Jessica Henninger’s three younger children attend a school run by the Department of Defense Education Activity. That agency oversees 161 schools globally, including in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the Henningers live.
“My husband fights for our constitutional rights and our freedoms in this country, and to see those rights being taken away from my children was just absolutely something that I could not abide,” Henninger said.
Henninger’s children are three of the 12 represented by the ACLU in suing the government over its implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. One of the orders directs the Department of Defense to review all of its books, curriculum and faculty for “gender ideology” and “divisive concepts.”
The ACLU said in the lawsuit the orders have caused book and curriculum purges that violate the students’ First Amendment rights. Henninger said she’s never seen this level of political interference in her children’s education before.
“I want my younger children to be able to have the same experience that my older children did,” Henninger said.
Henninger said there’s no school board to go to and because her husband is employed by the Department of Defense, speaking out is scary.
“We very much have to worry about retaliation and retribution, and so there's a lot of stress and anxiety around that for a lot of people,” Henninger said.
One of Henninger’s children is in 4th grade. A piece of curriculum teachers were told to remove was a reading titled “A Nation of Immigrants.” A 5th grade reading called “How Does Immigration Affect the U.S.” was also marked “do not use.”
“When you have a president who is deporting immigrants, and his whole presidency was kind of propped on that, his whole presidential run — and then when you see them coming into the libraries and removing those items, I think common sense would dictate that, yeah, two plus two equals four,” Henninger said. “That's definitely politically motivated.”
It’s unclear what books exactly have been removed from DoDEA schools. Clarksville Now reported in February that Fort Campbell librarians removed any books that contain references to slavery, the civil rights movement and anything else related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I do feel that it's important for my children to have a realistic picture of our American history and who we are as a people and where we came from,” Henninger said. “That includes maybe the not so pretty parts: the Trail of Tears and slavery and the fight for civil rights and all of that. It is our true history, and we can't whitewash that away.”
Henninger said not all the parents she’s spoken to are on board with the lawsuit. She said some don’t see it as a problem, but others have supported her.
“What this really boils down to is just wanting our children in the military to continue to receive the first class education that they have always received, no matter who is in office, what political affiliation they have, and for their constitutional rights to be upheld,” Henninger said.
A spokesperson for DoDEA said he cannot comment on active litigation but the military schools are committed to providing an “exceptional educational experience.” He pointed to the top marks the system has received on the Nation’s Report Card for the last four years.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
