Indiana teachers call attorney general’s ‘Eyes on Education’ portal dangerous

A website launched by Indiana Republicans as a reporting tool for perceived indoctrination of public school students has instead become a nest of outdated and inaccurate information, educators say, driving a wedge between parents and teachers.

State attorney general Todd Rokita’s “Eyes on Education” portal, which he launched earlier this month independent of Indiana’s education department, also exceeds his remit, and exists purely for his own political gain, they say.

Now, an alliance of teachers’ unions is demanding Rokita take the website down. The group is calling it a “dangerous” attack on public educators that advances a conservative culture war agenda against purported woke ideology, mostly over race and gender, which has already gained traction in other Republican-led states.

In a statement published to X, formerly Twitter, the groups take issue with documentation posted to the website that Rokita says are “real examples of socialist indoctrination from classrooms”, including photographs of a Pride flag, lesson plans, quizzes and other teaching materials, in some cases identifying by name the teachers behind them.

The educators say there is no evidence any of the material was ever generated or used in Indiana classrooms. They also emphasize that the website lacked any kind of vetting or submission process that could verify authenticity.

Additionally, they allege, many of the documents showcased are outdated or inaccurate, posted without the knowledge of, or input from the school districts from which they reportedly came.

In one example, the superintendent of the New Prairie united school system wrote to complain that a previous version of its gender support plan was posted in place of the current one, which had been