Philly-area teachers walk a ‘tightrope’ in talking about the election with students — especially in divided school communities

As a government and economics teacher at Great Valley High School who touches on the topic of dictatorship in his classroom, Gerry McGrath felt compelled to tell his students about comments that surfaced last week from John Kelly, former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, describing his onetime boss as a fascist.

Yet McGrath didn’t want to make any students uncomfortable, depending on their political views.

So, instead of having a discussion about Kelly’s recorded interview with the New York Times, he mentioned the article and displayed the characteristics of fascism on a screen in the room, “to let the students make up their minds.” He also talked about characteristics of communism — in light of Trump’s accusations that Vice President Kamala Harris is a communist.

“This could be a bit of a radioactive thing,” said McGrath.

As Trump and Harris continue to barrage Pennsylvania with campaign stops and political ads leading up to Tuesday’s election, area teachers are also navigating the bitter fight — and taking pains to present facts and context to students while avoiding any accusations of bias.

Teachers say they want to educate students about the election and encourage critical thinking but not sway students still forming their own opinions — all while recognizing the differing partisan leanings that may exist within their classrooms and, by extension, their homes. The task is heightened by the intensity of the political climate, including a conservative movement that has accused public schools of indoctrinating students.

Teachers are worried about saying “anything that would make people uncomfortable” or could be misinterpreted, said Pamula Hart, the director of curriculum and equity for the North Penn School District. “They don’t want to make a mistake.”

Even those teaching the election as they have in past years say they are aware of increased tension. “I am very, very aware of the divide, and how sensitive I need to be, and how absolutely neutral I am,” said Megan Kabatt, who talks about the election daily while teaching her Advanced Placement government class at Phoenixville Area High School — tracking polls, analyzing “horse-race” journalism, and comparing Trump’s and Harris’ platforms.

Kabatt, whose class includes students who identify as Republicans and Democrats, shows “both sides of every issue.” Still, she said, “It’s a tightrope these days to walk. Invariably someone’s going to be upset, whatever you say.”

A national EdWeek Research Center survey conducted this summer found that 58% of K-12 educators didn’t plan to talk about the election. While most of those teachers said it was unrelated to the subject they taught, more than 20% said they were afraid doing so would lead to parent complaints. An additional 20% said they didn’t think students could discuss the topic with one another “in a respectful manner.”

Ben Lebofsky, a seventh-grade social studies teacher in the Council Rock School District, said the election doesn’t align well with the world history course he teaches, so he doesn’t incorporate it into lessons.

But he is also mindful of administrative directives to “be cautious” when discussing the election, given partisan divisions in the Bucks County district.

“Some of my colleagues are very concerned about being talked about in public,” said Lebofsky. He tries to build trust with parents, telling them at back-to-school night that their children will likely come to school with political questions, and that his job is to provide historical perspective.

Administrators like Hart say they don’t want teachers to shy away from election conversations. “The worst thing we can do is ignore it,” Hart said, pointing to a Harvard Graduate School of Education interview in which lecturer Eric Soto-Shed argues that teachers have a critical role to play in restoring Americans’ belief in the democratic system.

To help prepare teachers, Hart said, the North Penn district is holding drop-in sessions every other week, allowing them to get feedback about lesson plans. “They all start with, ‘I feel a little nervous,’” Hart said. Administrators have suggested teachers can use the election as a vehicle to teach different skills, such as media literacy or data analysis.

In the Pennridge School District — where teachers were instructed in 2021 not to discuss the Jan. 6 insurrection with students — social studies teachers this year have participated in six hours of professional development on the election and “having difficult conversations” in the classroom, Jenna Vitale, the district’s director of K-12 social studies curriculum, said in an email. Some of the training involved role-playing activities, to prepare for “spontaneous conversations,” Vitale said.

Teachers are incorporating the election “in the courses where it is appropriate,” including by studying the Electoral College and Supreme Court decisions regarding voting, Vitale said. “It really depends on the content of the course and what is appropriate for timing.”

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Central Bucks, another school district that has endured intense partisan divides, last month issued guidelines specifying that teachers ”should refrain from expressing or in any way taking positions on controversial topics, whether political, religious, or ideological, while on school grounds or during school activities.”

Steven Yanni, the district’s new superintendent, said in an interview that staff “have latitude” to discuss the election, “as long as they are not expressing their own personal position.”

“We don’t want people to be scared to talk about the election,” Yanni said. “We just want to be sure everyone is staying within the boundaries of what is acceptable.” He said the rules also protect staff, so “if you do hear from a parent who’s upset, we can say, ‘Here are the guidelines we’re following.’”

Kabatt, the Phoenixville teacher, said she makes it a point not to share her own ideology with students. Some colleagues disagree, thinking teachers “should be transparent,” she said. But “I don’t want my ideology framing theirs.”

Students in Kabatt’s class generally know where their peers stand, in part because kids share their views on social media. “They’re not shocked when one of my liberals will say something, and then one of my conservatives will,” she said.

In Downingtown High School East junior Jacob Haarlander’s American government class, students are allowed but not expected to share their political beliefs — which “can be kind of a rocky thing,” said Haarlander, 16.

While the class has incorporated the election — students have watched portions of the presidential and vice presidential debates — some topics have stayed outside the discussion. An assignment to pick from a list of campaign issues to analyze, for instance, did not include abortion.

Even though he isn’t old enough to vote, Haarlander said, talking about the election in school gives students the ability to “at least dip their toe in” to politics and understand how it affects their lives.

Ian Rosenzweig, a senior at the Haverford School, said students were largely driving the conversations about the election he’s had in his classes.

“Discussing current events is never something we’re going to be escaping,” said Rosenzweig, 18, whose history class has covered differences between democracies and dictatorships, and fascism and Marxism — topics that have come up in the presidential race — though he said class discussions have been “very theoretical.”

“I think it’s really valuable to be having these discussions in an environment that is intentionally civil,” he said.

Some teachers said they had noticed classroom conversations about the election had been less charged than they expected. Students are “so connected into social media, they have already kind of filtered themselves,” said Don Morabito, who has taught social studies at Great Valley High School for 32 years.

He noted that juniors and seniors were only seventh and eighth graders during 2020 and the attack on the U.S. Capitol. “None of this is shocking to them,” said Morabito.

Like other teachers, he has told students that the election results may not be finalized quickly, and said he’s “mentally prepared” for uncertainty.

North Penn is planning another drop-in session the day after the election, to provide a “safe space” for teachers to voice concerns and ask questions, Hart said.

“It’s impossible to say, ‘We’re just not going to talk about it today,’” Hart said.