Oakland warns teachers over pro-Palestinian teach-in

A group of Oakland teachers is calling for educators to swap out district-recommended curriculum for a teach-in Wednesday that would educate students about “the Palestinian struggle” amid the war in Gaza.

But district officials have pushed back at the effort focused on students as young as 4, saying that teachers should be teaching critical thinking, not telling students what to think.

“The District is aware that some educators want to teach their students about the situation in Gaza and Israel with a very specific view of who is at fault and why. This is not what teachers should be teaching, and the District made this clear to all principals and teachers,” according to a district statement. “It is the job of educators to teach students how to think critically, not to teach them what to think. We are reminding all educators of their responsibility to adhere to principles of education, and to keep their personal beliefs out of the classroom.”

The lesson plans made available to teachers in a Google document for the Wednesday teachin included a Palestinianthemed alphabet book for transitional kindergarten through third-grade students, with the letter I representing “intifada,” a word historically connected to the armed uprisings by Palestinians against Israeli occupation and control of disputed land. Another lesson for the early elementary grades encouraged students to identify what they “will chant at a Palestine protest.”

A YouTube video encouraged all teachers to participate in the teach-in, saying it’s about “education, labor power, solidarity and resistance, all mashed into one action.”

The Chronicle was unable to identify who is organizing the teach-in and who created the Google document and the YouTube video.

Bay Area activism has intensified in school districts and elsewhere, as Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza — following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people — has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. As of Friday, Hamas was holding about 140 hostages.

Critics of Israel are pushing to have what they see as the oppression of Palestinians taught in schools. The fight is unique but shares some similarities with recent culture wars in schools over race and LGBTQ issues.

The organizers of the effort encouraged teachers to reject district-recommended curriculum and instead use material supported by those aligned with the teachers union, whose leadership has officially adopted a pro-Palestinian position and encouraged educators to promote that view in class.

The recommended teach-in curriculum included a wide range of lesson plans attributed to district teachers as well as sourced from organizations including the Palestinian Feminist Collective, Teaching While Muslim, the Coalition for Liberation, Turkish public television and the Public Broadcasting Service.

Those wanting more information about the curriculum were directed to an email address: OEAforPalestine. There was no response following requests for comment made to the address.

In Oakland, the teachers union released statements in late October demanding “freedom for Palestine” and an immediate cease-fire, while describing Israel as an “apartheid state” with leaders who promote “genocidal rhetoric.” The union leaders urged teachers to teach pro-Palestinian curriculum and said they would defend those who did so if they faced consequences.

However, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, the Oakland Education Association second vice president, said the union was not involved in the new effort.

“The teach-in is not an OEA sanctioned event,” she said in an email. “The materials being distributed from the event are also not sanctioned by OEA.”

The district reminded teachers of a district policy passed in 2004 that requires them to teach controversial topics impartially and to exercise caution and discretion in determining whether a topic is suitable for a class.

“We have the right to speak up about the present situation in Gaza,” said one unidentified educator in the YouTube video. “This is a heavy topic not the least of which is because of the immense inhumanity Gazans are being subjected to right now, but it’s one that needs our attention and our students’ attention.”

“You can give kids an a-ha moment,” said another, adding the teachers’ outrage is noble and just. “Our job is not to tell them how to feel but to invite them to think and feel for themselves.”

School board President Mike Hutchinson said he was aware of the planned teach-in and the curriculum distributed by educators.

“Having a teach-in to get more information about an issue is a positive thing. Teachers having additional resources to bring into their classrooms is a positive I think, but we have to be careful,” he said, citing the board policy on controversial topics. “Our classrooms are not the places where this issue is going to be solved no matter where you fall on it.

“I really hope everyone is just careful around this issue.”