LAUSD finds high school teachers created hostile environment for Jewish, Israeli students
Three keffiyeh-wearing teachers at a Los Angeles high school pushed pro-Palestinian political messaging through dance recitals, classroom flyers and classroom lessons — creating a “hostile environment” for Jewish and Israeli students, investigators found.The LA Unified School District’s Office of Student Civil Rights concluded the teachers at Canoga Park High School violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and a California law barring biased instruction, according to its findings.The probe stemmed from a complaint by the North American Values Institute (NAVI), filed with the Jewish Teachers Los Angeles and Emet Legal.NAVI said the district substantiated all 11 of its allegations.
The report doesn’t name the teachers, referring to them Teacher 1, 2 and 3.Investigators stressed that criticism of Israel and support for Palestine “do not, by themselves, establish Title VI discrimination.” What crossed the line, they said, was teachers using their authority, class time and school programs to repeatedly push the same message.The bulk of the probe’s findings centered on Teacher 1, the school’s dance instructor and adviser to its Students for Justice in Palestine club.She taught students about Palestinian resistance through the music, movements and history of their dances, and described her students as “taking a stand,” the report says.A May recital opened with a student introduction about destroyed schools and homes in Gaza that urged support for Palestine and the club, according to the report.She then had students review the dance team’s YouTube recital playlist — which included selections framing Gazans as “martyrs”— for their graded final exam.
The teacher denied operating the YouTube channel, while the principal said she did, the report found.Investigators also found that she summoned 49 students from class to attend an SJP meeting in June, kept “Free Palestine” and genocide-related posters in her classroom windows all school year...