The St. Paul School District defended a 7th grade teacher who has built a following on TikTok posting about topics that some may consider inappropriate and a breach of district policy.
Mandi Jung teaches 7th grade science at Highland Park middle school in St. Paul. She also posts frequently on TikTok, where she has gathered over 1 million likes. Many of her posts center around leftist ideology and non-traditional sexualities.
In one video, she tells her followers about a time she brought her relatively more conservative parents to a gay pride parade, after which she had to explain “leather daddies” to her father. Leather daddies are gay men who who fetishize leather clothing and sadistic sexual practices.
Jung has also appears to have created LGBT-focused content in the classroom, some of which has been recirculated on other platforms like Twitter. Alpha News contacted Highland Park, asking if this type of post violates the school’s social media policy and if the school stands behind Jung’s online presence.
Your tax dollars hard at work pic.twitter.com/9gBUnhBATN
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) June 10, 2021
Kevin Burns, the director of the St. Paul School District’s Office of Communications, responded, saying the district “supports the right to free speech.” His message also included a link to the district’s social media policy, which includes some restrictions on teachers’ online discussion of “sexual behavior.”
When asked if any of Jung’s posts violate this standard, Burns (who includes his pronouns in his email signature) did not respond.
Meanwhile, Jung seems to be unconcerned with previous accusations that her ideology has seeped into her work as an educator. In one TikTok she addresses those who accuse teachers of “indoctrinating students to their beliefs” before dismissing the notion, saying kids have actually been indoctrinated by capitalism and joking about anarchy.
Jung also runs a webpage where she shares some of her materials with other teachers, including a “George Floyd remembrance activity” and a slide presentation to convince students to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was recently tied to potentially fatal heart inflammation in young people, which the CDC has acknowledged.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
