This High School Principal Can’t Stop Selling Out America’s Best Schools To China

A principal who came under fire for helping China clone America’s best STEM high school has a new job — and he’s trying to partner with the Chinese yet again.

During his time at the helm of Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Evan Glazer began the process of handing over the school’s curriculum, syllabi, and floor plans to China for replication after receiving several large donations from Chinese entities to a nonprofit linked to the school.

Glazer, who left the school in 2017, is now president of the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA), a residential school in Aurora. Under Glazer’s leadership, the school has looked to develop research programs with the Thomas Schools, a group of China-based schools that were created with backing from Chinese Communist Party-linked entities. Emails obtained by Defending Education and shared with The Daily Wire show that the taxpayer-funded IMSA and the Thomas Schools have proposed establishing a joint venture in 2025.

Correspondence between IMSA and Thomas Schools, which is administered by the Shanghai-based Ambright Education Group, began in June 2024.

Kendall Tietz, an investigative reporter for Defending Education, said that the communications raised “serious concerns about national security and the potential transfer of sensitive educational materials.”

On June 18, an IMSA staff member sent an email to Glazer summarizing a conversation with Thomas Schools about “launching a three-week, residential summer program” in July 2025 to provide “opportunities for research and language immersion for 20-30 of their high school students.” The preferred areas of research were science, math, and life sciences. Glazer responded by saying he would suggest a three-week research program.

Glazer received an email on September 5 from the president of the Ambright Education Group referring to Glazer as a “long time friend” and noting that “we here, in China, often mention about you.” Though the name is redacted in the email, the Ambright Education Group lists its president as Sean Zhang, who has been involved in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a part of the Chinese Communist Party’s united front system.

An email from a Chinese official referring to Glazer as a “long time friend.”

Glazer said in reply that he had proposed sending students from Thomas Schools to a 2025 research program hosted by the Illinois Math and Science Academy. 

Several days later, on September 10, an IMSA staff member reached out to Glazer saying that it seemed like the Thomas Schools’ “priorities” have “shifted” from an “intensive research” partnership.

“Their representatives are now saying that they’d prefer something that sounds more like a run-of- the-mill summer camp: one or two weeks at IMSA with some academic study, but also with college visits, sight-seeing trips, etc.,” the staff member wrote. “No doubt we could put such a program together. The question, I suppose, is whether IMSA’s primary goal is to get The Thomas Schools’ students through the doors and generate some dollars – or to create a true research exchange program.”

Glazer responded by saying he would like to see the creation of a research partnership programs. IMSA did not respond to requests for comment on what direction the talks with Thomas Schools went or if there were any plans for the summer.

Glazer told The Daily Wire that he believed that the Thomas Schools were part of an initiative to focus on “inquiry based learning.”

March 2024 email from Beijing National Day School

During the process, emails reveal that at least one staff member at IMSA had questions about exchanging information with America’s top political rival.

“Question: Do you think, given the current geo-political environment involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC), there is a risk to reputation for IMSA if we agree to host the Beijing National Day Schools (BNDS)?” the employ wrote, including a link to information about tensions between China and Taiwan. 

Glazer, who previously suggested that it would be racist to question exchange programs from China, responded by saying that education knew no borders.

“I think it’s ok since we are not a political organization,” he said. “Educator is a great equalizer that brings people together. In addition, I hope the visit might yield potential for their students to study at IMSA one day.”