Inside The Radical Activist Network Running For LA Teachers Union Leadership

Voting for the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) union leadership begins today, January 30th. UTLA represents over 35,000 educators.

The current progressive union leadership (the current union president, Cecily Myart-Cruz, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America)is facing a challenge from an even more radically progressive slate called Educator Power 2026.

Educator Power 2026 is made up of teacher-activists with ties to a broad network of radical activist organizations in Los Angeles and beyond.

Education Power Slate for UTLA Leadership Positions

Here are Educator Power’s city-wide slate for UTLA leadership positions:

Ingrid Villeda is running for UTLA president.

Villeda was one of the organizers of the “Palestine within UTLA” meeting at the 2024 UTLA Leadership Conference. The meeting was so radical in its content that it made national news. In the meeting, Villeda spoke about how to “engage” elementary school students in Palestine and encourage activism in students.

In partnership with Union del Barrio, a communist revolutionary organization, Villeda has run sessions for teachers on how to organize and prepare for ICE operations near schools.

Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona is running for UTLA-AFT vice president.

Carrasco Cardona is a founding member and president of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, the group responsible for California’s model Ethnic Studies curriculum, which had to be heavily revised due to concerns about antisemitism.

At UTLA’s annual leadership conference in 2024, Carrasco Cardona was filmed suggesting that Israel intentionally placed the Star of David on its flag so that it could deflect any criticism as antisemitism.

Carrasco Cardona is co-head of the Association of Raza Educators, which describes itself as a “group of public school educators, university professors, students, and community allies committed to using education as a tool for the liberation of our community.” Dissatisfied with existing professional development opportunities for teachers, the group developed its own model that focuses on activism:

[An] Ethnic Studies/Social Justice professional development model that combines theory and practice… Led and developed for social justice educators by social justice educators who teach culturally relevant curriculum and are actively involved in organizing campaigns outside their classrooms and in their communities.

Like Villeda, Carrasco Cardona is also engaged with Union Del Barrio’s anti-ICE efforts. These efforts are done in concert with the Community Self-Defense Coalition , of which Carrasco Cardona also appears to be a member. Carrasco Cardona has been a member of Union Del Barrio since 2015.

Ron Gochez is running for UTLA Secondary Vice President. At the 2024 UTLA leadership conference, Gochez spoke about attending political protests with his students.

In a 2002 letter to San Diego State University’s student newspaper, Gochez wrote about the “Jewish-owned media” which “continue[s] to blind the masses with propaganda to keep them in fear.” The title of the letter was “The Agenda Of US Government Is White Power.”

Gochez is a member of LA Educators For Justice in Palestine. He is a founding member and leader of Union Del Barrio-Los Angeles. Union Del Barrio’s motto is “Consciousness, Organization, Action and Liberation.”

The Department of Homeland Security referred to remarks Gochez made during an anti-ICE protest to the Department of Justice. Gochez said: “They [ICE] are not the only ones with guns in this city. Don’t forget that. And I don’t say that because I’m calling for violence; I’m saying that because the people have every right to defend themselves against masked, unidentified gunmen.”

The California Teachers Association (CTA) awarded Gochez a “Human Rights” award in March 2025.

Jessica Rodarte is running for UTLA-NEA Vice President. Rodarte is currently on the UTLA Board of Directors and serves as an NEA representative for the North Area.

Rodarte is also a member of the Association of Raza Educators, a founding member of the Educator Defense Network, and a member of California Teachers Association 4 Palestine.

On October 10, 2023 Rodarte posted the following to her public Facebook account:

“Liberation doesn’t just look like reading and writing. It isn’t always without bloodshed. But it is always about the marginalized fighting oppressors.”

Rodarte compares Israel to Nazi Germany:

Clemen Avalos is running for UTLA treasurer. Avalos is a member of Educators for Palestine and the Educator Defense Network.

In December 2023, Avalos wrote: “resistance to oppression is justified”:

Skye Tooley is running for UTLA Elementary Vice President. Tooley is an elementary school teacher and a member of Educators For Justice in Palestine and the Educator Defense Network.

Tooley was removed from Fairburn Elementary School after posting on social media about creating anti-Israel “protest posters” with students. Tooley has also posted on social media about using cuddly toys to teach children about gender identity and pronouns.

