Rabbi speaks out against Burlington School District ‘Teaching Palestine’
Higher education across the U.S. has been shaken by university leaderships’ controversial responses to anti-Israel demonstrations. Meanwhile, a coalition comprising 36 organizations, together representing an 476,440 members, has taken a stand against the presence of inaccurate and antisemitic material and curriculum within K-12 schools.
This was a massive group effort that reflects the voices of nearly 500,000 advocates who continue to stand up for all of our students,” Marie Tiemann. Chair of SPEAKVT, said. The organization joined the initiative, along with Parents Defending Education and Moms for Liberty.
On December 13, this collective sent an urgent letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, calling for immediate action from the Department of Education. Their primary concern lies in the perpetuation of divisive and hostile environments for both students and staff, which they argue hampers educational equality.
An example of possible anti-semitism in Vermont public schools (although not referenced by the letter) took place this month when the Burlington School District sponsored an event called “Teaching Palestine.” Some local educators complained it was one-sided towards the Palestinian perspective, and a local rabbi David Edleson commented: “I don’t think teaching one side or the other and turning this into a team sport is at all helpful to our kids, my kids, or Muslim kids, or any of our kids.”
The letter reads in part (full text appears below):
The evidence is overwhelming and well documented. K-12 school districts are taking advantage of their captive audience of students by using mandated classes and curriculum to teach appalling material, often under the guise of “ethnic studies.” These courses teach students to dehumanize people based on race, ethnicity and other identity markers. The ethnic studies courses in the Santa Ana Unified School District courses blame Israel for “ethnic cleansing,” accuse Israel of UN war crimes, and refer to Israelis as an “extremist illegal Jewish settler population.” Jefferson Union High School District’s ethnic studies curriculum includes a lesson on colonialism that focuses on “Palestinian dispossession of lands/identity/culture through Zionist settler colonialism.” These examples are not outliers; it is illustrative of what ethnic studies courses look like from Seattle to Los Angeles to Boston.
The coalition’s letter emphasizes the detrimental impact of the presence of inaccurate and antisemitic material within the educational system. They argue that such content not only fosters division and hostility but also undermines students’ and staff members’ right to an equal education. With an impressive membership base of 476,440 individuals, the coalition represents a broad spectrum of organizations dedicated to rectifying this issue. Their unified message aims to mobilize Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and the Department of Education to address and rectify this pressing concern promptly. By doing so, they hope to create a more inclusive and harmonious learning environment for students of all backgrounds in K-12 schools.
In alphabetical order, the organizations include:
American Education Advocates
Awake Americans
Awake Illinois
Baltimore County Parent and Student Coalition
California Foundation for Educational Rights (CFER)
CAPA Nova
Colorado Parent Advocacy Network
Concerned Parents of Round Rock ISD
Courage Is A Habit
Education Veritas
Fight For Schools
Florida Citizens Alliance
Freedom In Education
Hope For PA
Minnesota Parents Alliance
Moms For Liberty
New Trier Neighbors
Olentangy For Educational Integrity
Parents Defending Education
Parents Unite
Parents United For Freedom
Parents United RI
Power2Parent
Protect Ohio Children
Protect Our Kids Now
Protective Parent Coalition
Restore Childhood
Scottsdale Unites For Educational Integrity
SpeakVT
Tri-Town Family Alliance
Truth In Education
United Against Racism In Education
Utah Parents United
Virginia Moms For America
Virginia Mavens
West Valley Parents Uniting
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Categories: Education, Press Release, Race and Division
we should be talking about anti genocide involving all people
I think in general a good point of reference would be to ask oneself if another “group “ of people were being treated in a certain manner, if attacks on them would be accepted? If seriously derisive material about them were taught would that be considered acceptable? So if you were to substitute “blacks” or Hispanics “ for instance for Jews, would the schools still think it was just fine. That’s in my opinion an easy way to figure out if Jews are being targeted in a way that no other group is. And then of course there are definitions of antisemitism that can be applied.
SPEAK VT
Student, Parents and Educators for Achievement through Knowledge
http://www.speakvt.org
Defund Israel, full stop. ‘Antisemitism’ should not correlate to the support of a sovereign nation. Hollywood has provided more than enough propaganda on this subject – (children unable to read or pay attention at school is a common topic at VT Daily Chronicle) so the idea that MORE attention should be given educationally is flawed reasoning. More people consume Hollywood’s media than read or pay attention to school teachers, If that isn’t enough then I guess it’s just NOT WORKING. We have been fighting Israel’s battles since WW2 – let’s help them help themselves. Stop enabling the destructive tendencies of the state of Israel – it is not benefiting Americans broadly, or Vermonters specifically. Look at all these parasitic NGO’s that signed this absurd statement – what part of ‘small government’ do they represent?