The Abridged version:
- Twin Rivers Unified posted photos of students in classrooms learning, on day three of the district’s first-ever teacher strike. Online commenters accused the district of posting outdated or doctored pictures.
- Parents said the post does not represent their children’s experience in recent days. Many families have complained of crowded classrooms and a lack of lessons.
- The district pushed back, saying the photos are legitimate and taken last week.
Twin Rivers Unified concluded its third day of a teacher strike Monday. As last bells rang, district officials on social media celebrated their efforts to keep campuses open despite the circumstances.
Photos depict children at desks learning about division, sitting on a rug raising their hands and playing on playgrounds. “#AroundTR! – Students in action!” the post was captioned.
A wave of comments lambasted the district for using allegedly outdated or doctored photos.
Parents and teachers called out what they say appeared to be images made with artificial intelligence. In some photos, student faces were heavily distorted. In others, hands and arms were fuzzy or warped, often a marker of an AI-generated picture.
The district said any claims of AI-generation are false. The photos, they say, were taken by staff with cell phones during school March 6 and 9.
“Unfortunately, misinformation often spreads quickly during contentious situations,” district spokesperson Zenobia Gerald said in a statement. “We are not going to engage in speculation or misinformation that distracts from our work of supporting our students and families during this time.”
‘That’s an old photo’
When Joyce Childs opened Facebook Tuesday morning and saw the district’s post, she said she immediately recognized some of the students photographed in what appeared to be an elementary school classroom.
Childs retired from Twin Rivers in 2018. The kids she said she was “99% sure” she knows would likely now be in junior high or high school.
“That’s an old photo,” she told Abridged by PBS KVIE.
She also criticized the distorted images, saying she believes the district relied on AI to create false photos.
“There’s melted faces and melted hands,” Childs said.
Gerald from the district attributed the distortions to the effects of cell phones and email sharing.
“Many cell phones automatically enhance photos to make them look better, which can sometimes add strange marks or effects,” she said. “The photos were also sent to us through email, which additionally compressed the files, reducing image quality.”
Parents say post doesn’t match reality
Many of the parents online criticized the district for a false portrayal of reality.
Since the start of the teacher strike Thursday, families have said their students are experiencing crowded classrooms, boredom from a lack of lessons and generally upended routines — a far cry from the business-as-usual post by Twin Rivers Unified.
“My students are sitting in one class all day not learning at the middle school,” Lorie Turner, a teacher at Smythe Academy, wrote in a comment.
District officials said attendance levels were at 72% Thursday and staffing at 88%. They have not made public numbers for Friday or Monday.
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.
This story was updated at 12:06 p.m. on March 10, 2026, to include the district’s response.