Do you remember this from last year? Now look at the new Muslim hate Crimes taught in the Public Schools of Newton

Parent: Newton South material defames Israeli forces

By Ashley Studley

Posted Oct 07, 2011 @ 05:07 PM

Last update Oct 12, 2011 @ 03:19 PM

Newton —

A school official says administrators are reviewing curriculum material after a parent complained about an article regarding a Palestinian resistance movement sent home with his freshman daughter.
Tony Pagliuso told the Newton TAB his daughter, a Newton South High School student, was given material defaming Israeli defense forces.
Pagliuso said World History teacher Jessica Engel distributed a chapter on women from the Arab World Notebook to students earlier this week.
“It’s pure propaganda and pure defamation that Israeli occupation forces and citizen soldiers are imprisoning, torturing and murdering Arab women,” he said.
The section, of the third of five pages, reads as follows: “Over the past four decades, women have been active in the Palestinian resistance movement. Several hundred have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed by Israeli occupation forces since the latest uprising, “Intifada,” in the Israeli occupied territories.”
Pagliuso said his daughter was troubled by the reading.
“My family - we’re all Israeli and American citizens and have a lot of family in this area. [My daughter] said ‘is this true? Is this what Israeli soldiers do?’ knowing full well we have 25 family members in the Israel Defense Forces,” he said.
Pagliuso said he spoke to Engel, Department Head Jennifer Morrill, Principal Joel Stembridge, central administrators and Mayor Setti Warren.
Superintendant David Fleishman said Stembridge, Morrill and Engel are meeting with Pagliuso on Tuesday.
“Jen Morrill is in her first month of the job. She took a look at it and agreed it’s something that needs to be reviewed… I took a look at it and agree it needs to be reviewed,” Fleishman said.
He said they’ll examine the particular passage to see is it fits with the goal of the class-learning about Islam and women in the Middle East.
He said the previous department head was involved in the curriculum choice, and that administrators will determine if it deviates from the class’ goal.
“We value lots of input and free speech, and we agreed with the parent it's worth reviewing,” he said.
Pagliuso said he just wants students to hear both sides of the argument.
“If it was a two-sided article that gave both perspective equally and kids were able to look at it, talk about it and debate it, of course I wouldn't have an issue with it. I don't think anybody would,” he said.

Critics of curriculum about Islam pressure Newton School Committee

By Chloe Gotsis

Wicked Local Newton

Posted Jun 28, 2012 @ 10:30 AM

Last update Jun 28, 2012 @ 01:05 PM

Newton —

Despite School Department reassurances that a controversial passage was removed from the curriculum at the city’s two high schools, a small contingent of activists continue to claim Newton Public Schools are teaching a “radical Islamic agenda.”

The accusations stem from October when a Newton South parent of Israeli descent contacted the School Department, mayor and the Newton TAB and said his daughter brought home an article she was given during her World History class at Newton South High School that he said was defamatory against the Israeli Defense Forces. The article – which was four photocopied pages from the “Arab World Notebook” —said the IDF is imprisoning, torturing and killing Palestinian women.

“We have been at every School Committee meeting,” said 85-year-old Newton resident Helga Lustig during public comment at the June 11 School Committee meeting. “Right from the beginning, I said I felt like I’m in 1930s Germany. Our children are being indoctrinated.”

The group of Newton residents has hurled accusations of anti-Semitism at Newton Public School administrators and School Committee members—many of whom are Jewish themselves—even after School Superintendent David Fleishman’s announcement at the Nov. 14 School Committee meeting that Newton South administrators have removed the article from the curriculum after determining it didn’t meet the learning goals of the class.

Newton resident Russel Pergament, who is also a founder of the TAB newspapers, told the School Department and School Committee at its April 9 meeting that the passage was slanderous and opened the school district up to ridicule. Pergament is no longer associated with the paper or its owner, GateHouse Media.

“It’s not appropriate that the Newton Public Schools would propagate hate,” he said.

But Fleishman reminded the group at the June 11 meeting that he had said several times this year that the passage had been removed from the curriculum.

Fleishman told the Newton TAB the complaint calls the School Department has received aren’t from Newton parents, but older residents.

“All we can do is be reassuring,” he said.

Fleishman has told the group that the School Department does not use textbooks to teach World History in the course level where the material was presented, but teaches with primary sources.

For example, Fleishman explained at the Oct. 25 School Committee meeting that when students study African American history, they may read racist authors as a way of learning to evaluate sources.

The American Jewish Committee, one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations, urged school districts across the country to ban the “Arab World Studies Notebook” as a resource for Middle East studies on its website. The committee said on its website that the book “appears largely designed to advance anti-Israel propagandistic views of its sponsors.”

“It’s not appropriate that the Newton Public Schools would propagate hate,” he said.

