Politicizing K-12 Classrooms

In a Nutshell

At a deeply polarized moment in American history, political movements on the right and the left are working to introduce their political beliefs into K-12 classrooms. Right-wing activists seek book bans, mandatory Bible instruction, and restriction on teaching about slavery. Left-wing activists, including leaders and others associated with the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), have also been promoting measures to bring their own overtly political goals into K-12 classrooms.  

Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, when 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and 240 people were kidnapped as hostages into Gaza, the MTA has embraced a series of measures that have supported anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activism and encouraged teachers to do the same. These measures have included: 

• Promoting multiple one-sided resolutions that demonized Israel and its supporters. This included one that accused Israel of genocide, while failing to mention Hamas’ murderous October 7 attack and also ignoring the plight of hundreds of Israeli hostages. 
• Hosting a webinar that purported to address “Anti-Palestinian Racism,” but was in fact dedicated to presenting an extreme, one-sided narrative about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that identified support for Zionism as racism, demonized Israel and its supporters, and made false, disparaging assertions about Jews, their values, and their beliefs. 
• Sponsoring a three-hour workshop entitled “Teaching and Learning About Palestine,” which encouraged teachers to develop one-sided lesson plans for teaching about Palestine.

The MTA has also said that it intends to develop new curriculum resources that would supplement existing one-sided material available to members for teaching about Palestine and its conflict with Israel. The relevant resolution encourages teachers to bring these new resources to their students. The process is being led by the Director of Training and Professional Learning, Ricardo Rosa, who made social media posts celebrating the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas.
 

The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) Appears to have a Jewish Problem

The MTA’s initiative does not support diverse perspectives on a complex struggle between two people that each have historic claims to the same territory. Instead, it provides ideologically informed narratives that function in a manner similar to medieval Passion Plays, dramas about good and evil that have a fixed storyline and preordained heroes and villains. The net result is to perpetuate anti-Jewish tropes that malign Israel and its supporters. 

The unabashed bias evident in the MTA’s project prompted State Senators Rebecca Rausch and Jason Lewis to send a joint letter to MTA President Max Page. They observed that the MTA “appears to be promoting a one-sided ideological view that, if perpetuated, would further isolate and potentially endanger Jewish and Israeli people in our schools and communities.” While the Senators’ letter, sent in April 2024, heightened public awareness of the MTA’s dangerous excesses, the MTA has only intensified its political program.
 

The Danger of Politicizing K-12 Education 

This has generated concern that teachers are being enrolled, perhaps unwittingly, to indoctrinate students in points of view favored by radical MTA activists and their leaders. Most parents and community members do not want students to be told which political candidate to back, which faith to believe in, or which cause to support. They want students educated, informed, and empowered to make their own judgments. Encouraging teachers to use their position to bring preferred political views into K-12 classrooms risks eroding public trust, undermining the integrity of K-12 schools, and endangering those who suffer the prejudices resulting from extreme, one-sided activism.  

Politicizing K-12 Classrooms

Why This Report

In a deeply polarized moment in American history, political movements on the right and the left are working to imprint their convictions onto K-12 school curricula. Right-wing activists, for example, have advanced book bans,1 mandatory bible instruction,2 mandatory posting of the Ten Commandments,3 initiatives to teach so-called “creation science,”4 restrictions on teaching about the history of American slavery,5 and a range of other initiatives that politicize public school curricula. 

Left-wing activists are also working to align school curricula with their political and social beliefs. Among them is the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), which for the last year has been engaged in an intensive campaign to encourage members to embrace a decidedly one-sided narrative concerning the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. This effort has turned a complex historic struggle between two indigenous people, with claims to the same land, into a simplistic narrative that depicts a conflict between oppressors and the oppressed, and cynically associates support for Palestinian nationalism with the quest for racial justice in the United States.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) Wants to Influence How Teachers Teach About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict  

The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) is the largest union in New England with 117,000 members in 400 local associations across the Commonwealth. The MTA website describes its role as follows:

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is a union, dedicated to improving the workplace and the quality of life for all education employees and to protecting their hard-won rights.6

Foreign policy and the U.S. role in foreign policy have not commonly been viewed as matters of union interest. However, in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the resulting war, the MTA appears to have departed from its historic focus on the well-being of its teachers and entered into a sustained effort that has promoted the Palestinian cause, while denigrating or minimizing information that might support alternative perspectives. This has consequences not only for its members, but also for the students and the schools they serve. 

After steadily escalating measures, it has become increasingly apparent that some MTA activists, with the acquiescence or support of their leadership, are using their power and influence to encourage union members to support and bring to their classrooms an understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that provides a highly partisan, one-sided view of the conflict. These measures include the adoption of emotionally charged resolutions that, for example, make unsupported allegations of genocide or accuse proponents of a widely accepted definition of antisemitism of threatening teachers’ safety and advancing a conspiracy to suppress pro-Palestinian opinion. 