Tooley, who believes “teaching is political,” also has taught “Palestine” to elementary school students:

Tooley is an “educator-activist” partner with Little Justice Leaders, an initiative that provides curriculum and professional development to ensure that all classrooms and schools are “rooted in social justice.”

Tooley is also part of CTA’s Human Rights Department, working along with Gaudalupe Carrasco Cardona in the CTA’s Human Rights Department Cadre Training Program.

Tooley’s former website, first called “Growing With Mrs.T” and then changed to “Growing With Mx.T,” had the tagline, “teaching is activism.” Tooley’s Instagram and Tiktok accounts, which are public, document a personal “transition” process, including video of taking a first “t shot” (testosterone) and photos of the aftermath of “top surgery,” which refers to the removal of breasts.

Education Power Slate for UTLA Board of Directors

David Feldman is currently on UTLA’s Board of Directors and was also at the UTLA 2024 Leadership Conference where he, along with Carrasco Cardona and Gochez, spoke about the “issue of Palestine within UTLA.” Feldman, along with Ingrid Valleda, organized the meeting on Palestine.

Feldman is associated with the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and has written for its newspaper, Liberation. Feldman has spoken at events by the ANSWER coalition. ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), which was founded just days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is also associated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Brian Becker, director of the ANSWER Coalition, is also a co-founder of the PSL.

The Organizations associated with Educator Power 2026

• Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium

Carrasco Cardona, running on the Educator Power 2026 slate for Vice President, is a founding member and president of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium. Members of the Consortium helped craft the rejected California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. The curriculum was widely seen as including antisemitic tropes and was sent back to the drawing board, an act which the Consortium views as the work of “rightwing demagogues and lobbyists.” Its goal is “the advancement and implementation” of ethnic studies, and it considers the new version to be “watered down.”

Leaders within the Consortium include Samia Shoman and Theresa Montano.

Samia Shoman is the leader of the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) project, “Teach Palestine.” MECA was found to have credible links to organizations affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The “Teach Palestine” project provides lesson materials, curriculum and resources to teachers including “Stolen Land” and “Youth Incarceration and Resistance in Palestine.” Another lesson, written by Shoman and used in K-12 classrooms, is “Independence or Catastrophe.” Excerpts from the introduction to the lesson demonstrate its bias:

One of the most common questions students asked throughout the entire unit, often out loud to the entire class, was “How could Jews treat Palestinians without dignity or humanity after what they had experienced?”

Montano has called the Anti-Defamation League a white supremacist organization and blames “Israel lobby groups” for trying to “censor” ethnic studies:

The Israel lobby groups are working so hard to censor ethnic studies because ethnic studies teaches uncomfortable truths. It teaches histories of race, colonialism, and resistance — including Palestine — and that’s exactly what makes it threatening to those intent on controlling systems of power.

Ethnic studies goes back decades. In 1968, Black, Chicanx, Latinx, and Asian American students, inspired by the Black Student Unions, led a five-month strike at San Francisco State. The consequence: the first college of ethnic studies in the nation.
This legacy is now under attack.

Self-determination is at the heart of ethnic studies. Ethnic studies is a space where Black, Indigenous, people of color merge their cultures with their stories and counter-narratives of resistance, resilience, and liberation.

Israel lobby groups now want to reduce the powerful narratives of Latinx,
Chicanx, Asian American, and Black and Indigenous peoples to a series of clips of cultural stories, celebrations, and contributions made to American history — literally erasing critical concepts like transnational solidarity and global solidarity.

If Israel lobby groups get their way, the teaching of Palestine as a case study of settler colonialism will be censored.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just about anti-Palestinian racism. It is an attack on ethnic studies and the BIPOC communities who built it.

It is an attempt to erase, silence, and control ethnic studies content and pedagogy. (emphasis added)

Montano has donated to and is a vocal supporter of Educator Power 2026.

• Educator Defense Network

The Educator Defense Network is a California-based educator activist group, consisting of members of California Teachers Association (CTA) and UTLA teachers, focused on Palestine and “collective liberation.”

