School: Political image part of class lesson plan

Delaware Valley School District officials say a politically charged image posted in class by a social studies teacher at the high school was part of a broader class lesson and not an example of bias in the classroom.

Following New York City’s mayoral election earlier this month, a Delaware Valley High School teacher posted an image of a gravestone with “RIP NYC Founded 1624 Died 2025” written on it.

“I am a [Delaware Valley] alumni and a New York City resident,” said the woman who emailed a photo of the image to The Pike County Courier. “It was brought to my attention that a social studies teacher at Delaware Valley High School posted the attached photo to his Smart Board after Election Day. Obviously, this is a direct insult to Zohran Mamdani winning the mayoral vote. I was raised by teachers who would never have pushed their beliefs on students.”

Delaware Valley School District Superintendent Brian Blaum said the image was used as part of a lesson plan.

“The image was displayed to generate a conversation about economic policy development based upon the election results in a high school business class,” Blaum said via email. “The situation has been thoroughly investigated and there is no evidence to suggest the teacher had any political motivations regarding the lesson.”