The persistence of these actions is contributing to concerns among many in the Jewish community that the MTA is fueling an increasingly toxic environment for Jewish students and teachers. But concern resulting from recent actions taken by MTA leaders and activists should not just be a matter of Jewish concern.

Most parents want their children to learn how to make their own educated judgments, including on difficult issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By encouraging members to bring the union’s preferred political beliefs to students, the MTA leadership appears intent on bypassing school boards, administrators, parents, and other citizens. Many might reasonably view this as a breach of trust.

The Campaign to Politicize K-12 Classrooms
  

1. MTA Weighs in on the Gaza Conflict Between Hamas and Israel

On November 4, 2023, the MTA executive board voted to sign on to a National Labor Movement petition calling for a return of all hostages taken by Hamas and a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. One month later, on December 9, 2023, the MTA’s Board of Directors adopted two additional resolutions that struck a very different tone from the more balanced approach of the original petition. The first was in the form of an appeal to the National Education Association to pressure the Biden administration to stop its support of Israel’s “genocidal war” and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The second resolution directed the MTA’s Training and Professional Learning Division to develop a framework and curriculum resources “for learning about the history and current events in Israel and Occupied Palestine, for MTA members to use with each other and their students.”7 

These measures were notable in several respects. The December 9th ceasefire resolution accused Israel of “genocide,” while making no mention of the savage October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas,8 the more than 1,200 civilians who were murdered, raped, and tortured,9 or the 240 hostages forcibly kidnapped and moved to Gaza. 

Further confirmation of the MTA’s commitment to one-sided pro-Palestinian activism came on February 3, 2024, when union leadership voted to table a proposed resolution condemning Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israeli civilians.10 To date, there has been no attempt to reconsider, much less adopt, this resolution.

This was followed by an online webinar on March 21, 2024, that purported to be about “The Struggle Against Anti-Palestinian Racism.” Those who registered received a form entitled “Pre-Workshop Survey – MTA Teach In On Palestine,” which, among several other questions, asked attendees whether “I feel supported by my administration in teaching about Palestine.” A second question asked whether attendees “feel supported by my administration in teaching anti-Zionist narratives about Palestine.”11 Promotional material for the event removed any doubt as to its intent. The program would explore questions including, “How does Palestine fit into the larger framework of colonialism and imperialism?” and “Why is anti-Zionism not antisemitism?”12 Subsequently, however, one of the speakers, Professor Leila Farsakh, more bluntly explained the webinar’s true purpose, stating, “The aim of this webinar was to explain the settler-colonial structure of Zionism, of Israel.”13 

It quickly became evident that when the presenters referred to “anti-Palestinian racism,” they were not talking about discrimination, harassment, or exclusion of Palestinians. Rather, anti-Palestinian racism, in this context, referred to expressions of support for the State of Israel and even its right to exist. The premise of the entire program was that Jews are colonists who came to settle a land to which they do not belong.

With that simple sleight of hand, the Jewish people’s 3,000-year connection to the land of Israel, their indigenous homeland, was erased. Not surprisingly, this conclusory framing shaped what followed, which was highly selective, thinly veiled propaganda cloaked as history. It included numerous misrepresentations of facts and outright falsehoods. It also sidestepped any information, context, or opinion that might suggest a more complex reality or indicate that there could be another way to view the matter. 

One speaker, Professor Heike Schotten, made broad claims, denouncing Zionism as a settler colonial program and a “very well-funded propaganda effort.” She continued by contending that “claims about antisemitism are lies” and “cover for Israeli crimes.”14 

The program also made broad claims about Judaism and its connection to Zionism. Zionism, everyone was instructed, is settler colonialism and is distinct from Judaism, the faith of the Jewish people.15 In fact, the idea of a return to Zion (the Land of Israel) has been embedded in Jewish ritual, text, and religious practice for thousands of years.16

According to a circulated transcript, the program ended with former MTA President Merrie Najimy exhorting teachers to help “our youth…in transforming their future, and…connecting all of their struggles for liberation here in the United States and around the world.” Najimy did not hold back. She told the teachers, “Our silence is complicity.”17 In response, the leadership of the MTA did not suggest that Ms. Najimy’s words were her own. Nor did they encourage teachers to study all sides of a conflict and come to their own informed conclusions. 
 

2. MTA Presents Its Power and Its Prejudices

The MTA leadership’s extreme ideological commitments prompted an April 3, 2024, letter from two respected Massachusetts State Senators, Rebecca Rausch, and Jason Lewis. Referring to the December 9, 2023, resolution adopted by the MTA’s Board of Directors, the Senators said that the action “smacked of antisemitism and lacked compassion and empathy for Jewish and Israeli people in our communities, including many among the ranks of the MTA’s membership.” 

