National ZOA and Greater Philadelphia ZOA have issued news releases announcing our opposition to a planned “Black Lives Matter Action Week” that will be foisted on Philadelphia public schools next week. We are concerned that anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric and materials could be interjected into the Philadelphia schools. We have also send a strong, detailed letter to Philadelphia School Reform Commission members, other education officials, Governor Wolf and Mayor Kenney asking that the initiative be cancelled because it violates school district regulations and our concerns about anti-Semitism.

See below our news release as well as the letter:

ZOA to School Officials: Uphold Rules Against Politics in the Classroom
Cancel Israel-Hating “Black Lives Matter Action Week”

Concerned that a “Black Lives Matter Action Week” being planned by a group of School District of Philadelphia educators would politicize learning in violation of district policies and possibly inject anti-Semitic and anti-Israel materials into classrooms, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has called on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to prohibit the proposed week of Black Lives Matter activities, in a letter to commission members, other education officials, the mayor, the governor and the teachers’ union.
In the letter signed by national and local ZOA leadership, ZOA noted: “We were deeply troubled to learn that a group called the Caucus of Working Educators is organizing a week to bring the Black Lives Matter movement into Philadelphia public school classrooms. The Caucus is urging educators to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts and buttons, and to use Black Lives Matter curriculum resources for daily lesson plans and activities for the week beginning January 23rd.”
ZOA has called for the School Reform Commission to “issue a district-wide directive prohibiting educators from carrying out the Caucus’ plan.”
In the letter, ZOA noted the School Reform Commission and Philadelphia Board of Education “alone has the authority to control course content and teaching methods in district classrooms” based on District regulations. Further, ZOA noted, “Black Lives Matter is a political movement. District policies specifically prohibit political activities on school property and on school time.” Finally, noted ZOA, “the fact is that the Black Lives Matter movement has adopted a platform that is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, which has no place in any classroom.”
Regarding this latter point, ZOA noted in its letter that “more than 50 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement formed the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)” and that M4BL “released a detailed platform … which includes demonizing lies about Israel and the United States.” This platform “falsely and outrageously claims that the Israeli government is committing ‘genocide’ against the Palestinian Arab people, with the complicity of the U.S.” It also “falsely and outrageously identifies Israel – where all people have equal rights – as an ‘apartheid state.’”
ZOA is calling for the School Reform Commission not only to prohibit this activity but also to “make it clear in the directive that violators will be held fully accountable and subject to reprimand, penalty or dismissal pursuant to the school district’s policies.”
The Zionist Organization of America is one of America’s largest pro-Israel educational, advocacy, and outreach organizations. ZOA fights anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias as part of its mission.
For more information about this matter or ZOA, contact Steve Feldman Greater Philadelphia ZOA, executive director, at 610-660-9466 or office@zoa.org or contact Susan Tuchman, Esq., Director of ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice at 212-481-1500 or stuchman@zoa.org
ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA
Greater Philadelphia