Gardner-Edgerton High School in Gardner, Kan., is pushing back against allegations that it allowed a teacher and their students to organize and hold an anti-ICE protest.
The Libs of TikTok X account shared an image it obtained of meeting details for an anti-ICE protest. The document alleges that a teacher planned the protest and created signs for participants. Additionally, the document included a head count of 11 people and noted that the protest still needed adults to supervise the students.
“Our tax dollars are funding the indoctrination of kids to support and protest for left-wing causes,” Libs of TikTok wrote. “Why is this allowed?”
The Gardner-Edgerton School District 231 responded on X and locked responses to previous posts.
SCOOP: Teacher at @GardnerEdgerton organized a protest for students during school hours to protest ICE. They even made anti-ICE signs to hold at the protest
Our tax dollars are funding the indoctrination of kids to support and protest for left-wing causes.
Why is this allowed?… pic.twitter.com/x1Nnwc13pj
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 18, 2026
“USD 231 is aware of a social media post about a student protest,” the district wrote. “The information is not accurate. The activity was not school-sponsored, did not occur during the school day, and no instructional time was lost.”
The alleged anti-ICE protest is only the latest issue for Gardner-Edgerton USD 231. Leslie Hanzelka, a high school science teacher, reportedly received a two-day suspension in September for a Facebook post mocking conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“Meh, I’m saving my empathy for the children that got gunned down in Colorado today, none left over for the terrible person who considered the slaughter of children to be an acceptable price to pay so that inadequate white men can pose naked in front of a mirror with a machine gun and pretend they’re Rambo,” Hanzelka allegedly wrote.
Gardner-Edgerton also came under fire after a mother accused the school of covering up an incident involving a male student transitioning to female in the girls’ locker room, which she said would have violated school policy. Gardner-Edgerton School District Superintendent Dr. Brian Huff initially declined to confirm that the incident took place.
A federal judge has overturned a Kansas City-area school district’s ban on Carrie Schmidt, a mother prohibited from all school property and events after sharing a photo of a high school poster.
The judge ruled that Gardner Edgerton School District 231 overstepped its authority,… pic.twitter.com/L7y6E9jiNJ
— The Lion (@ReadTheLion) March 29, 2025
However, Carrie Schmidt, the mother who accused the school of allowing the alleged locker room situation, found an email she sent to staff via the Kansas Open Records Act. Schmidt told recipients that she had already discussed the situation with School Board President Tom Reddin and School Board Vice President Lana Sutton.
“Be ready to discuss the trans girl in the girl locker situation for the executive session for personnel Monday,” the email read. “The focus needs to be on the adjustments we have made to avoid this happening in the future. I have detailed this situation for [Board Vice President Lana (Sutton, Board Vice President) and Tom (Reddin, Board President)] already. I do not foresee this being a big issue since there was a good outcome with a solid plan to avoid a repeat.”
Huff had not directly issued a statement on the anti-ICE protest allegations as of publication. Schmidt previously sued USD 231 after she said the district banned her from school property and school activities because she objected to students reading books featuring adult material. She received a court injunction lifting the ban in March 2025.
