Ivanka Trump Visits School And Angry Parents Rush To Pull Their Kids Out Of Class In Blue State Connecticut

Ivanka Trump wasn’t extended the warmest of welcomes from the parents of a group of high school kids during a surprise visit on Monday. The setting was an alternative high school in Norwalk, Connecticut, which is a hop, skip, and a jump from New York City by the way the crow flies.

Once parents got wind of Ivanka showing up as a speaker at the Norwalk Early College Academy, “parents rushed to the school to pull their children out.” Ivanka ended up talking with “a handful of students,” according to the Daily Mail. This wasn’t an elementary school, but a high school that is getting kids ready for a career in life.

Ivanka was accompanying IBM CEO Ginni Rometty to this school where IBM developed an educational program that allows the students to “simultaneously earn a high school diploma, associate degree and develop technical skills.” What this school offers is the same type of education that Ivanka has been promoting since making her way into the White House.

It seems that even the majority of teachers were unaware of Ivanka Trump’s visit on Monday. Parents were angry and they let it be known why. They told reporters that they were upset over not being informed that the President’s daughter, who is also a senior White House advisor, would be at the school.

A parent of one of the students who showed up to pull their child out of school on Monday was Karen Fitzgerald, of Norwalk. She told reporters that the parents should have been given the choice of whether or not they wanted to send their kids to school on Monday with Ivanka Trump there.

Parents are upset over a surprise Ivanka Trump high school visit https://t.co/bQ0o1kmYCF pic.twitter.com/KArNGYn8t7

— WTOP (@WTOP) December 19, 2017

Ivanka was at the school to discuss career education, something she’s been in favor of and promoting for a while now. This school couples the high school education with a hands-on learning experience, which is a model that Ivanka is in favor of. She told the remaining students the following.

“To see the passion and enthusiasm for bringing real-life skills into a classroom environment but then coupling it with real-life experience through internship creates this really beautiful virtuous angle.”

Angry parents pull kids from school over Ivanka Trump's surprise visit https://t.co/PHACsjMzVN pic.twitter.com/UlR7vJeDLe

— The Hill (@thehill) December 19, 2017

News 12 suggested in their report that some of the parents who “oppose the president’s views” came to take their kids home once learning of Ivanka’s presence. The reason that Ivanka’s visit was a surprise was not officially addressed, but it is assumed that it was due to security reasons, according to the reports.

Fitzgerald told reporters that she understands the concerns over security for Ivanka might have prompted the school to keep her visit under wraps, but at the same time “this should have been brought to our attention,” she said.

As you might imagine, the behavior of the parents pulling their kids out of school because Ivanka was there talking about career education started a spicy debate online. Trump supporters and even those who don’t don’t support Trump were a bit confused why parents would yank their kids out of class over a career talk. Some online comments put the parents acting less mature than their kids by doing this.

Others got downright nasty suggesting Ivanka talking to the kids may have been an “indoctrination” of some sorts. One commenter on the News 12 story said, “The kids will be indoctrinated enough when they get to college, mom. Let them have a couple different experiences before they get to the echo chamber. How sad these parents are, and how sad their kid’s lives will be if they never break free of this mindset.”

Some comments suggested the parents were rather childish by using their kids to express their own political agenda when it comes to Trump and his views. There’s no word on how Ivanka felt once kids started being whisked home, but she did still talk to the kids who stayed behind to listen to what she had to say.