- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
Teachers in the second-largest school district in the nation have had to remove Black Lives Matter, Land Back, and Palestinian flags from their classrooms as part of so-called corrective actions taken following a complaint alleging discrimination. The changes occurred at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The district has over half a million students and 1,500 schools and centers.
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Its a good article.
The changes at Downtown Magnets High School followed a complaint filed in March with LAUSD’s Office of Student Civil Rights by Emet Legal Services, alleging violations of anti-discrimination statutes, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 715. Specifically, the complaint, which Truthout reviewed, alleged that Tiffany Do, an 11th-grade social studies and health teacher, had created a hostile environment for Jewish faculty and students by displaying Palestinian flags in the classroom, wearing a keffiyeh in their staff photo on the school’s website and sometimes on campus, and “fail[ing] to present pro-Israel or pro-Zionist speech, posters, or classroom content.” The complaint claimed Do had “indoctrinate[d] students to become political activists while silencing and intimidating Jewish and Israeli-American staff and students.”
When the complaint was filed, it triggered an investigation covering the previous six months of Do’s curricular material, classroom decorations, and professional conduct. Do was interviewed and required to turn over classroom materials, this time to the Office of Student Civil Rights. The school’s principal, history and ethnic studies coordinators, director and operations coordinator, and 15 students in Do’s classes were also interviewed.
The findings of the investigation were announced in late April. It found that Do had used only “limited Israel-Palestine-related” materials, including a single Teen Vogue article about Ireland’s solidarity with Palestine, which was offered as one of seven possible options during a reading assignment, and Democracy Now!’s Top U.S. and World Headlines segment. Students watched those segments every Tuesday, and the segments sometimes referenced the war on Gaza.
Students interviewed as part of this year’s investigation “generally described the classroom environment as open, nonjudgmental, comfortable, or relaxed,” according to the investigation’s findings. Students said they could “share different opinions or disagree without issue” and reported that neither their teacher nor classmates made “comments specifically targeting Jewish people, Israeli people, or Zionism.”
Notably, the investigation did not find that Do’s wearing a keffiyeh constituted discrimination. But the complainant has appealed that finding. The original complaint characterized a keffiyeh as “not only a political symbol, but one that promotes a political agenda of extremism,” and claimed the scarves are “widely used by leaders, members, and supporters of terrorist groups,” citing an “info sheet” from one pro-Israel advocacy group.
That’s the basic plot of what happened but worth reading for the rest of details. Zionists really enthusiastically using themselves as the sharp edge of the knife in the fight to defend white supremacy. Maybe they hope to endear themselves to the other whites having been abandoned by masses of even Americans.
I notice the white supremacist coward behind Emet Legal Services doesn’t list an office location on the website. But her LinkedIN lists her as being in San Jose. Someone local might want to do some public education and make sure anyone contemplating hiring her knows what a disgusting genocide enthusiast she is.
