I received this letter, apparently written by the principal of a New York City high school, from multiple sources. She is recommending that her teachers attend an event by "Educators for Palestine" to share anti-Israel curricula.
Sharing this resource.On February 3rd from 10AM-12PM Educators for Palestine will be hosting a virtual "curriculum share" geared to K-12 classroom teachers. In the first part of this session, teachers will have the opportunity to hear from a panel of organizers and legal experts on how to combat censorship as we strive to create classrooms that foster justice, understanding, and healing.In the second part of this session, teachers will have the opportunity to present and share original lessons and materials they have developed on topics such as Palestinian history, the history of Israeli occupation, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza—every teacher who attends the curriculum share will leave with a collection of lessons they can use with their students.Our hope is that by creating space to share resources and build meaningful connections, that we can empower each other to serve as changemakers within our individual schools. We especially want to highlight the incredible work educators are doing right now to combat hate, misinformation, and misunderstanding during this critical time. If you are an educator who has developed a lesson around Palestinian history, the history of Israeli occupation, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, or a related topic, and you'd like to present it to other teachers on February 3rd, please fill in ! Generous humans who donate lessons will be contacted by event organizers to answer questions and provide further details.Anyone interested in attending should please RSVP HERE. We hope to see you on February 3rd, NYC Educators for Palestine, Working Group on Education & Curriculum DevelopmentWith Appreciation,Your Partner in Education and Proud Principal,Terri Grey
It seems that a New York City public school principal is encouraging her teachers to attend a session where they will receive curricula for their classrooms that spread antisemitic conspiracy theories that Israel intends to destroy all Palestinians.
"Educators for Palestine" seem to be associated with The Progressive Classroom Project, as well as with the Democratic Socialists of America BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group.
They held a small demonstration last week outside the United Federation of Teachers offices in Manhattan, mindlessly repeating anti-Israel chants.
While her school is an academy school and is not required to use the official New York public school curriculum, schools chancellor David Banks warned teachers about violating Education Department rules on political speech. He wrote an email in November to school staff urging educators to keep their personal political beliefs out of the classroom.
Encouraging teachers to attend a curriculum development program that is explicitly anti-Israel and antisemitic appears to violate that directive.
The seminar, and similar ones in recent years, also shows how far behind pro-Israel organizations are in reaching out to teachers. No one seems to be doing anything even close to this in influencing K-12 classrooms to tell the truth about Israel. Outside of Holocaust education, what is the Jewish community doing to promote schools teaching Jewish history, Jewish culture, the Jewish influence on world religions, the affinity the founding fathers had for Jewish history, the influence of Jews in medicine, science, law - and the centrality of Israel to Jewish belief and thought?
