NYC Teacher Stages Anti-Police Skit With Fifth Graders, DOE Declines to Act
Fifth-graders at a Manhattan public school pretended to be shot by police during a Multicultural Day performance. Parents were blindsided. The Department of Education offered only a promise of advance notice.
Fifth-graders at a Manhattan public school collapsed to the stage in unison, pretending to be shot by police. The Multicultural Day performance at PS 75 Emily Dickinson shocked parents and laid bare the radical ideological programming now operating inside New York City classrooms. When families confronted the Department of Education, the agency declined to condemn the stunt, promising only that families will receive advance notice in the future.
The June 11 performance represents a troubling shift in public education, where teachers use children as props for political messaging while administrators shield them. The DOE's refusal to discipline the school or teacher exposes an institution that prioritizes ideological activism over parental rights and academic priorities.
On the stage at PS 75's auditorium, children mimed being shot and fell to the floor during a dance routine set to "Glory" by John Legend and Common. The song references the 2014 Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown. Students later knelt on one knee during the chorus, mimicking Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest.
After the choreographed collapse, students held signs reading "ICE Out," "Respect LGBTQIA+," "Terrorism has no religion," and "No place for antisemitism." Some wore identity badges, including one that read "I'm bisexual." Parents received no advance warning about the politically charged content.
Teacher Shahreen Karim organized the performance, according to a school insider who spoke to the New York Post. Karim makes $98,226 per year according to DOE public records. She heads the school's multicultural committee and arrived at PS 75 in 2012.
"This is beyond inappropriate; it's outrageous," an NYPD officer told the New York Post. "Having fifth graders pretend to be shot by police is not education; it's political indoctrination and exploitation of children. Parents should be demanding answers as to who approved this. F–king insane!"
Karim's activism extends beyond this single performance. In 2024, she organized a "Dabke Dance" for Multicultural Day. On May 5, transgender author Kyle Lukoff visited PS 75 to read "When Aiden Became a Brother" to second-graders, the school insider stated. No parental notice or opt-out opportunity accompanied the visit.
The school also hosts a "Rainbow Room" stocked with LGBTQ+ content accessible to students from kindergarten through fifth grade without parental consent. An all-gender bathroom at the school reportedly sees boys harassing girls, according to parents and critics.
Principal George Georgilakis, who earned $195,401 in 2025, supports these initiatives, the insider said. "He supports all of this insanity," the insider told the Post.
Parents on the Upper West Side say they were blindsided by the performance and are calling for transparency. Families demand face-to-face meetings with school and district officials, plus clearer notification policies for future events.
The Department of Education responded with a procedural promise rather than substantive judgment. A DOE spokesperson stated the agency is "working with the school to give families advance notice before events." The department issued no condemnation of the content and announced no disciplinary action.
PS 75's political activism occurs against a backdrop of academic underperformance. Math proficiency stands at 42 percent compared to a state average of 52 percent and a District 3 average of 61 percent. Reading proficiency sits at 47 percent versus a citywide average of 49 percent and a district average of 64 percent.
Chronic absenteeism runs at 53 percent, well above the citywide average of 34.8 percent. The school ranks in the bottom 50 percent of New York City public schools. With 68 percent of students eligible for free lunch versus a citywide average of 54 percent, PS 75 serves a high-need population whose educational needs are being displaced by political programming.
"There are specific teachers at PS 075 who are persistently working to inculcate our students," the school insider told the New York Post.
The incident reflects a broader trend of "culturally responsive education" frameworks that direct teachers to view society through an oppressor-oppressed dichotomy and encourage student activism. States including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and California require teachers to demonstrate mastery of CRE as a professional competency.
A June 23 City Journal analysis argued that states built this system and should dismantle it.
At PS 75, the question is not whether politically charged content should appear in classrooms, but who gets to decide. The school's pattern of bypassing parental consent — from the June 11 performance to the May 5 author visit to the Rainbow Room — establishes a systematic exclusion of parental oversight in favor of activist-driven content.
The American Library Association has tracked thousands of challenges and removals of books and programs related to LGBTQ+ identity and racial justice in recent school years. At PS 75, those debates occur without parental knowledge or consent, while academic performance languishes below city averages.
Parents gathered in that auditorium expected their children to celebrate diversity, not to witness them performing as political props. They left wondering who really runs their public schools.