On campuses , numerous pro-Palestinian groups celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis as an act of “resistance” while blaming Israel for the outbreak of violence. However, it would be a mistake to assume that only institutions of higher education nurture this kind of distorted worldview. A controversy in Oakland shows that teachers are also promoting bigotry in our K-12 schools.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to Oakland Unified School District on Jan. 16 announcing an investigation of alleged discrimination against Jewish students.
The investigation follows the departure of at least 30 Jewish families from the district amid growing concern regarding their children’s safety and the harm inflicted by a hostile learning environment. Investigators asked for a substantive response to 2 1/2 pages of questions by Jan. 31.
OCR will investigate whether the district violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing and mishandling an unauthorized Dec. 6 teach-in organized by the Oakland Education Association for Palestine , an activist group within the local teachers union. At least 70 teachers and over 100 students reportedly attended the event during the school day. Following the teach-in, OCR received a complaint alleging teachers taught students that a “free Palestine means the annihilation of Jews.”