Massachusetts
How are Massachusetts schools failing Jewish students through bias? – opinion
As Massachusetts students remain stubbornly behind their pre-pandemic levels in math and reading scores according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s recent focus of attention is instructive.
The teachers’ union, also known as the MTA, pushed successfully for a ballot initiative in November that torpedoed a longtime graduation requirement that students pass the state’s MCAS exam. And in December, it released an extensive list of resources it compiled for its members on “Israel and Occupied Palestine.”
Among the so-called pedagogical aids? A poster showing dollar bills folded into a Jewish star and another featuring a keffiyeh-clad, rifle-toting fighter that proclaims, “What was taken by force can only be returned by force.”
The almost 100 resources are an overwhelmingly demonic portrayal of Israel, Zionism, and Jews, even with two links containing those posters ultimately deleted. It speaks to a broken system of oversight, emblematic of similar education issues in other parts of the US.
Jewish and non-Jewish members of the grassroots group Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism had tried repeatedly to have the union remove the material but were rebuffed by MTA board members’ accusations of “censorship.” For many teachers, the entire undertaking is a pernicious diversion from their core classroom struggles.
“I have 15 kids reading six years below grade level, so I don’t know why we’re talking about a country that’s 0.1% of the world population and a 10-hour plane ride away,” one told me.
It took nothing less than a Massachusetts State House hearing held by a recently formed commission on combating antisemitism for the MTA to budge after union president Max Page was grilled about the posters and other materials and after commission co-chair State Sen. John C. Velis referred to them as “a recommendation for educational malpractice.”
That a teachers’ union has the capacity to ply uninformed educators with material bereft of factual accuracy and balance is troublesome, given its powerful platform.
But it is part of a much larger problem acknowledged during that hearing and a subsequent one held last week: Curricular vetting and accountability are virtually nonexistent at the state level. It leaves schoolchildren vulnerable to ideologies subversively inserted locally, and it is not unique to Massachusetts.
Jewish students exposed to high levels of antisemitism
Jewish students “are being bullied at record levels with the positioning of Zionism as an epithet,” said Katherine Craven, chair of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which governs the state’s education department for K-12.
And the board is hearing anecdotally that children as young as first and second grade are being exposed to antisemitic curricula. However, according to state law, its role is limited to initial teacher certification, bullying, and the state’s curriculum frameworks, which are only standards.
“If you folks at the board, [if] your job is not to provide that oversight, I view that as a really, really big problem,” Velis told her. “Am I missing something?”
“No, you are not,” Craven replied while noting its duties are not “prescriptive,” instead offering districts recommendations and guidelines.
So even as Massachusetts, with its reputation for inclusivity, ranked an astonishing fifth among states in the number of antisemitic incidents in 2023 according to the Anti-Defamation League, the state’s inability to intervene heightens the probability that kids will learn with MTA “curriculum resources,” like “Handala’s Return: A Children’s Story and Workbook.”
Antisemitic ideologies and conspiracy theories
It draws on antisemitic conspiracy theories portraying Jews as predators targeting non-Jewish children, who in this narrative are “having their homes taken by Zionist bullies… always scaring” and “arresting them,” and instructs kids to name what they will chant “at a Palestine protest.”
Nor are there “any kind of approval rights” over professional development at the board or department level, Craven said, describing it as “very locally driven.”
It was a professional-development webinar hosted by the MTA’s Anti-Racism Task Force that raised the alarm after teachers in attendance reported that Zionism was equated with settler colonialism and presentations were replete with antisemitic tropes like the claim that Zionism is a “multi-million dollar, Israeli state-funded propaganda machine.”
Registrants were surveyed about whether they feel supported by their administration “in teaching anti-Zionist narratives about Palestine.” Notably, the MTA, as a Professional Development Provider, furnished certificates of participation for the webinar, which can be used for teacher re-licensure.
Those views on Israel reflect ideologies “deeply embedded” in other MTA initiatives, according to a report by the American Jewish Committee New England.
It noted the union’s recent launch of Revolutionizing Education, a journal the MTA states is “dedicated to advancing education policy and practice in Massachusetts,” to advocate “for transformative practices that dismantle power hierarchies” and “envision education as a tool for liberation.”
