The Department of Defense Education Activity has been plunging into woke ideology which includes hypersexual and woke curriculum under the watchful eye of Pentagon headquarters, according to two teachers at DoDEA schools.
Fox News Digital spoke with two sources who work at the DoDEA, a wing of the Pentagon which oversees the education for the children of service members. There are over 60,000 children enrolled in Department of Defense schools, which are located in the U.S. and across the globe.
In an effort to protect their identity, due to fears of retaliation, detailed information about their roles and identities are being withheld from this story. Both of the teachers described working in an environment in which there was a culture of silence for those who disagreed with the prevailing view on gender ideology and American history. They feared, and said they know of others who share a view, that maintaining alternative views at DoDEA would be met with professional consequences.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"I think the single biggest problem that is most in my face and in the face of military… is this … culture called Wokeism," said John Smith*. Smith added he thought the Constitution meant something, especially having served his county as a soldier before joining DoDEA.
"I call it a social Marxist direction," said another teacher, Alexander Black*. He added that DoDEA schools have been noticeably transformed through its hiring, the curriculum used in classrooms and books selected for its libraries over the last few years.
"We are not at the Chinese indoctrination… level kind of thing… We want to address it now before it becomes a problem," Black said.
Politics is overt at DoDEA, but only on one side, according to the teachers.
For example, Black reported political ideologies against the right were adorned over his school during the Tump era. "There were things all over the hallways, Black Lives Matter, putting [up political] posters, things like that, dealing with LGBTQ+ kind of narratives, transgender narratives, all those kinds of things that in all honesty don't necessarily have a place around minor children, blatantly, with no backlash or repercussions."
Smith said, "There is a willingness now [at DoDEA] to embrace things that have no business in our school. One of them is the constant willingness to promote ideas that are social engineering, [such as] gender realignment."
"It's not why I became a teacher. If they wanted me to be a sexual realignment engineer, if they wanted me to start browbeating the kids about how our history [is]… racist, they should have told me this when I was hired because I wouldn't have agreed to do it. Because it's not true," Smith continued.
The teacher said he believed the curriculum and books added to DoDEA schools are causing an uptick in students identifying as transgender. Some students are using neo-pronouns, such as "bro/broself."
Fox News Digital has previously exposed sexually explicit books in dozens of DoDEA school libraries, which led to outrage from Congress directed at DoDEA and the Pentagon.
Most recently, in December, Republicans demanded answers from the DoDEA director, Tom Brady, on how "obscene" and "disgust[ing]" books were approved in DoDEA libraries.
"DoDEA [is] pursuing the introduction of obscene sexual materials that have no educational value whatsoever," the letter said, adding, "We are rightly shocked and disgusted to be referencing such heinous obscenities in our official capacities.
The Pentagon previously released a statement to Fox News, which said, "The Department of Defense Education Activity… serves a diverse community of military families, and their library materials reflect that diversity."
Most DoDEA libraries probed by Fox News, which were selected at random, contained the entire collection of books by Ibram X. Kendi and many works by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who called 9/11 first responders "menaces."
Other children's books at DoDEA included "Defunding the Police" and "White Privilege" by Kelisa Wing, a Pentagon diversity chief at DoDEA under investigation for penning divisive tweets about White people. Republicans requested the Pentagon review her role as chief of diversity, equity and inclusion following Fox News' reporting.
"The Department of Defense Education Activity is committed to educating, engaging, and empowering military-connected students to succeed in a dynamic world. Our focus remains on ensuring our students, their families, and employees have equitable access to opportunities and resources that support student achievement and readiness for college and careers," Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, a Department of Defense spokesperson, told Fox News Digital.
The Pentagon originally told Fox News Digital that the matter of Kelisa Wing would be referred to Under Secretary of Personnel and Readiness Gil Cisneros for a final decision 30 days after the initial review in September. But, after nearly four months, the Pentagon has dragged its feet, claiming a decision has not been reached.
"There are movements going on right now from headquarters all the way down that are allowing ideas that are anti-American to take root and that we need to begin looking at getting to the heart of those matters and why those ideas are being pushed," Smith said.
He added that he believes God wants him to remain in DoDEA schools in order to protect the children as much as possible from the surrounding radical changes.
*Names have been changed.
