Overview
- Brookfield Central High School hosted the U.S. Education Department’s History Rocks! tour on Friday as the only Wisconsin stop, with attendance optional for students.
- Assistant Deputy Secretary Murray Bessette delivered a roughly five‑minute, nonpolitical address before history quizzes, game‑style activities and T‑shirt tosses led by a social studies teacher.
- Outside the school, about two dozen people protested and some parents kept children home, citing concerns over political messaging.
- The department said the event was funded solely by the agency, even as its website lists partners including Turning Point USA, Moms for Liberty, Catholic Vote, Hillsdale College and the America First Policy Institute.
- District officials said the visit was arranged after a former Brookfield police officer now serving as the tour’s head of security asked the school to host; Republican state Sen. Rob Hutton attended, while Democratic state Rep. Robyn Vining declined an invitation.