An Indiana teacher has left her job after coming under fire for political statements she made during a school field trip. Tonja Luken was on a trip to Washington, DC, and her shirt had a particular message about President Trump. While the T-shirt could be construed several different ways, people are not pleased with the overall message. As a result, Luken went viral and the school was forced to investigate. All of the attention led Luken to leave her job before she could have been fired.
Luken, who worked for Middlebury Community Schools, wore a T-shirt with the numbers “8647” on it, TNND reported. She wore the shirt during her school’s eighth grade field trip to Washington, DC, and while she initially posted a photo of herself in the shirt on social media, it has since been deleted. However, the Libs of TikTok reposted the image on X.
“The numbers 8647 are meant to mean eliminate or assassinate – 86 – Trump – the 47th president,” TNND reported.
Meet Tonja Luken, a teacher at @MiddleburyComm1 in Indiana. She reportedly wore an "8647" shirt on a school trip to Washington, DC.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 4, 2025
Why is a school teacher promoting the ass*ssination of a President, on a school trip with students, in front of the White House??
Any comment… pic.twitter.com/uv6XWtmC2R
Middlebury Community Schools posted about the incident on Facebook. “Middlebury Community Schools owns policies that require teachers to refrain from using their position to promote partisan political views,” the statement reads. “Our educators should not be advocating personal political views, either directly or indirectly, to our students during the school day or while supervising students at a school function.”
“Earlier this week, Middlebury Community Schools’ administration learned of a social media post made by a teacher while serving as a chaperone on a student trip to our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.,” the statement continued. “The student trip only returned to Middlebury on Wednesday, June 4, which unfortunately slowed the investigation process.”
In a follow-up, the school posted that it had begun the process to fire Tonja Luken. It explained that the process “can take anywhere from five to forty-five days. At any time, a teacher may immediately resign from employment.”
In the end, the school explained that Luken was “informed the school corporation would be commencing the cancellation of contract.” After hearing this, Luken “submitted her immediate resignation.” The school has made it clear that Luken no longer works for the school.