It is yet another worrisome development in the union’s laser-focused mission to influence teachers.
Antisemitic and antizionist narratives embedded into curriculums
BECAUSE EDUCATION in America is consigned to “very local control,” ultimately, most classroom resources are designed and developed by teachers with the autonomy to introduce problematic material into the curriculum with little to no oversight, said David Smokler, a former public school teacher and administrator and now the executive director of the K-12 Fairness Center at StandWithUs. When teachers are stretched, they often turn to educational websites that are entirely unvetted.
“It’s a minefield out there in terms of resources,” even if teachers are acting in good faith, said Smokler. The market for such classroom resources is huge, often with little scrutiny over who is funding them.
What’s more, ethnic studies and its more radical relative, liberated ethnic studies, are penetrating teachers’ lessons and professional development in many US districts with scarce oversight of material. With themes of oppression, colonialism, and resistance, ethnic studies educators describe the discipline as “not just curriculum” but a “movement” for “action” to effect “social change.”
But oftentimes, blatantly antisemitic and anti-Zionist narratives are found within these studies, particularly in the liberated model, a link to which is listed among the MTA resources.
Such issues are multiplying throughout the US.“We’re seeing many of our teachers and schools indoctrinating students with materials designed specifically to tailor to left-leaning people so that a lot of the indoctrination can be done invisibly,” Smokler told me.
“It’s designed to attract people who care about social justice. But it’s not just about antisemitism. It’s about liberal Western values in general. Some of the same teachers who are teaching that Israel is a genocidal apartheid state say the same about America. There’s illiberal indoctrination going on now that is pretty shocking.”
A course correction is necessary to protect our children. Massachusetts lawmakers should give their education arm broader mandates to enact meaningful oversight paired with accountability. Ditto for other states grappling with such challenges. Parents, teachers, and taxpayers must regain trust that public education isn’t eroding into a mere platform for indoctrination.
How this legacy is cemented will ripple through future generations of kids as they launch from classrooms to leadership positions, with global consequences.
The writer is an award-winning reporter and the recipient of a journalism fellowship that supported her graduate education at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a former writer for The Boston Globe, reported for the Associated Press and is published in the Wall Street Journal and the National Review.
Massachusetts
Employee with Gov. Healey’s office fired following drug arrest
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s office confirmed Wednesday morning that one of her staffers has been fired following his arrest.
“The Governor’s Office has been made aware of the arrest of an employee, Lamar Cook,” a spokesperson for Healey said in a statement. “The conduct that occurred here is unacceptable and represents a major breach of the public trust. Mr. Cook has been terminated from his position effective immediately. This criminal investigation is ongoing, and our administration will work with law enforcement to assist them in their work.”
The state’s website says Cook served as the governor’s western Massachusetts deputy director in Springfield. He has reportedly served in that role since April of 2023.
According to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office, Cook is charged with cocaine trafficking, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition and is expected to be arraigned in Springfield District Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Cook was arrested Tuesday following an investigation conducted by state police, Homeland Security and other partner agencies. They said investigators have seized multiple parcels containing a total of 21 kilograms of suspected cocaine, including about 8 kilograms that were intercepted on Saturday during a controlled delivery operation in Springfield.
They said the controlled delivery took place at the Springfield State Office Building, where Cook worked. Investigators executed a search warrant of Cook’s former office within the office building on Monday night.
Prosecutors said the investigation that led to Cook’s arrest stemmed from two prior seizures conducted by law enforcement earlier this month. On Oct. 10, they intercepted and searched two suspicious packages at Hotel UMass in Amherst, which were found to contain approximately 13 kilograms of suspected cocaine.
“Evidence collected during that operation was consistent with the narcotics recovered during the most recent controlled delivery in Springfield,” the district attorney’s office said. “The investigation into the UMass seizure remains ongoing and may result in additional charges related to the prior shipments in Hampshire County.”
Massachusetts
“Missed jury duty” scam involving Bitcoin ATMs targets Massachusetts residents, sheriff warns
Two Massachusetts women recently lost a combined $6,700 to a “missed jury duty” phone scam that utilized Bitcoin ATMs, Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott said.
