Oakland Educators Plan Unauthorized Education to Support Palestinians
Dozens of public school teachers in Oakland, California, plan to teach pro-Palestinian lessons on Wednesday as part of an unauthorized class.
The school district said this week it opposed the event, and some Jewish groups and parents condemned it and called for discipline for teachers who participate.
The class was organized by a group of activists within the local teachers union, the Oakland Education Association. But the union’s president, Ismael Armendariz, insisted the materials had not been reviewed by his group.
The anonymous organizers of the event were created a long list of proposed curriculum materials for all grade levels, from preschool through high school. The document calls Israel an “apartheid state” and refers to “the historic and unfolding oppression and genocide of the Palestinians.”
Nate Landry, 40, a parent in the district who is acting as a spokesman for organizers, teachers said saw the proposed curriculum as “a corrective” to mainstream educational materials that take a pro-Israel view.
The proposed curriculum celebrates Palestinian music, food and poetry and recommends videos on the region’s politics from PBS and Vox. The curriculum also condemns anti-Semitism and states: “We must ensure that our Jewish students and colleagues feel safe, supported and heard at school.”
Much of the featured material comes from pro-Palestinian advocacy groups.
a coloring book for elementary school students shows a Palestinian character saying, “A group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land, so they stole it by force and hurt a lot of people.”
It also introduces the argument that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to the land that is part of the Jewish state. Children are asked to solve a maze and given the instructions: ‘Handala has his family’s old house key. Now he needs your help to return to Palestine! Find a way home for Handala.”
Another recommended book for younger students: “P is for Palestine”, the alphabet teaches: “I am for Intifada, Intifada is Arabic for standing up for what is right, whether you are a child or an adult!”
The accompanying illustration shows a child and an adult showing peace signs in front of a barbed wire fence like the one Israel has built on the border with Gaza and the West Bank.
Several Arab-American groups whose material is cited in the class documents did not immediately respond to interview requests Tuesday.
It is not clear how much of the material will actually be taught in classrooms on Wednesday. The curriculum was presented as a list of resources for teachers to choose from.
Several leaders of the effort, including Mr. Landry, said they expected about 100 teachers to participate.
Tyler Gregory, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area, said the proposed materials lack “diversity of views and age appropriateness.”
While the meaning of a term like “intifada” can vary, he said, “for many in our community, it refers to a time when buses were blown up in the middle of Tel Aviv — that is an incitement to violence.”
Kyla Johnson-Trammell, Oakland Schools Superintendent, said Monday in a memo to parents that she opposed the learning instruction. She cited a school board policy that requires “all sides of a controversial issue to be presented impartially.”
It is unclear whether the district will discipline teachers who participate; a district spokesperson did not respond Tuesday evening.
Oakland and other progressive cities in the San Francisco Bay Area have been the sites of some of the country’s most outspoken criticism of Israel and the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 15,500 people, according to Gaza health authorities. At the University of California, Berkeley, where the group Students for Justice in Palestine was founded in the 1990s, campus has been blown up by intense protests and accusations of anti-Semitism.
Last month, the Oakland City Council a resolution adopted called for a ceasefire but rejected an amendment that would have condemned Hamas for the October 7 attacks in Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
And the Oakland teachers union has also spoken out on behalf of Palestinian rights co-sponsor of local protests.
Shira Avoth, an Israeli American and mother of a seventh-grader from Oakland, said the lesson would not be her son’s first encounter with criticism of Israel at school. His English teacher, she said, had put up a poster with the message “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That slogan is disputed; While some use it as a call for freedom and equal rights, others have used it to call for the elimination of Israel.
Ms. Avoth, 49, said the curriculum amounted to “misinformation” and challenged what she characterized as the portrayal of Israelis as white settlers from Europe, which ignores the fact that many Israelis, like her own family, come from other countries were expelled. Middle Eastern countries.
She said her son would go to school on Wednesday ready to discuss the subject. “He feels he needs to show up and represent himself,” she said.
Joshua Diamant, an Oakland music teacher who is active in the union, said he was wary of the curriculum material but would be equally wary of material that goes in the opposite direction.
“I would like to see us build a culture in this district where we can actually have a dialogue about Israel-Palestine and other controversial issues — and not shout slogans at each other,” he said. “The voices I want to see raised for our students are the voices of the people on the ground in Israel and Palestine who are working for peace.”