But Fleishman reminded the group at the June 11 meeting that he had said several times this year that the passage had been removed from the curriculum.

Fleishman told the Newton TAB the complaint calls the School Department has received aren’t from Newton parents, but older residents.

“All we can do is be reassuring,” he said.

Fleishman has told the group that the School Department does not use textbooks to teach World History in the course level where the material was presented, but teaches with primary sources.

For example, Fleishman explained at the Oct. 25 School Committee meeting that when students study African American history, they may read racist authors as a way of learning to evaluate sources.

Chairwoman Claire Sokoloff reiterated that the entire “Arab World Notebook” was never used.

“It was four pages of a chapter,” she said. “We are moving on because we really feel that we have addressed these concerns over and over again.”

The activists have also raised questions concerning the relationship between Paul Beran, a professor at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies Outreach Center, and the Newton Public Schools.

“The problem is that you can take all the textbooks out, but where are the teachers in Newton getting the pamphlets or the other information that they are going to teach from?” Lustig said.

Beran teaches classes at Harvard on the Israeli conflict and Middle East politics. According to Harvard’s website, Beran has served as a consultant on global education and development programs in Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Sudan and the US.

Fleishman told the Newton TAB Beran spoke to some Newton history teachers for about an hour or less in 2009 about the Oslo Accord.

“[He was] one of the many people they heard from,” he said. “He was not paid by us.”

Staff writer Chloe Gotsis can be reached at 781-433-8333 or at cgotsis@wickedlocal.com

School Committee Vice Chairman Matt Hills told the group at the June 11 meeting that the committee and the School Department has said many times that the article is no longer being used as part of the curriculum at the high school.
Chairwoman Claire Sokoloff reiterated that the entire “Arab World Notebook” was never used.
“It was four pages of a chapter,” she said. “We are moving on because we really feel that we have addressed these concerns over and over again.”
The activists have also raised questions concerning the relationship between Paul Beran, a professor at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies Outreach Center, and the Newton Public Schools.
“The problem is that you can take all the textbooks out, but where are the teachers in Newton getting the pamphlets or the other information that they are going to teach from?” Lustig said.
Beran teaches classes at Harvard on the Israeli conflict and Middle East politics. According to Harvard’s website, Beran has served as a consultant on global education and development programs in Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Sudan and the US.
Fleishman told the Newton TAB Beran spoke to some Newton history teachers for about an hour or less in 2009 about the Oslo Accord.
“[He was] one of the many people they heard from,” he said. “He was not paid by us.”
Staff writer Chloe Gotsis can be reached at 781-433-8333 or at cgotsis@wickedlocal.com

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0011UpzE2cIV7OBFf8iDCVz29zsAqn532EZ08mVd2JICPa2H6fSWWZrxcjJszmZiXjvgSJjy_yi_mlf-pUhFHmWiqg6Ev1iqVZ5dqbTJqYY9dEYZUUde57C4OpiBLzFeN8J

Dear Leah Lax

ANTISEMITISM IN THE NEWTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
THE OUTRAGE CONTINUES
November 6, 2012
Charles Jacobs

Last night at the Newton Public School meeting, over a dozen concerned parents and community members attended to press the School Committee to make public what they are teaching about Jews, Israel and the Middle East, and to demand that school officials go into the classrooms where students were given anti-Israel, anti-Semitic material and explain they had been misled.

This was the largest showing so far (aided by the turnout of some from the Russian Jewish community.) The School Committee, stung by our strong representations and by articles in the Jewish Advocate that are spreading around Newton, was ready for us. Chairwoman, Claire Sokoloff purposely changed the normal order of the meeting so that we would have to sit through a long report about plans for new school construction. And she warned that in the future, those who sign up to speak during the "Public Comment" segment would have to list their "topic" -- so that she could decide how many of us would speak.

When we were permitted to speak, 5 of us made our case. Though I know, and have expressed to the Committee in the past that the problem extends beyond anti-Semitism to the general corruption of the educational process, the whitewashing of Islamist imperialism, and the school committee's ignorance of history, last night I focused on the Jewish problem.

The main point of my presentation was to demand that the Committee undo the error -- that it admitted it made -- when it allowed an anti-Israel text to teach Newton students that Israeli Jews incarcerate, torture and murder Arab women. After vigorous campaigning by a grass roots group organized by Margot Einstein, that particular text was removed. But unless this is publicly retracted by the School Committee, Newton high school students will continue to believe this racist canard against the Jewish people.

During my and Margo's presentation, Chairwoman Clare Sokoloff was rolling her eyes and smirking in a most disrespectful manner. When I finished, I objected to this, saying that I felt like Paul Ryan being laughed at by Joe Biden. She adamantly denied she was doing "any such thing." But I was followed by Hillel Stavis, who told the room that he was watching School Committee people smirk at us and that he only hoped the video camera, which records all these meetings, caught it. We'll see: it is shown on NewTV next week.