According to the sheriff, there’s been an increase in calls from scammers who claim to work for local law enforcement and demand money from residents who have supposedly missed jury duty. They threaten to arrest those who don’t agree to pay.
“The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office never makes calls like this, and neither do local police departments,” McDermott said in a statement Wednesday. “Just hang up on anyone who is demanding money and acting like they are from our office, or another law enforcement agency, threatening you with arrest or detainment for things like ‘missed jury duty’ or an ‘outstanding warrant.’”
Scammers used Bitcoin ATMs
Both of the victims came to the sheriff’s office after sending money to the scammers. One was a woman from Sharon who paid $5,250 via a Bitcoin kiosk.
“She told our officer she was there to clear up an issue about missing jury duty after transferring the money as demanded,” the sheriff said.
The woman said she saw a sign on the Bitcoin machine warning about scams, but the person on the phone told her should would be detained for 10-12 days if she didn’t pay.
Just 90 minutes later, the sheriff said a woman from Dedham came into the office to report that she paid a $1,450 “bond” through a Roslindale Bitcoin kiosk. The scammer reportedly sent her a “fraudulent court document to back up his claims,” the sheriff said, and threatened that she’d be arrested and detained for 72 hours unless she paid immediately.
Scam warnings
The city of Gloucester recently banned Bitcoin ATMs, saying they’re concerned the machines could be used by scammers to prey on elderly victims. And in Waltham this summer, a police officer stopped an elderly man from sending $12,000 to scammers via a Bitcoin machine.
In August, the Federal Trade Commission warned that scammers pretending to be police are calling up Americans and directing them to fake websites to pay a fine for missing jury duty.
“It might ask you to pay up to $10,000 in fines on the site, or send you to a “government kiosk” (no such thing) to pay by cryptocurrency,” the FTC said. “But every bit of this is a scam.”
Massachusetts
State senator shuts down session to ‘send a loud message’ about shutdown blame game
Republican Sen. Ryan Fattman shut down the Senate’s session after just a few minutes Monday morning, saying he hoped to “send a message” about the Healey administration pointedly blaming President Donald Trump for a lapse in SNAP benefits in official state communications.
With SNAP benefits at risk of lapsing lapsing for about 1.1 million Bay Staters starting Saturday as a result of the federal government shutdown, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance website says that “President Trump is currently choosing to not issue November SNAP benefits that help you and many families put food on the table,” and the same language went out in emails and text messages to SNAP recipients.
“People need to be adults and act as such,” Fattman told NBC10 Boston. “The immaturity, the political gamesmanship, it all has to stop.”
Senator Fattman halted the Senate’s Monday session by doubting the presence of a quorum in protest of the politicization of this issue.
Fattman told the State House News Service that he has been trying to help constituents access SNAP benefits and started seeing the department’s messaging over the weekend as state-funded emails and text messages started going out.
“We’ve seen the federal government play this political game using taxpayer resources to say crazy messages and now Massachusetts is doing it under the Healey Administration,” Fattman said. “I felt that was wrong. I wanted to send a loud message that this needs to end.”
Gov. Maura Healey said that President Donald Trump has the power to distribute federal dollars that serve as a lifeline for many residents, but that Massachusetts does not have the money to cover the benefits if they are lost.
Fattman brought about an early end to Monday’s Senate session by doubting the presence of a quorum. Because a quorum of senators was not on hand and could not be rallied in about 10 minutes, the branch adjourned until Thursday. Sen. Sal DiDomenico of Everett was presiding over Monday’s session and Millbury Sen. Michael Moore arrived in the chamber about 10 minutes after Fattman’s motion.
Republicans and Democrats in Washington have been unable to agree on bills to fund government operations for the last four weeks and leaders of the two major parties have blamed each other for the shutdown.
Healey on Monday reiterated her stance about Trump’s role in the SNAP funding sitaution, and she wasn’t alone among Democratic politicians.
“They’re trying to make their resources stretch when Republicans are cutting food assistance,” Congresswoman Lori Trahan said.
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