Teachers, students, and parents share our worry that our Commonwealth’s largest teachers union appears to be promoting a one-sided ideological view that, if perpetuated, would further isolate and potentially endanger Jewish and Israeli people in our schools and communities. 

– From an April 3, 2024, letter from two respected Massachusetts State Senators, Rebecca Rausch and Jason Lewis

The Senators went on to say, “Teachers, students, and parents share our worry that our Commonwealth’s largest teachers union appears to be promoting a one-sided ideological view that, if perpetuated, would further isolate and potentially endanger Jewish and Israeli people in our schools and communities.”18

Regrettably, while the Senators’ letter did heighten public awareness of the MTA’s extreme political program, it did little to moderate the MTA’s ideologically tinged activism. On April 26-27, 2024, the MTA held its annual meeting in Springfield, Massachusetts. There, according to witnesses, a large group of people showed up wearing keffiyehs, and MTA stations were distributing fliers from a group of teachers who called themselves “MTA Rank and File for Palestine.” Union members, who asked not to be identified, expressed concern that the MTA was becoming an increasingly hostile environment for people who had different views. In addition to the difficult climate at MTA meetings, they cited the failure of union leaders to respond to emails from critics, and in several cases, reported having their social media posts blocked on the union’s Facebook page. 

Then on June 28, 2024, the MTA Board of Directors passed what they called the IHRA Academic Freedom NBI. This resolution is an ideologically fraught attack against a widely accepted definition of antisemitism, created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a European NGO. The MTA alleges that the IHRA definition is a part of a conspiracy “to manufacture hysteria and fear in order to shut down teaching and learning about Israel/Palestine, as they have done with education on racial and social justice.19 The IHRA Academic Freedom NBI also resolved to “protect educators who are targeted by the weaponization of the IHRA definition or other misappropriated definitions of antisemitism.”

Strikingly, however, the adopted MTA resolution did not reference a single incident where such “weaponization” has occurred, in Massachusetts or anywhere else where the IHRA definition has been successfully adopted. In fact, contrary to the MTA’s fevered conspiracy theory, the IHRA20 definition was first promulgated in 2016, and since has been adopted or endorsed by 45 countries and half of the states in the United States. These entities have been joined by municipalities, NGOs, and arms of government around the world. 

Notwithstanding overheated claims, the IHRA definition is a modest and simple educational tool that may assist in recognizing conduct or words that might be antisemitic.21 Some have proposed alternative definitions, and people may disagree about which is better. The hysteria being whipped up by the MTA’s board, however, reflects the mounting intensity of their evident commitment to demonizing Israel and their refusal to even contemplate the possibility that there may be instances where a critique of Israel strays into antisemitism.22 

Additional efforts to influence what teachers teach in the classroom followed. At the MTA’s July 28-31, 2024, summer conference, a three-hour program was held, entitled “Teaching and Learning About Palestine.” The program description was innocuous and called for the review of materials that “cover topics such as the beauty of Palestinian culture and Palestinian history.” After which, participants “will work in teams to develop lessons and activities for their students.”23 The program was led by Salma Abu Ayyash, a vocal advocate for Palestine and critic of Israel.24 While we do not have specific information about what was taught in this session, events that followed only deepened concerns that the MTA is involved in a campaign to bring one-sided, polemical views into K-12 classrooms. 

The MTA’s division of Training and Professional Learning, led by Ricardo Rosa, was charged by the MTA’s Board of Directors with curating “curriculum resources for learning about the history and current events in Israel and Occupied Palestine, for MTA members to use with each other and their students.”25 Yet, two days after the massacre of 1,200 civilians in Israel, Rosa posted on Instagram an image of Palestinian women brandishing slingshots and waving Palestinian flags under the banner “Free Palestine.”26 Since then, he has shared a poster promoting the January 13, 2024 “March on Washington for Gaza,” a photograph of a pro-Palestinian rally in Houthi-controlled Sana, Yemen, a poster with the headline “All Eyes on Rafah,” and several other posts that display his commitment to pro-Palestinian advocacy and his hostility toward the existence of Israel.27

Ordinarily, educators interested in presenting a balanced and nuanced view of a complicated historical conflict, like the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, would not select someone with such extreme and one-sided views to guide the creation of its educational resources. The MTA’s pattern of conduct over the last ten months, however, reinforces the view that its leaders are not interested in supplying their members with diverse points of view or a nuanced understanding of a complex struggle. Instead, they appear committed to promoting dogmatic, ideologically guided opinions and content for their members to bring back to their classrooms. And if that remains the case, Ricardo Rosa appears to be well-suited to the task. 

