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A teacher who faced raucous protests over her public support for Israel filed a lawsuit last week, claiming city officials failed to protect her before students began marching through her Queens school calling for her ouster.
Despite the suit, Karen Marder, the teacher targeted in the protest, told Chalkbeat that she is committed to staying at Hillcrest High School. This year, she became one of the school’s deans and helps oversee student discipline.
“Hillcrest is my home,” she said. “It never really was a question for me about coming back.”
It has been a tumultuous year for Hillcrest , which garnered national attention as public schools and universities have struggled to address fallout from the Israel-Hamas war. The episode was a flashpoint during a congressional hearing where schools Chancellor David Banks was grilled on New York City’s response to antisemitism.
On Nov. 20, students flooded the hallways between classes in protest of a photo Marder posted of herself on Facebook holding a sign that read “I Stand With Israel.” The image of Marder, who is Jewish, was from a rally she attended two days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.