A two-day conference featuring socialist, anti-war and pro-Palestinian activists at Chicago Teachers Union headquarters has drawn criticism from education advocates who say the gathering reflects priorities far removed from the classroom.

The event was organized by AWAN, the Anti-War Action Network, according to its website. Conference workshops addressed protest and media tactics, approaches to port workers, tracking weapons shipments, fundraising strategies and coalition building with labor and community groups in Latin America and Africa.

What the Right Is Saying

North American Values Institute Chief Advocacy Officer Josh Weiner said the conference demonstrates priorities disconnected from educational mission.

"I'm not sure that has much to do with empowering teachers in the classroom," Weiner said. "We've seen the barriers and boundaries between this political activism and the classroom break down in a lot of different circumstances. Certainly, the classroom is not the priority. It's a political agenda that's very extreme."

Weiner argued that children are being taught views inconsistent with American civic education.

"Public education is meant to really teach foundational knowledge and formulate our future citizens of our country and to prepare students to be productive, happy, successful citizens within our country," he said. "Our country is a democratic capitalist system, albeit imperfect, but it still is."

Weiner accused the union of maintaining distance from formal sponsorship while sharing organizational networks with conference organizers.

"CTU didn't sponsor this conference, they weren't officially a part of it, but that's on purpose to keep themselves at arm's length of something that, clearly, they've been in the same circles as," he said. NAVI also noted that CTU Vice President Jackson Potter and CORE, the union's governing caucus, follow Anti-War Committee Chicago on Instagram.

What the Left Is Saying

Progressive education advocates argue that teachers have a right to engage in political activism on their own time and point to broader concerns about social justice education. The Chicago Teachers Union was not listed as an official sponsor of the conference, though union signage appeared in the venue and a mannequin wore a CTU T-shirt.

Supporters of such gatherings contend they represent legitimate exercise of free speech and association rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. They note that teachers, like all citizens, participate in democratic processes outside working hours.

AWAN's website states it aims to "build a country-wide movement of people who will fight against U.S. imperialism in the streets and in the halls of power." The organization describes its mission as building solidarity across movements for economic and social justice.

Conference resolutions called for ending U.S. aid to Israel, supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns, and expanding pro-Palestinian activism. Another resolution referred to the Iranian government as "anti-imperialist" and pledged support for Iranian sovereignty, according to NAVI documentation of the event.

What the Numbers Show

The conference featured representation from multiple organizations: U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Anti-War Action Network, Anti-War Committee Chicago, Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, according to the event program reviewed by NAVI.

Conference rooms were temporarily renamed for political figures including Fidel Castro, Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Flores, Rasmea Odeh, Ibrahim Traoré and Patrice Lumumba. Speakers addressed attendees from behind a podium draped in a Palestinian flag.

The conference follows CTU's collaboration with the National Education Association in April on a "curriculum build" to bring "social justice into the classroom" ahead of May Day, according to NAVI documentation.

The Bottom Line

This episode highlights ongoing tensions between educators who view social justice work as part of their professional mission and critics who argue such activism diverts attention from academic instruction. CTU's lack of formal sponsorship creates ambiguity about the union's relationship to the event while critics point to documented social media connections between union leadership and participating organizations.

Weiner suggested this approach may spread beyond Chicago. "You're going to see that playbook essentially happen in other cities," he said. "It's not as though we think it's going to happen. They're saying, it's going to happen."

The conference raises questions about the appropriate boundaries between teacher union activism and classroom instruction that are likely to persist as both sides seek to define the role of political engagement in public education.