Under his leadership, the MTA has been providing a wide variety of information to support members’ professional development and inform the work of teachers in the classroom. It has housed these on its website, under the title “anti-oppression” “transformative pathways.”28 This includes a broad array of articles concerning racial justice and white supremacy, which explain, for example, the meaning of white privilege, why textbooks perpetuate white supremacy, and why Jews need to acknowledge their privilege.29 Other articles explore the meaning of racial justice, concepts of identity, and how to advance the struggle against racial injustice.30 The MTA also furnishes workshop materials that focus on identity mapping and how to escape from the social norms one is born into to become an agent for change.

The MTA website also directs teachers to five “Racial Justice Organizations,” to which they can turn for lessons, articles, and other resources. These organizations all appear to align with the MTA’s views about racial justice and white supremacy.31 One of them is Rethinking Schools (RTS), which hosts on its website resources that advance a Palestinian narrative.32 Together with Teaching for Change (another of the five racial justice organizations), RTS founded the Zinn Educational Project (ZEP). ZEP is built on the legacy of the controversial33 author of “A People’s History of the United States,” Howard Zinn. According to the ZEP website, it offers a “progressive” perspective on history, one that is not ordinarily supported in U.S. textbooks. Unlike the MTA, however, ZEP acknowledges that there may be other points of view besides those it advances.34

Among its areas of interest is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The website provides an array of documents that abandon any pretense of even-handedness. One article, for example, composed in collaboration with RTS, provides 26 pages of articles, lesson plans, stories, videos, and an organizational list, dedicated to advancing a narrative about the conflict that aligns with views of pro-Palestinian activists.35 While ZEP provides lesson plans on other issues concerning racial justice in the United States, its commitment to the conflict in the Middle East is underscored by the fact that four of the first ten “Teaching Materials” offered on its website concern Palestine and Israel.36 A review of the website found no indication of any other foreign conflict, issue, or event receiving remotely comparable attention.

There is nothing inherently wrong with making resources of this kind available to teachers. What is especially concerning, however, is that there is no evidence that the MTA is seeking to provide members with diverse points of view on issues ranging from the quest for racial justice to a conflict happening 5,000 miles away for which it has no known institutional knowledge or experience. This underscores the degree to which the MTA has become not just a labor organization, but an ideologically driven advocacy organization that seeks to mold its teachers to its world view, and then have these teachers bring these one-sided views into the classroom. 

This was the assignment that was given to Ricardo Rosa by the MTA Board of Directors at its December 9, 2023 Board of Directors meeting, when it directed The Training and Professional Learning Division to “develop a framework for discussing [a] set of curriculum resources for learning about the history and current events in Israel and Occupied Palestine, for MTA members to use with each other and their students.”37 As of the date of issue for this report, we are unaware if such a framework and set of curriculum resources has been made available to union members. One can hope, however, that the MTA will use this opportunity to step back from its effort to politicize teacher training and development and refocus on teaching students how to think rather than what to think. 
 

3. MTA Members Resist

The MTA’s growing commitment to radical politics prompted several MTA members to introduce a resolution to suspend work on the development of the mandated curriculum resources on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Board rejected this proposal at its July 28, 2024, meeting. 

The concern was also raised directly with MTA President Max Page and Executive Director Mike Fadel by several members of the MTA. To mitigate concerns that Rosa’s department will generate contentious and one-sided resources, it was proposed that the product developed be vetted by diverse outside experts. AJC New England was advised that the MTA leaders explained that the authority to do this rested with the Board of Directors and it would be up to the teachers to persuade the Board to consider their proposal. 

The MTA defends its excesses by arguing that its decisions are made by democratically elected leaders,38 that they provide “a broad range of presenters,” and that the MTA does not endorse the views of all presenters, but instead “models the highest democratic value and exchange” by allowing for “diverse and at times competing ideas.”39 At least as concerns the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, however, there is no indication that the MTA has attempted to introduce diverse views.

There is substantial evidence to support the view that the MTA is placing its institutional power behind a thinly disguised campaign to advance a political program that is impervious to scholarship or a diversity of views. To achieve its objectives, they have demonstrated an intention to provide biased, false, and inflammatory curriculum resources for teachers to introduce into their classrooms.  

Many are noticing. Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism (MEAA) started as a small group of teachers concerned about the direction their union is taking. Their numbers have steadily grown as the MTA has ratcheted up its partisan activism. Local MTA units have dissented from the December 2023 MTA statement on the Israeli-Hamas conflict.40 For example, the President of the Newton Teachers Association (NTA), Mike Zilles, issued a statement saying, “The NTA unequivocally disassociates itself from this statement, and in particular from its antisemitic dog-whistling.” He went on to note that “the motion approved by the MTA Board will provoke further antisemitism, and it is callous.”41 

His prediction now appears all too real. Several Jewish teachers have elected to leave the union, and others have left the teaching profession altogether, because of the increasingly hostile and polarized environment that the union has fostered.

