The GoGuardian filtering technology that generated a block page when a Richardson ISD student researched President Donald Trump has previously faced scrutiny for restricting legitimate educational material.
The incident also prompted online scrutiny of two GoGuardian board members’ political and educational backgrounds. However, no evidence connects either board member to the Richardson ISD error.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a Richardson ISD parent provided video that she said showed her son attempting to research Trump for a school assignment.
The district device displayed a message stating, “WEBSITE BLOCKED BY RICHARDSON ISD,” according to the parent.
The parent said searches involving former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Jeffrey Epstein did not produce the same message.
DX reviewed video showing the browser redirecting to blocked.goguardian.com, indicating that GoGuardian technology generated the block page.
District attributes block to ‘rum’
Richardson ISD later told The Dallas Express that its Technology Department determined the filter had detected the letters “rum” within “Trump.”
The district said the same setting incorrectly blocked other words containing those letters, including “drum,” “rumble” and “crumble.” RISD said staff corrected the problem within 30 minutes of receiving the parent’s complaint.
“District technology filtering is not based on political ideology,” Richardson ISD said.
“Access to appropriate educational content related to these topics is an important part of our students’ learning,” the district added.
GoGuardian states that schools and districts control their settings, including “which websites are allowed or off-limits when using GoGuardian Admin.”
It remains unclear whether a district-created rule, a GoGuardian-provided policy or another configuration produced the “rum” match. RISD has not said who established the relevant setting or how long it had been active.
Previous filtering scrutiny
A 2023 investigation by WIRED analyzed nearly 13.6 million filtering records from Albuquerque Public Schools.
The investigation found that GoGuardian blocked students from viewing educational material involving Native American history, racial issues and immigration. GoGuardian told WIRED that it did not block legitimate educational sites or certain categories of information by default and referred questions about Albuquerque’s restrictions to the district.
GoGuardian introduced Teacher Override Filtering in 2024. The feature allows authorized teachers to temporarily unblock websites restricted under certain district policies.
Board affiliations draw attention
GoGuardian’s current board includes Tony Miller, who served as deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of Education under President Barack Obama.
An archived White House page confirms Miller’s service in the Obama administration.
The board also includes former Teach For America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard.
Villanueva Beard participated in a 2016 webinar titled “Making Meaningful Progress on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” The organizer said Villanueva Beard held a “deeply held conviction” that educational equity could succeed only if the movement was “diverse in every respect.”
A Teach For America biography says the organization focused on increasing its impact and “racial and ethnic diversity” after Villanueva Beard became chief operating officer in 2005. TFA said the organization later built a network of more than 50,000 members and alumni pursuing “educational excellence and equity.”
The affiliations drew attention from Amuse, an X account that commented on the Richardson ISD incident after DX published its initial report.
“Students in Richardson ISD are having Google search results for President Trump blocked on their Chromebooks by a service called GoGuardian. Of course they don’t censor Biden, Harris, or even Epstein,” Amuse posted.
“GoGuardian is a Democrat censorship shop led by Tony Miller (Obama’s Deputy Secretary of Education) and Elisa Villanueva Beard (former CEO of Teach for America). The employees are overwhelmingly Democrats,” the account added.
The Dallas Express has not independently verified Amuse’s characterization of GoGuardian or its claim about the political affiliations of the company’s employees.
GoGuardian identifies Rich Preece as its chief executive. Its website lists Miller and Villanueva Beard as board members, not members of the company’s executive leadership team.
No evidence indicates that Miller or Villanueva Beard participated in, directed or knew about the Richardson ISD filtering incident.
The Dallas Express contacted Richardson ISD and GoGuardian for additional information about who created or controlled the configuration that produced the “rum” match.
Provided by Dallas Express