The organization also worked to fight AB 715, the California bill to combat antisemitism in K-12 schools, which passed in October 2025.

Its founder and lead organizer is Maya Suzuki Daniels. Daniels, a teacher and UTLA/CTA member, is on the CTA State Council and UTLA’s Racial Justice Taskforce.

Daniels also has ties to Union Del Barrio and the Community Self-Defense Coalition.

She has endorsed Educator Power 2026 and also donated to its campaign.

Educator Defense Network’s Instagram page highlights its anti-Israel and anti-Zionist political activism.:

The group also offers tips for what is acceptable for an activist to wear to work, appearing to encourage keffiyas in the classroom:

• LA Educators for Justice in Palestine

LA Educators for Justice in Palestine (LA-EJP) is an organization of Los Angeles public school teachers, including members of UTLA, who engage in pro-Palestine activism within UTLA. LA EJP has successfully lobbied UTLA to pass resolutions on divesting from Israel. It also advocates for LAUSD to stop working with the ADL and opposes any guardrails for Liberated Ethnic Studies classes.

CAIR celebrated UTLA’s decision to commit to the LA EJP’s demands. It noted that UTLA’s House of Representatives voted 117-10 in favor of pressuring LAUSD to drop ADL as a partner, and 114-2 to oppose a bill that would have asked for state standards for Ethnic Studies.

LAUSD has appeared to have removed all links to ADL materials from its website.

• Association of Raza Educators

Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona is Chair of the Association of Raza Educators. Theresa Montano is head of Praxis.

The Association of Raza Educators (ARE) was founded to “uphold the rights and liberties of the Raza community.” ARE asserts that “Raza [the Latino community] has been and continues to be oppressed by the educational system within the United States… Therefore, we are obligated to ensure that education serves as a tool for the liberation of our community.”

The Association of Raza Educators (A.R.E) is a group of public school educators, university professors, students, and community allies committed to using education as a tool for the liberation of our community. We do this by organizing and mobilizing teachers, developing critical anti-racist liberation curriculum, and working with community organizations to ignite change. We believe that education is the first step in creating consciousness that leads to action. In these turbulent times, we know that it’s just not enough to teach about social justice, we have to practice social justice in every facet our lives [sic].

ARE’s social media reflects how its radical activism focuses on the Middle East:

• Community Self Defense Coalition

The Community Self Defense Coalition (CSDC) was formed to fight against immigration raids. It is a coalition of various groups, including Union Del Barrio and the Association of Raza Educators. It is headed by UTLA members Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona and Ron Gochez.

The CSDC runs training programs on “community patrols.” The CSDC says it is “training the people to defend themselves.”

Ron Gochez has stated: “You will not come into our community without facing an organized resistance.”

The sign-up form to join the CSDC, which asks people if they would be comfortable patrolling neighborhoods and alerting members to police presence, states the following (emphasis added):

For many reasons, we want to make it VERY clear to everyone, that this is a weapon-free space. While we do not condemn people who use armed resistance as a means of self-defense, autonomy or liberation, that is not something we will at all entertain as it relates to any Coalition activities, ESPECIALLY patrols.

For the security of everyone involved in our work, there will be a zero-tolerance policy around guns/arms. This is not to police one another, but to protect one another. We recognize that the State can and will use any rationale to try to stop us from this work, and we do not want to put anyone in this Coalition at risk.

If you bring up questions/ proposals around guns you will immediately be removed from the coalition.

Lastly, any language or actions that promote violence, racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia or any bigotry will get you removed from the group.

Despite their stance against “any bigotry,” the CSDC promotes anti-semitic conspiracy theories:

• Union del Barrio

The Los Angeles chapter of Union del Barrio works with the Educator Power 2026 slate and is mobilizing its members to vote for the slate. One of its founders is Ron Gochez, wrote about the “Jewish-owned media” which “continue to blind the masses with propaganda to keep them in fear.”

Union Del Barrio in LA organizes trainings on “community patrols.” Like the CSDC, it promotes the antisemitic idea that Israel is behind the methods used by ICE and police in the United States.

The Educator Power 2026 slate seems less like a traditional labor union slate and more like a gateway for radical activist networks to gain institutional power within UTLA.