Mother outraged by video of teacher leading preschoolers in anti-Biden chant
A Riverside County mother is speaking out after video emerged of her daughter’s preschool teacher leading students in a chant against President Biden.
“What do we want to do with him?” the teacher can be heard asking the students, who are 4- and 5-year-olds, in the video.
“We want him out!” the students yelled.
Christina McFadden’s daughter was among the students captured in the video, which was taken in February at Turning Point Christian School in Norco.
School officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Reached Tuesday, McFadden said the teacher posted the video on a communication app used by the school. When she saw it, she said, her first reaction was fear.
“Fear that this was sent to 14 families with differing views. Fear that it appeared to be a political propaganda video and that it would spread as such with my daughter front and center,” she said.
California’s preschool plan could put the state into a position of national leadership on early childhood learning.
McFadden, who declined to identify the teacher, said the video was removed from the app within hours. In its place, a school administrator left a message for the parents who had received it.
“Earlier today a video was posted that has since been deleted as it did not share our school and church philosophy of honoring and respecting authority including those in government position,” the message read, according to a screenshot provided to The Times.
“We are sorry for any misunderstanding this could of (sic) created. With courtesy towards the families of our campus and the children in the classroom I am asking you to please not share with others or post the video on any social media platform,” the message said.
McFadden posted the video on Facebook and TikTok anyway — noting that she felt it was important to alert other parents at the school of its content. She said she also wanted to bring awareness to what she described as a lack of enforced standards in early childhood classrooms.
“This video was planned, practiced, recorded and the teacher was so comfortable with it she sent it to 14 sets of parents,” she wrote in her Facebook post. “She was so proud of this content what else did she teach my child this year?
Tyrone Howard, a professor of education at UCLA, said the California Department of Education does set some standards for preschool education, but private schools often operate by a “slightly different set of guidelines,” which can include setting their own curriculum and standards.
Yet even state guidelines for preschools might not cover such an incident, he said, noting that they tend to govern topics such as student-teacher ratios and don’t often delve into teacher conduct.
“This incident, for me, at least speaks to the need for some teacher code of conduct, or some standard around indoctrination,” he said, adding that he was “startled” when he saw the video.
“That was shocking because that took some rehearsing, that took some practicing, that took some coordination. That was really, in my opinion, beyond the pale,” he said.
It was not clear whether the school took any disciplinary action against the teacher. McFadden said school officials told her the teacher would remain in the classroom because she was “repentant and has learned from her mistake.”
Turning Point is a nonprofit Christian school that offers several programs for preschool through sixth grade, according to its website.
The school declined to provide McFadden with the lesson plan from that day and denied her request for tuition reimbursement, she said.
Her daughter started at a new school at the end of February, she added.
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