An American couple have quit their jobs as teachers in California to establish their own ‘anti-woke’ school.
Kali Fontanilla and her husband Joshua founded their online school after claiming public schools have become ‘overly politicised’.
Their establishment, called the Exodus Institute, teaches ‘traditional American values’ rather than the regular school curriculums, which they claim ‘push’ liberal politics onto students.
Kali and Joshua previously worked as teachers in Salinas, California, which is a strongly Democratic area.
However, after nearly 20 years working in education, the duo quit their roles.
“I’d say that in general, being a conservative or just somebody who believes in traditional American values is something that makes you kind of endangered or marked in the public school system,” Joshua told MailOnline.
“It’s gotten to the point in public schools where you can’t just mind your own business and keep your politics to yourself, because they push it on everyone that you have to participate in liberal politics.”
Kali explained that when she noticed changes over the duration of her time in regular public school teaching.
“There are a lot of things teachers didn’t have to face at that time,” she said.
“There wasn’t pressure to put pronouns in your bio, or in your email [signature]… there wasn’t pressure to ask your students about their pronouns. There weren’t co-workers claiming their white privilege.”
Kali says that she saw an increase in politics in schooling after George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
The 41-year-old, who is half black and half white, says that in the months following Floyd’s murder she was offered a ‘gift for black teachers’, which featured a mask that said ‘black educators matter’.
“I don’t want to be recognised for my skin colour, I want to be recognised for the work I have done as a teach in the classroom,’” she told the MailOnline.
“What if a white teacher wore a ‘white educators matter’ mask?
“It’s also making a political statement. Me wearing a black educators matter mask is a political statement.”
And so, the duo set up Exodus Institute, which charges its students from $2,000-per-year up to $8,000-per-year, and currently has nearly 200 pupils.
Joshua explained the thinking behind their own Exodus Institute: “It’s a counter, it’s anti-woke and it’s refuting the lies that are taught by the left. But really it’s just going back to traditional American values.”
The pair also run Young Patriots Academy, which charges $29 a month and acts as an educational supplement for homeschooled children.
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