“The NTA unequivocally disassociates itself from this statement, and in particular from its antisemitic dog-whistling.” 

– Newton MTA President Mike Zilles reacting to December 9, 2023, one-sided MTA resolution on the conflict between Hamas and Israel

The appropriation of schools to advance the views of narrow interest groups, be they from the left or the right, is a fundamental breach of public trust and risks introducing significant concerns regarding the integrity of public education. By mobilizing its members for this purpose, elements within the MTA appear to be bypassing state educational offices, local school boards, administrators, and the parents of students, in an apparent effort to influence students to embrace a worldview that they favor. Evidence is mounting that the MTA has made its educational responsibilities secondary to its political preferences.

Good schools are built on trust. And this trust is placed at risk by the scope and persistence of highly partisan activity led by key voices involved with the union that threatens to intrude into our schools. It is the hope of American Jewish Committee (AJC) that this report will help inform and support constructive responses to a steadily growing and polarizing problem.

Ideology, Prejudice, and Resetting the Table
  

1. The MTA Doubles Down

The appropriation of schools to advance the views of narrow interest groups, be they from the left or the right, is a breach of public trust and risks introducing significant concerns regarding the integrity of public education. By mobilizing its members for this purpose, elements within the MTA appear to be bypassing state educational offices, local school boards, administrators, and the parents of students, in an apparent effort to influence students to embrace a worldview that they favor. 

Notwithstanding concerns expressed by many of its own members, as well as others from across Massachusetts, the MTA does not appear to have stepped back this initiative. At its October 2024 Board of Directors meeting, it began consideration of a resolution to “divest all staff pension funds and other investments from businesses that provide arms or other forms of military assistance to the State of Israel.”42

Based on available information, it has been at least 41 years since the MTA last supported a divestment measure.43 In that case, it was a measure that concerned South Africa. In the intervening years, however, the MTA has taken no comparable action on the colonization and ethnic cleansing of Tibet (China), the destruction of indigenous communities in the Amazon (Brazil), the genocide of members of the Tutsi tribe by Hutus in Rwanda, the perpetuation of slavery in several North African countries, the persecution of Kurds (Turkey), the imprisonment of more than one million Uyghur Muslims (China), the colonization and devastation of Ukraine (Russia), the ongoing persecution and subjugation of women across the Middle East, or the years of missile and terror attacks directed against civilians in Israel (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and other surrogates). 

Instead, evidence is mounting that the MTA is participating in a radical playbook that was clearly articulated by its former President, Merrie Najimy, in a recent webinar sponsored by the Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund and co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, along with the Massachusetts affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, and several other organizations. The program touched on a variety of topics but was primarily focused on the case for increasing federal funding for education by decreasing military spending. Speakers included the MTA’s President, Max Page, and its Director of Training and Professional Learning, Ricardo Rosa.  

In her comments, Najimy argued against U.S. support of Israel’s military and then presented her grassroots plan for compelling a change in policy. She stated:

We’re in the moment where there’s the largest…justice for Palestine movement in this country and around the world with more participation by organized labor than I’ve ever seen in my life. I started MTA Rank and File for Palestine and we’re doing work to push the MTA, to push the NEA, successfully, to take positions on protecting academic freedom and divesting our pensions. That’s a movement that’s growing. The BDS movement has met with incredible success. We have opportunities now to push at our local and our state levels…just one example…You have Mass. Peace Action all over Massachusetts…In Massachusetts we have Massachusetts for Palestine, a very robust network of town by town activists who are doing justice for Palestine work. Imagine the power we can harness if we push our local city councils, our town councils, our elected officials to divest any holdings that the cities or the towns have. Any pensions. It’s a moment that requires urgent action, escalated action, in a way that we’ve never seen before, because the immediate call from the movement now is an arms embargo. And that will actually stop all the violence so that we can get to a just and permanent solution.44

While it is not possible to know the internal deliberations that have taken place among leaders of the MTA, viewing the union’s actions over the course of the last year leads to the conclusion that it has become an active supporter of Najimy’s views and plans concerning pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activism. The MTA has provided fertile ground for MTA Rank and File for Palestine. The MTA also has issued multiple one-sided resolutions and actions that support and mirror Najimy’s plans. This includes deceptive and cynical resolutions concerning “freedom of expression” and the ongoing effort to divest from businesses that are in some manner providing military assistance to the State of Israel.45 And notably, it includes collaboration with, and promotion of, organizations that actively promote the virulently anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, such as Massachusetts Peace Action and Rethinking Schools.46

2. Prejudices Arising from Ideological Convictions

There is substantial evidence that the MTA is making its educational responsibilities secondary to its political preferences. In the wake of the massacre of October 7, 2023, the MTA has embarked on a broad campaign to stake out a one-sided and, many believe, toxic position concerning a conflict occurring 5,000 miles away between Israel and Hamas and their respective supporters. It has also encouraged members to bring ideologically curated content into their classrooms to support the union leadership’s own narrow and divisive political proclivities.

