Voters in Colorado and Washington will decide citizen-initiated ballot measures that would restrict transgender girls and women from competing on girls’ and women’s school sports teams. Supporters used petition drives to bypass legislatures that had declined to enact similar restrictions. They argue that sex-based eligibility rules are necessary to preserve competitive fairness, athletic opportunities and privacy for female students. Washington organizers submitted roughly 445,000 signatures; Colorado’s measure also qualified through a statewide petition campaign.
Education
Ballot Initiative or Referendum Campaign/Signature Gathering
Peaceful Protest/Demonstration
High School students organized a walkout seeking greater transparency after serious allegations involving members of the varsity football team. Student organizers also began educating classmates about consent, communicating concerns and accessing reporting resources. Police, the school district and an independent investigator are examining what occurred.
Education
Peaceful Protest/Demonstration
Hundreds of Penn Wood High School students walked out after the William Penn School District suspended every high-school and middle-school athletic program while investigating an undisclosed “culture and climate” incident. Students acknowledged that someone may have been harmed but argued that teams unconnected to the incident were also being unfairly punished.
Education
Peaceful Protest/Demonstration
Parents are pursuing a First Amendment lawsuit after school officials sanctioned spectators who wore pink “XX” wristbands to protest transgender participation in girls’ sports. Following an appeals court decision returning the case to a lower court, the parents are seeking permission to resume their silent protests before upcoming school sports events. The dispute concerns protections for peaceful expression and schools’ responsibility to protect students from harassment.
Education
Litigation/Court Challenge
More than 100 high school students joined students at other Oregon schools in a coordinated walkout honoring the students and teachers shot at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend the previous week. Participants called for action to prevent gun violence rather than accepting school shootings as unavoidable.
Education
Peaceful Protest/Demonstration
Nearly 100 students left an arts-focused high school, marched to a cultural center and rallied for a freeze on artificial intelligence. The action was part of coordinated protests at several New York high schools and colleges. Students expressed concern about AI’s effects on learning, cognitive development, creative ownership and future arts careers.
Technology & Innovation
Coalition Building/Community Organizing
Peaceful Protest/Demonstration
Students at a public high school helped operate an early-voting site inside their school as part of a civic initiative. Dozens of students were trained and certified as election judges through the Defenders of Da’mocracy program, taking responsibility for checking in voters, issuing ballots and helping administer the voting process. Eligible students and school employees also cast ballots at the site. Created by the Cook County clerk in partnership with the Chicago Bears, the program expanded to 27 suburban high schools in 2026. A previous iteration trained 126 students at 24 schools and recorded 1,136 voters, many of them students. The initiative combines easier voting access with firsthand instruction in how elections are administered
Democracy & Elections/Voting
Civic Initiative
Civic Education/Engagement
Other3
After approximately 75 people spoke at a school-board hearing, parents and residents formed “6,100 Voices,” trained petition circulators and began seeking the signatures required to trigger state review of a closure decision. The campaign gives families a formal method of challenging whether the district reasonably selected six schools for closure affecting roughly 2,200 students.
Education
Coalition Building/Community Organizing
Public Testimony/Written Comments
Petition to Government or Business
After two fights at Rush-Henrietta Senior High School—including a planned classroom altercation that injured a student and prompted a lockdown—students walked out of school to express concerns about safety and the district’s response. The superintendent and other administrators met with the students and said the district would continue gathering feedback through a school-board meeting and community safety forum. The district also changed its emergency-communication procedure so families will receive an automated phone call when a lockdown ends, not merely an email.
Education
Peaceful Protest/Demonstration
A public school parent challenged a school district policy that appeared to allow favorable comments about employees at school-board meetings while restricting criticism. After a conservative organization sent the district a letter on the parent's behalf warning that the policy may violate the First Amendment, the school board temporarily suspended oral public comment while reviewing its policy, although residents could continue submitting written comments. It remained unclear whether critical comments concerning individual employees would be made publicly available.
Education
Public Testimony/Written Comments
Public Meeting/Town Hall Participation
Litigation/Court Challenge
A group of more than 80 Norwalk parents from 15 schools signed a detailed letter to school district leadership calling for a pause on the use of artificial intelligence in elementary and middle schools.The letter requested that the school system further study the use of AI and commission an independent review of the district’s current technology use and screen time for students across all grade levels. It also requests that the district then come up an AI policy “conducted by parties without a commercial stake in adoption.”
Education
Coalition Building/Community Organizing
Petition to Government or Business
Three middle-school students and their families filed a federal lawsuit after officials prevented students from forming a Genders and Sexualities Alliance while allowing other clubs to operate.
Education
Litigation/Court Challenge
