When the Second Tr*mp Administration unveiled an executive order titled Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schools, Alameda schools and teachers simply kept on doing their jobs, and Alameda's superintendent sent a reassuring and inspiring email update to all AUSD families.

Now, almost exactly one year later, the Second Tr*mp Administration has given up. The Associated Press reports that:

The Trump administration is dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colleges.

The Education Department, in a court filing [on Wednesday, January 21, 2026], moved to dismiss its appeal. It leaves in place a federal judge’s August decision finding that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment and federal procedural rules.

The dispute centered on federal guidance telling schools and colleges they would lose federal money if they kept a wide range of practices that the Republican administration labeled as diversity, equity and inclusion.

No doubt, with just under three years left in this presidential term, there are even more challenges ahead. (In the interests of not losing all composure, let's leave it at that and not touch on every other national problem we're collectively facing in this blog post.) Still, it's worth celebrating the ways in which Californians, from the classroom to the capital, are carrying on with their jobs and meeting the moment.

I appreciate how Alameda's public schools have continued to do what they do: to equip and trust teachers to teach age-appropriate curriculums, pegged to state standards, and framed within the district's official motto of "Excellence & Equality for All Students" and unofficial motto of "Everyone Belongs Here."