{"id":107860,"date":"2026-03-31T12:48:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/cesar-chavez-day-is-no-more-but-how-will-schools-address-his-legacy\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:48:30","slug":"cesar-chavez-day-is-no-more-but-how-will-schools-address-his-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/cesar-chavez-day-is-no-more-but-how-will-schools-address-his-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9sar Chavez Day Is No More. But How Will Schools Address His Legacy?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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She and the program\u2019s director quickly swapped his name for \u201ccampesinos,\u201d which means \u201cfarmers,\u201d and the show went on.<\/p>\n

But in the aftermath of The New York Times\u2019 <\/em>investigation revealing allegations that Chavez sexually abused two young girls in the 1970s and raped United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta in the 1960s, teachers across the state are grappling with how to address his widely studied and once-revered legacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shifting lesson plans<\/h2>\n

David Ko, a ninth-grade ethnic studies teacher at George Washington High School, said his students wanted to talk about the news immediately after the investigation was published on March 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some students who, even before classes started, during passing period, asked me about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Every year, Ko teaches a lesson about Chavez just before his birthday on March 31, a state holiday that many students have had off school for years. In the past, he would ask his classes what they knew about C\u00e9sar Chavez Day and teach them about Chavez\u2019s roles in the Delano grape strike and the founding of the United Farm Workers labor union.<\/p>\n

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George Washington High School on March 30, 2020, in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, he said, that lesson plan will be more complicated.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the holiday, which falls during the San Francisco Unified School District\u2019s spring break, Ko last week gave a broad overview of the Times<\/em>\u2019 investigation. He also pointed out that the state has already renamed its holiday to Farmworkers Day, and that cities and institutions are moving to swiftly scrub his name<\/a> from streets, parks and more.<\/p>\n

Chavez is prevalent in California\u2019s curriculum frameworks and model lesson plans, and the state provides a long list of activities and resources for every grade level framed around C\u00e9sar Chavez Day.<\/p>\n

But Ko said he didn\u2019t have to throw his existing curriculum out the window last week; he\u2019s never portrayed Chavez as solely a \u201chero\u201d in the farmworker movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people who have done remarkable, amazing accomplishments in advancing people\u2019s rights, and also, even before the most recent allegations, it\u2019s also possible for those same people to have harmful ideas,\u201d Ko told KQED.<\/p>\n

A complex legacy<\/h2>\n

For years, Ko\u2019s classes have studied the more nuanced parts of Chavez\u2019s legacy<\/a>, such as his opposition to undocumented immigrants working on farms.<\/p>\n

At least in San Francisco, many educators have shifted their focus away from Chavez when they cover the farmworker movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are often taught, \u2018This one great man who was so exceptional, did all these amazing things and they are the reason that these rights happened,\u2019\u201d ethnic studies teacher Samantha Aguirre said. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t always learn is that it was hundreds, tens of thousands of people behind them in the movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

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United Farm Workers and their supporters march through Walnut Grove on Day 22 of a 24-day \u201cMarch for the Governor\u2019s Signature\u201d on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, to convince Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Assembly Bill 2183, the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act. The march started in the Central Valley and will conclude with a rally in Sacramento on Aug. 26, 2022. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She focuses on the lesser-known Filipino leaders of the movement, including Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, as well as the contributions of women like Huerta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Filipino farmworkers formed AWOC [the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee] and started staging resistance movements and protests before Latino groups,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for those Filipino farmworkers, it wouldn\u2019t have galvanized and they wouldn\u2019t have worked together and helped the Latino farmworkers form the United Farm Workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Aguirre plans to include the allegations against Chavez as another part of the movement\u2019s complex history.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing Dolores Huerta saying, \u2018He assaulted me, but I felt like I couldn\u2019t say anything because it would be bad for the movement,\u2019 I think that is an important lesson,\u201d Aguirre said. \u201cIt is important for students to know and be able to speak out when things are wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to address a delicate subject?<\/h2>\n

Integrating the revelations into class won\u2019t look the same for all grade levels.<\/p>\n

Ko said that with his high schoolers, he pointed out that Chavez is accused of targeting young girls, but he referred his students to The New York Times<\/em> and other trusted news sources if they wanted to read specifics, to avoid sharing information that could be unnecessarily triggering.<\/p>\n

When it comes to addressing the allegations with younger students, Aguirre said, \u201cthere are developmentally appropriate ways for teachers to acknowledge and to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n