At the heart of the MTA’s political program is a school of thought known as “settler colonialism.” Over the last several decades, this theoretical model has been assimilated into the discourses of a wide range of academic disciplines and become a growing influence on public discourse.47  

Settler colonialism studies the destruction of indigenous peoples and cultures by expansionist European societies that have eradicated or substantially reduced existing populations in the process of laying claim to their land.48 In the last decade, proponents of Palestinian nationalism have seized upon this theory to argue that Israel, like the United States, Canada, and Australia, is a settler colonial state. This idea has caught fire, especially in progressive political circles that have made the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the focal point of a campaign to undo harm brought about by Western colonialism.49

What makes the settler colonial narrative so compelling is that it gives cultural and political expression to historic injustices that have shaped the histories of some people of color in America and others whose ancestors were confronted with the excesses of colonialism. But this very powerful theory also invites abuses. 

Proponents of Palestinian nationalism have transformed the idea of settler colonialism into a simple formula that reduces a complex history to a set of blunt conclusions that do not depend upon knowledge of a complex and tragic conflict. If people can be persuaded that Israel is a settler colonial state, then it is also presumed that Israel is guilty of heinous crimes associated with settler colonialism—genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and more. In this narrative, Palestinians are presented as mere innocent victims of Israel’s evil intentions, having no role themselves in the origins and the perpetuation of this longstanding conflict.50

This approach has been evident in many of the MTA’s recent initiatives, none of which have displayed interest in considering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict’s complex history, the Jewish people’s historical and emotional attachment to the land of Israel, or a multitude of historical, cultural, and religious considerations that shape this conflict. Instead, the MTA’s narrative is built on the premise that Israelis, and sometimes Jews, are entirely responsible for the tragic conflict, while others, such as Palestinian leaders, institutions and numerous outside actors, have little or no agency and bear no responsibility.

The result is a sanitized and distorted narrative that reduces a complex history to a drama with predetermined villains and victims. This gross caricature is now used to turn the case for Palestine into “the vanguard of a global battle against settler colonialism.”51 For multiple reasons, however, the settler colonial narrative does not fit with the historic realities that underly this conflict. Chief among these is that: 

• Jews are themselves indigenous to the land of Israel and have sustained a continuous presence for over 3,000 years, despite expulsions by conquerors.52
• Contrary to common claims, most Israelis are of Middle Eastern or North African origin, not of European Ashkenazi descent. They themselves were refugees from persecution in Arab countries in which they lived before fleeing to their indigenous homeland.
• Jewish migration to Israel did not erase the Arab Palestinian population or culture. To be sure, repeated wars have resulted in tragic displacement and casualties on both sides. But it is also true that Arabic is one of Israel’s three officially recognized languages. Religious and cultural traditions of Arab and other communities are protected. Israeli Arabs are integrated into all areas of the workforce and Israeli society, including the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament), the Supreme Court, and the Israel Defense Forces.53 In addition, contrary to the popular narrative, the overall Palestinian population in historic Palestine has not been subjected to the ravages of “ethnic cleansing” commonly associated with settler colonialism. To the contrary, within Israel the Arab population has increased approximately five-fold since Israel’s founding in 1948 and represents approximately twenty percent of Israel’s population.54

3. Restoring Trust and Balance

These facts bespeak a very different reality than the one being promoted by MTA leadership and other proponents of a curated Palestinian narrative. At the very least, one would anticipate that an organization that exists to support educators would be concerned with ensuring that its members are exposed to diverse scholarship and sources of information. 

The eagerness with which the MTA and others have abandoned such normative expectations has become a source of growing concern among many within the Jewish community. Many people recognize that the criticism being meted out differs from ordinary criticism of Israeli policies and programs, as might be applied to any country. An ideology has taken hold in some political circles that describes Israel’s supporters as inherent supporters of genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and settler colonialism. And, despite volumes of evidence to the contrary, these descriptions are believed and proliferate. 

The consequences have been real and visible. Jewish students on campuses across the country have been shunned, harassed, and subjected to threats and abuse from fellow students and faculty. Antisemitic incidents have spiked across the country, including in K-12 schools. And many anti-Israel activists have openly celebrated the murder, rape, and kidnapping of Israeli civilians, while signaling their hope for Israel’s destruction. 