We continue to collect materials from the school, and are planning for the next meeting. Stay tuned.

If you are, or if you know, a parent of a student in the Newton Schools, please contact us via email. We already have a small but growing group.

Here is my statement:

"We are here to speak about the anti-Semitic materials in the Newton schools. At the last meeting on Oct 22, we described to you in detail our concerns about anti-Jewish materials in the Newton Public School curricula.

We believe that the guiding principle of your educational approach is "political correctness," which is evident from a cursory examination of texts and handouts used in Newton schools.

We in the Jewish community, and not only in the Jewish community, are concerned that your educational approach puts Israel -- and America, I might add -- in a relatively poor light. At the same time you hide from students, you actually hide from the students, the terrible situation of women and gays and especially now Christians, in the Arab/Islamic realm.

We think you employ the Politically Correct approach with good intention... because you want the students to help the world be a more peaceful place, and you think that by putting the blame on the West - and Israel -- for conflicts and wars, and that by avoiding unpleasant facts about other cultures, that you are contributing to peace. In other words, you specifically -- and by design -- chose "peace" and conflict resolution and harmony -- over simple truths.

And because of this, you have inadvertently let anti-Israel and anti-Semitic content slip into the classrooms. You have in a way justified -- hated of Jews and Israel, especially by Arabs and Muslims.

In my presentation, I gave you multiple concrete examples. A brief review:
You allowed teachers to defame Jews, and teach lies to students, most specifically in an actual handout that taught Newton students that Israelis capture, torture and kill Arab women. This is of course a racist lie. You know it. But only after we vigorously protest it did you remove it from the school.

It appeared in the Arab World Studies Notebook, a work is described as Propaganda and Proselytizing by the very, very liberal American Jewish Committee. The Chair of your History Department told us that she attended a workshop given by the author of this propaganda Notebook, Audrey Shabbas. We know a lot about Audrey Shabbas. We were told by David Fleishman, Superintendent of Schools, that "it's a good book: we vetted it; it comes from Harvard."

Again, only after vigorous protest by members of the community, Jewish and non-Jewish, you removed that one handout from the book. You hint -- although you do not confirm, that the entire Arab World Studies Notebook has been removed.

Will anyone on the committee today confirm or deny that this vicious anti-Israel book has been removed from the schools in its entirety?

When we said that to lie about the Jews and to tell students that they torture and murder Arab women in Israel, when we said that this is "poisonous" language that you gave the students about Jews, the Chairwoman Claire Sokoloff objected. You said it was simply "opinions we don't like."

Ms. Sokoloff, I would like to remind you that hatred of Jews has been the engine of persecution and mass murder of our people. What else but hatred of Jews could emerge from the mental pictures --- that Newton teachers put into the minds of students of Jews torturing and killing women? I would hate such people, as would you, as would and decent person. Defamation, Claire, is poison.

So we are tired of you sweeping this under the rug. We want you to correct your error, an error you admit you made: We want you to go into the class rooms and tell the affected students that Jews do NOT torture and murder women. They never did. And you should tell the students that they were lied to. And you should apologize to them and to all of us.

I think, that the group I speak for, will agree that this is an absolute, non-negotiable demand on our part. We think the Jewish community of Newton - we think most everyone in Newton -- would agree that this is the only right and decent thing for you to do. And it must be done.

Further, we want to know if you have removed that poisonous book in its entirety. We want to know what you are teaching the children of Newton. According to your own guidelines, parents have the right to see what is being taught. I know parents who are afraid to ask for this in their own names because of repercussions on their children and grandchildren. So I believe that what you teach should be transparent and open to the entire community. That's what the internet is for.

Just one final point: you said, Mrs. Sokoloff, that we would surely all know if there really was biased material in the classrooms because our Jewish students would tell us. Here's why this is a mistaken idea.

You taught the students that the Prophet Mohammed reached out to the Jews with his preachings, but you do NOT tell them what happened to the Jews when they rejected him: you don't teach the students that Mohammed slaughtered the Jewish men of Koresh in front of their terrified wives and children -- and then took women and children as slaves. This is a pretty important historical fact that your politically correct education left out. On purpose. This fact explains much of the history between Jews and Muslims. The Muslims refer to it even today.

But we couldn't count on your children to tell us how your system misled them. How would your children even know that they were given twisted history? In Newton, he won't learn about Mohammed's slaughter of the Jews in the time of Mohammed. And you, with all due respect, you who probably don't know about that either, and so wouldn't know to protest. But we do. And we will. For us this is a very serious matter.

You need to go tell Newton students that Jews don't torture and kill women. This is Newton, not Cambridge, and not Saudi Arabia.

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