The Disgraced Teacher Who Took The Name Of An Egyptian God And Radicalized A School District

Luke Rosiak and Kenny XuApril 27, 2022

This is part two of a three-part Daily Wire investigation. Read part one here.

A teacher and avowed communist who named himself after an Egyptian god successfully pushed a woke curriculum on the very district that would later fire him over his conduct with a student.

Matef Harmachis, whose original name is Leigh Barker, was convicted of battery in 2017 for an incident that occurred against a female student in his classroom, then spent years on paid disciplinary leave before finally being fired. But before he was fired, he successfully lobbied the Santa Barbara board of education to require all students to take courses in ethnic studies, a branch of Critical Race Theory (CRT). His effort to radicalize the curriculum came despite being accused of groping and biting the female student, threatening and grabbing others and preaching his toxic brand of socialism from in front of the blackboard.

“He would hug me all the time,” said the female student, who The Daily Wire is referring to as “Maria” in order to protect her identity. Over time, the unwelcome hugs became longer and tighter, and he asked Maria to call him “daddy,” she said.

Inside the classroom where Harmachis held court, pictures of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro dotted the walls, according to Maria, who recalled that Harmachis was “very open” about his support for communism.

Harmachis was also open about sex and birth control with his students, Maria said. He offered massages to female students, made sexual noises, and once told his history class “I could have sex with any of the girls here,” according to Maria.

Luke Rosiak is the author of the book Race To the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education. Kenny Xu is an education journalist and the author of the book An Inconvenient Minority.