The impact on Jewish communities is profound. Jewish history is littered with similar movements, and they commonly have been the predicate to broader attacks on the Jewish people. It is this fact that makes it especially alarming when leaders of powerful teachers unions, whose members play a critical role in the education of our children, become active proponents of toxic ideologically motivated ideas, which they urge their members to bring into K-12 classrooms through the introduction of politically motivated curricula, lesson plans, and content. 

We are confident that most members of the MTA do not support and are likely not aware of the political narrative its leadership now appears to be advancing. But it is important that they, the parents of students in MTA school districts, and others concerned with the health of our schools, become aware. Teachers are entrusted to educate and care for our children. Efforts to turn classrooms into forums for politically motivated propaganda can only undermine trust and bring harm to our schools and the students they serve.

Fortunately, guidelines exist for ensuring educational resources are not turned into instruments for one-sided political activism. The Massachusetts Board of Secondary and Elementary Education requires that,

 Teachers shall review all instructional and educational materials for simplistic and demeaning generalizations, lacking intellectual merit, on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. Appropriate activities, discussions and/or supplementary materials shall be used to provide balance and context for any such stereotypes depicted in such materials.”

The Massachusetts Associations of School Committees provided additional guidelines for curriculum resources that include the following:56

1. They must present balanced views of international, national, and local issues and problems of the past, present and future.

2. They must provide materials that stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic and ethical values.

3. They must help students develop abilities in critical reading and thinking.

4. They must help develop and foster an appreciation of cultural diversity and development in the United States and throughout the world.

5. They must provide for all students an effective basic education that does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, physical disabilities or sexual preference.

6. They must allow sufficient flexibility for meeting the special needs of individual students and groups of students.

It is evident that the MTA is not acting with these criteria in mind. In the process, it has done a disservice to its members and the students and communities that it serves. It will serve the public interest and undoubtedly the MTA membership for its leadership to step back from efforts to politicize curriculum resources. In the absence of such restraint, however, it is important that parents, teachers and other interested members of the community consult with educational leaders in their communities to ensure that adequate corrective measures are taken to prevent one-sided content from being integrated into K-12 curricula. 

To assist those who are interested, AJC has produced two resources.

1. Addendum I, How to Be Heard: Suggestions for Constructive Engagement & Advocacy, provides suggestions for constructively engaging with local educators and political leaders to address issues raised in this report or other matters. 
2. Addendum II, Resources to Support Constructive Engagement and Advocacy, is a compendium of AJC resources that concern topics relevant to this report. This includes resources to help understand and recognize antisemitism, guidelines for educators, and other diverse resources on Jewish culture, faith and history. We hope that these resources will contribute to constructive discussions and appropriate action to ensure that schools across the Commonwealth are insulated from the MTA’s extreme activism. Open discourse on difficult issues is the life blood of a democratic society. This is why in matters of faith, political conviction, or personal preferences, most parents and community members expect that teachers will teach students how to think, not what to think. The MTA, however, has been using its powerful position to encourage educators to promote its ideologically charged views. It is important that its actions are subject to daylight, so that the public and members of the MTA can evaluate whether this kind of activism is good for our communities, schools and their students. 

Most parents and community members do not want students to be told which political candidate to back, which faith to believe in, or which cause to support. They want students educated, informed, and empowered to make their own judgments. Encouraging teachers to use their position to bring preferred political views into K-12 classrooms risks eroding public trust, undermining the integrity of K-12 schools, and endangering those who suffer the prejudices resulting from extreme, one-sided activism. If MTA leadership cannot come to this understanding on its own, it behooves others to speak out and remind them that their tampering with K-12 classrooms is a breach of public trust.

Thank you for reading this report. If you have questions, comments, or guidance around the report, please email [email protected]. 

AJC is a strictly non-partisan 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that neither supports nor opposes candidates for elective office.

K-12 schools are central to the life of every town and city. They are also a place where students learn core lessons for life in a democracy. Our schools have thrived and succeeded because of the work of dedicated teachers and educators, but also parents and community leaders, who engage in an often-daily conversation to discern how best to serve their students. These conversations may range from how to support individual students to discussions concerning major policy questions, or specific matters posed by educators, parents, and concerned citizens.  

1. Don’t Wait. Create Awareness – You don’t have to find explicit information of wrongdoing in your school district to flag a concern. If there is a reasonable basis to think that a school system may be vulnerable to the introduction of troubling content, policies, or programs, it is important to let educators know what the problem is so they can recognize it should it arise. Here is a sample letter that can be adapted for the purposes of starting this conversation.
2. Focus on Effective Engagement – Invest in open, respectful conversation.
   1. Don’t assume that educators are aware of your concerns. 
   2. Take time to organize and share your thoughts.
   3. Acknowledge what you don’t know.
   4. Listen to and seriously consider other points of view.
   5. Focus on conveying your concerns and establishing a healthy rapport.
3. When Diplomacy Fails, Advocacy
   1. Get the Facts – Make sure you have your facts right. Don’t say more than you know. Please refer to this Executive Summary and FAQs for guidance.
   2. Organize – Gather your allies and refine your talking points.
   3. Communicate – Write letters, draft op-eds, provide information to local news media, leverage social media.
   4. Educate – Explain your concerns to other interested people.
   5. Build Political Support – Identify leaders who share your views and are prepared to say so publicly.
   6. Negotiate – Where possible, continue to promote constructive engagement with the parties to your discussion.

