Portland Public Schools Teachers Union is removing some lessons from its site after it emerged the union is instructing teachers to indoctrinate Palestinian militancy into students & to ally with an Islamist group whose leader praised Oct. 7.
After uproar, Portland teachers’ union removes pro-Palestinian lesson plans from website
Updated: Jun. 04, 2024, 6:32 p.m.|Published: Jun. 04, 2024, 11:30 a.m.
By Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive
The president of the teachers’ union for Portland Public Schools said Tuesday that she’s pulled scores of pro-Palestinian lesson plans, videos, books and other “teaching resources” from the union’s website — one day after the union was deluged with heavy criticism that the guides were one-sided, antisemitic and amounted to unacceptable political advocacy.
Portland Association of Teachers President Angela Bonilla told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she had not been aware of the content of the lesson plans and other material that the union’s Social Justice and Community Outreach Committee had recommended be posted to the union’s website last month. Bonilla said she learned Tuesday morning that committee members also hadn’t followed the union’s procedures by reviewing all of the materials posted to its website. ...
At issue are lesson plans that outline the suffering, death and destruction of the Palestinian people — especially since Oct. 7 — without mentioning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, killings of civilians and taking of hundreds of hostages. The lesson plans also use language that members of Jewish communities interviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive say fuels hatred toward Zionists and Jews.
But Bonilla said because she and the union have vetted it, the union will keep one document posted to its website — a 32-page guide entitled “Know Your Rights! Teaching & Organizing for Palestine within Portland Public Schools,” which the union created with Oregon Educators for Palestine. The guide encourages teachers to stand by what the union believes are their rights to show their support for Palestinians and educate children about those views. ...
One of those handouts, provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive by a meeting attendee, appears to praise Hamas militants who died after recording videos that were posted to social media of themselves executing Israeli civilians. The handout that praises the militants reads “Glory to Our Martyrs.” ...
