or school to adopt or enforce policies to help depoliticize classrooms.

Institutional Neutrality

Encourage your district to adopt an Institutional Neutrality Policy. School boards that adopt institutional neutrality policies affirm that schools and teachers should not take official positions on contentious public issues. An institutional neutrality policy ensures that the school remains welcoming to all, regardless of viewpoint or identity, and encourages students to think freely and engage respectfully. Use NAVI’s sample letter and templates.

Unbiased Classrooms

Encourage your district to adopt a Controversial Topics Policy – or to enforce the one it already has – to keep classroom instruction aligned with the district’s educational mission. School boards should ensure that teachers are trained in teaching controversial issues responsibly — with evidence, multiple perspectives, and civil disagreement. Contested questions should be treated as contested, not settled, and students should not be pushed toward one political view or another. Use NAVI’s sample letter and templates, and see Action Guide: More Than One Side — Teaching Critical Thinking Through Viewpoint Diversity.

Curriculum Transparency

Curriculum transparency policies ensure that families can access curricular materials and partner with schools in supporting their children’s learning. As part of transparency, you can ask for a clear, open review process before any new lessons, curricula, or outside speakers are approved. Schools should avoid bringing in organizations that push activism tied to a single political agenda. You can use this sample email to propose that your school or district adopt stronger transparency policies.

Limits on Classroom and Email Use

Insist on policies that prohibit classrooms and professional email accounts from being used for advancing ideological or political causes.

Antisemitism Policies

Encourage the use of the Screening Out Hate Tool to help respond to incidents of hatred against Jewish people.

Civics Education

Encourage the teaching of civics, which, along with evidence-based reasoning, critical thinking, and civil discourse, can allow for healthy and open debate that will empower students to become responsible citizens.

Get Involved

Consider influencing programs and education policy in your school system.

Join the PTA and other parent groups.

Involved parents can develop close working relationships with administrators and key staff and help establish a shared vision for the school. Outside of formal, perhaps more high-stakes communications, school leaders and decision makers may be more receptive to your concerns. Explain to school leaders how shared values unite our pluralist nation of diverse races, ethnicities, and creeds.

Run for school board.

Consider running for school board to shape policy directly. School boards make important decisions about curriculum, transparency, teacher training, district policies, and the overall direction of the schools. Talk with current or former board members, learn how local campaigns work, and connect with people who can help with outreach, fundraising, and community engagement.

Parent-Approved Emails

Copy and customize these clear, objective template drafts to start a constructive conversation with your school.