If you are among those concerned about issues raised in this report, you may also wish to join the conversation in your community. AJC has established valuable resources that may help inform your outreach and you can access them below (see #1). In addition, we have provided some suggestions for effective engagement and advocacy (see #2). Finally, please find Suggestions for Concerned Educators (see #3). We hope that these resources and guidelines will enable you to be effective partners and advocates whose views are heard and responded to constructively.

1. AJC Informational Resources 

   1. Resources: Understanding Antisemitism
      You can find a significant AJC Resource Library with important guidance for students, college administrators, K-12 administrators, parents, and other concerned citizens here. We have also listed below select resources for you to review. 

      • AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America 2023 Report

      • A Guide for Administrators of U.S. Public Schools: Implementing the U.S National Strategy on Antisemitism (Find the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism here.)

      • AJC's Translate Hate glossary of antisemitic terms, phrases, and conspiracies. 

      • International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism

   2. Resources for K-12 Educators and Administrators

      • AJC Educational Programs and Workshops for K-12 Independent Schools

      • Confronting Antisemitism in Our Schools: An Action Plan for Public School Administrators

      • Confronting Antisemitism In Our Schools: An Action Plan for Heads of Independent Schools

   3. Resources: Diverse Resources on Related Matters

      • Timeline: Key Events in the Israeli-Arab and Israeli–Palestinian Conflicts

      • AJC Campus BDS Backgrounder

      • Tough Questions About Gaza Answered

   4. Resources: Understanding Jews and Judaism

      • A Short Guide to Jewish Religion and Culture 

      • Ways to Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month 
         

2. Suggestions for Effective Engagement and Advocacy
   It may feel daunting to approach teachers, principals, school board members, and others involved in managing school programs, but, in fact, educational leaders expect public participation and understand that it is an important part of their jobs. 

   1. Dos and Don’ts for Educational Advocates
      • Assume the Best of People – The vast majority of teachers and educational leaders are dedicated professionals who have the best interests of their students at heart.
      • Engage Before Problems Arise – Build a rapport with local educators. This will establish trust and open lines of communication that enable effective communication and advocacy. 
      • Know the Facts – If you see a problem, do your homework. Do your best to understand all sides of the issue. If you are not sure about the matter, ask about it.
      • Don’t Assume Educators Know What You Know – Educators face an array of challenges. Allow that they may not be familiar with your concerns.
      • No Need to Wait for Problems to Find You – If you are concerned, no need to wait for evidence of a problem. Establish a respectful dialogue, learn how others view the matter, and whether your concerns are founded.
         

   2. If You Conclude There Is a Problem, Gather Resources and Make Your Case

      • Learn where the problem lies: with a lesson plan, curriculum, particular person, school committee, union, or other.
      • Study how relevant decisions are made and who makes them in your district.
      • Identify allies as appropriate, discuss your concern and enroll them in your effort.
      • Develop clear and easily understood talking points.
      • Engage with the appropriate members of your educational community with an eye to resolving the problem (many problems can be solved with respectful conversation).
         
   3. When Constructive Engagement Fails, Work the Problem
      • Get the Facts – Make sure you have your facts right. Don’t say more than you know.
      • Organize – Gather your allies and refine your talking points.
      • Communicate – Write letters, draft op-eds, provide information to local news media, leverage social media.
      • Educate – Develop programs that explain your concerns to other interested people.
      • Engage – Reach out to relevant public officials to explain your concerns and enroll their support, including administrators, school committee and city council members, state legislators and others.
      • Strategy – If a simple intervention will not suffice, work with your allies to establish clear objectives and plan a strategy to achieve them. 
      • Be Patient and Be Civil – Change takes time and persistence. Treat others respectfully. Martial your arguments. Be consistent in your messaging.
         

3. Suggestions For Concerned Educators
   Teachers and other educators are uniquely positioned to address issues that arise in their classrooms and schools. You know your schools, have insight into how decisions are made, and often understand who the key decision makers are. When challenges arise, you may be situated to introduce creative measures that address a variety of problems, including inappropriate curricula, acts of antisemitism and bias, and the efforts by some educators to bring their views into K-12 classrooms. AJC has a significant array of resources that may prove helpful and include Consultative Support, Training Support, and Informational Resources. Please see #1 in Addendum II.