Local educators and the ADL are pushing for an apology from MassCUE after the group’s recent “jarring” conference when speakers reportedly spewed “hateful” anti-Israel and Holocaust rhetoric.

MassCUE’s fall education tech conference — held in partnership with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents at Gillette Stadium — apparently went off the rails during a panel on equity in education. That’s when the discussion reportedly delved into the current Middle East conflict in Israel and Gaza.

“Speakers leaned very heavily into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a very one-sided, dangerous rhetoric,” Uxbridge High School Principal Michael Rubin told the Herald.

That included references to “Israeli genocide” and “Israeli apartheid.”

A panelist also suggested that the teaching of the Holocaust has been one-sided, and “two perspectives needed to be taught,” recalled Rubin, whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, during which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews.

“It was jarring, unexpected, and unprofessional,” added Rubin, who’s also the president of his synagogue.

Following complaints from several shocked conference attendees, the Anti-Defamation League’s New England chapter recently wrote a letter to MassCUE, as the ADL pushes for a public apology.

“It is difficult to understand why an organization dedicated to education and technology would allow a panel discussion ostensibly focused on school equity to instead veer into a complex and controversial foreign conflict,” ADL New England’s deputy director Sara Colb wrote to MassCUE’s leaders.

“It is all the more concerning that once the conversation veered in that direction it was not stopped or redirected to the advertised topic,” Colb added. “Allowing a presentation purporting to be about equity and inclusion in the classroom to include a one-sided narrative of a foreign conflict, replete with hateful, biased rhetoric, does a disservice to attendees by leaving them with a biased and misinformed account of the conflict.”

MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) is the Bay State affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education.

More than two months after the fall conference, the organization has not addressed the Israeli-Palestinian discussion.

“At MassCUE we take feedback very seriously and work hard to ensure we take any and all necessary steps to address concerns that are brought to our attention,” said MassCUE Board President Casey Daigle. “This process takes time. Please know we are working through our procedures internally.”

The silence from MassCUE’s leaders has been “really concerning,” Rubin emphasized.

“How comments like these about the Holocaust don’t warrant an immediate response is really, really, really confusing to me,” added Rubin, who was given the 2024 MassCUE Administrator Award two days before this panel.

“If a student was targeted by a racial slur in our buildings, we would be involving local authorities, contacting families, sending a letter to the community, but MassCUE is working through their internal procedures. It doesn’t add up,” he said.

The executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents said M.A.S.S. was “troubled to hear that any of the speakers at the conference may have made statements that are inconsistent with the anti-racist values of our organization.”

“We are working with MassCUE to learn more about the content in question,” added Executive Director Mary Bourque.

Other than ADL’s push for a public apology from MassCUE, the ADL is calling for the organization to:

• Review its policies and vetting protocols for presentations at programs and make all necessary improvements to ensure that presenters stay on topic, and that “participants will not be subjected to this sort of inflammatory propaganda again.”
• Listen to the concerns of impacted members and participants, and elicit their thoughts on how to “counter the harm this presentation caused.”
• Issue a public statement acknowledging the problems with this program and reinforcing MassCUE’s values of inclusivity for everyone.

“At a time when incidents of antisemitic hate, including in our K-12 schools, are at record highs, it is deeply wrong and dangerous to provide a platform for such hateful rhetoric or to allow a platform to be hijacked for such purposes,” the ADL deputy director wrote. “It is surprising to have to make this point to educators who purport to be concerned with equitable and inclusive classrooms for all students.”

Brace yourself! It’s back to winter in Massachusetts with snow in Friday’s forecast and a deep freeze this weekend.

Friday will be mostly cloudy and cool, but temperatures will drop through the afternoon and evening, increasing the chance for snowfall.

Bitter cold weather will follow the snow with arctic air gripping the region on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Latest snowfall timeline

A few ocean-effect sprinkles and flurries are possible during the day, although impacts will be low with no more than a patchy coating, Boston 25 Meteorologist Shiri Spear said in her latest forecast.

Steadier rain and snow will fill in around 4 p.m. and impact the evening commute.

“As things cool down, the chance for snow is going to grow and grow during the late afternoon and evening hours,” Spear said. “Some of the worse travel conditions are probably going to be during the evening.”

The snowfall should wrap up by midnight.

An isolated snow shower or flurries are still possible on Saturday, but most areas will be dry with more clouds than sunshine.

Expected snow totals

A widespread coating to an inch of snow is likely for much of Massachusetts.

The “jackpot” areas, including northeastern Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley, MetroWest, and interior southeastern Massachusetts could see 1-2 inches.

“Some spots could locally go up to 3 inches,” Spear said.

Cape Cod and the Islands might be too mild for sticking, but flakes will be flying.

Arctic air arrives

Frigid temperatures with highs in the upper 20s and low 30s are on tap for Saturday.

Sunday will bring freezing sunshine with temperatures in the teens and 20s.

For the latest on the forecast, visit the Boston 25 Weather page.

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NANTUCKET, Mass. – Two endangered North Atlantic right whales have been spotted off Massachusetts with entanglements that could potentially be life-threatening to the massive mammals.

According to NOAA Fisheries, an aerial survey team recently spotted a pair of whales approximately 50 miles southeast of Nantucket on Dec. 9. 

The smaller of the two marine animals was first sighted in 2021 and was seen free of gear as recently as April. 

But now, the survey team said a thick rope was located over the whale’s head and back, which could cause its eventual death.

The larger whale, identified as an adult female, was last seen without gear as recently as July and, due to its size, is unlikely to be as significantly impacted as the juvenile.

“This whale has two lines exiting the left side of her mouth, with both lines extending a half to two thirds of the way down the body,” NOAA stated. “After reviewing the entanglement, NOAA Fisheries biologists have made a preliminary determination that it meets the Unusual Mortality Event criteria as a ‘morbidity’ (sublethal injury) case.”

North Atlantic right whale #5110 with a line wrapped around its body on December 9, 2024

(NOAA)

FIRST RIGHT WHALE CALF OF SEASON SPOTTED OFF SOUTHEAST COAST

Due to conditions and the distance to shore, NOAA entanglement response teams did not mount a response but stand at the ready should the occasion arise.

The agency estimates that over 85% of right whales are entangled in fishing gear at least once during their lifetime, which can cause serious injuries.

The marine animals tend to spend most of their time off the coast of Canada and the Northeast in the western Atlantic before migrating southward for the calving season.

The right whales are considered to be the 149th and 150th documented cases in the ongoing North Atlantic right whale Unusual Mortality Event (UME), which includes dead, seriously injured or health-compromised animals.

FLORIDA IDENTIFIES NEXT INVASIVE SPECIES THREAT

NOAA Fisheries estimates there are only around 370 North Atlantic right whales left in existence – down from a peak of around 20,000 during the late 1800s.

Since 2017, the species has been experiencing an Unusual Mortality Event, which has caused dozens to become sick, injured or ultimately pass away.

North Atlantic Right Whale Population

(NOAA)

“While entanglements remain the leading cause of death and injury, this year [2024] there were at least six vessel strike-related injuries/deaths, highlighting the importance of addressing this issue soon,” Heather Pettis, a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center and the chair of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, previously stated. “The persistent aggregation of more than 50 right whales in the New York shipping lane this summer underscores this even further.”