Mamdani’s socialists push to educate public schoolers on ‘race’ and ‘class consciousness’

Maureen Fadem, a professor at a CUNY school, called for the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to be taught in schools.

“We need to overhaul the curriculum in a class consciousness frame. . . . The curriculum as a whole needs to be relooked at, revisioned and reframed,” the Kingsborough Community College professor said.

Fadem also said teachers must be educated in "race consciousness" and taught about institutional racism as part of their pedagogical training.

Nina Bruckenthal, co-chair of the NYC DSA Labor Working Group and a math teacher at NEST+m on the Lower East Side, and Amanda Vender, an ESL teacher at the International High School of Sciences in Elmhurst, Queens, led the meeting, titled "Planning for Socialist School Governance."

One teacher at the meeting warned that the organization's agenda could drive parents away from public schools and increase enrollment in charter schools.

“All of our reforms are obviously not very popular. And so as long as school choice exists, parents are going to pull away and go to charter schools that are unionized because they believe in that,” the teacher said.

The educators implied they could use their connections with Mamdani to help fast-track their agenda.

“DSA does have a relationship with the mayor and we can leverage that,” Bruckenthal said.

They also revealed plans to use upcoming contract negotiations between the powerful United Federation of Teachers and New York City to insert their curriculum demands.

“We can make real wins through our contract bargaining process. I would argue for this group, something that is strategic and winnable could be won through our bargaining,” Bruckenthal said.

The meeting offered a glimpse into how the DSA envisions reshaping New York City's public schools. The discussion suggested activists are seeking to use political relationships with Mamdani and upcoming union contract negotiations to advance broader ideological goals.