The Department of Education reached out to a Genoa-Kingston High School club about hosting a planned Thursday event that has since spurred criticism and some calls for protest by members of the school’s community.

The “History Rocks” assembly – part of a nationwide campaign by the U.S Department of Education tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary – will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday inside Genoa-Kingston High School. The high school’s Turning Point USA, Club America chapter, a nonprofit founded in 2012 by the late Charlie Kirk, is hosting the event for high school students and their families, according to the school district.

When asked how the event, which has received some public criticism from the Genoa-Kingston Education Association and calls for protest from others, came to be, Genoa-Kingston District 424 Superintendent Chad Wagner told Shaw Local in an email that “The DOE reached out to the Club.”

The Genoa Police Department on Wednesday confirmed that federal, state and local agencies were involved in the event planning.

Some, including district teachers, said they’re concerned about safety during Thursday’s event.

In a statement, the Genoa-Kingston Education Association, the teachers’ union, called for district leaders to postpone the event until 3:30 p.m. The association asked the district to give students, parents, staff and the community more notice for future events.

Sam Coates, association president, said teachers are asking for clear communication about the event in the news release.

“We have major concerns around the safety and transparency of this event,” GKEA President Sam Coates said. “All of our students and staff deserve to be safe when they are on school grounds, especially during school hours.”

Wagner said no one is required to attend the event. But the education association has said that the assembly will be held before buses arrive on campus to take students home who don’t wish to participate. Wagner didn’t immediately respond to questions about when end-of-day buses arrive at the high school’s campus, when they leave, and where students who rely on the transportation could go to wait in the meantime.

Speakers for the assembly haven’t been publicly announced, but well-known figures have been heard at previous events, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow. Charlie Kirk was killed at a Turning Point USA event in Utah in September 2025.

The assembly is part of a planned nationwide initiative that the federal government has said will bring history into schools in all 50 states.

“This landmark initiative is dedicated to renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation,” according to the DOE’s website.

In a news release Wednesday afternoon, the DeKalb County Democratic Party announced plans to protest the event at 2 p.m., off of school property in Genoa. Organizers stressed it’s meant to be a peaceful demonstration. They said they’re protesting because they object to what they argued was misinformation, hate, bigotry, and misogyny being spread by Turning Point USA and McMahon.

In the party’s news release, Veronica Garcia-Martinez, a Democrat from Cortland who is looking to unseat incumbent state Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, to represent District 70 in November, said they are “gathering peacefully” to make their voices heard.

“It’s time for our communities to come together, Black, Brown, and White, to stand up to what we know is wrong,” Garcia-Martinez said. “No community should be persecuted, and no person should ever be treated as less than human.”

Keicher said he viewed the assembly through the lens of a school event sanctioned by a student club.

“I still believe in free speech and free association, and I’m glad students have the bravery to pursue their interests regardless of what they may be,” Keicher said.

He accused politicians across the aisle from him of not disagreeing the right way.

“I hear from constituents from across the spectrum where they want politics to return to a time where we can disagree agreeably,” Keicher said. “I’m disappointed that my Democrat peers don’t feel the same.”