Parents Outraged. Teacher Ordered To Rescind Assignment At Boca Raton Community High School.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
UPDATE at 5:52 p.m. with additional confirmation from Palm Beach County School District.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A teacher at Boca Raton Community High School was ordered by school administrators to rescind an assignment given to students on Palestine. We are not identifying the teacher or the grade at this time. Multiple parents complained to BocaNewsNow.com — and the school district — over the assignment.
BocaNewsNow.com has learned that the assignment, based on an article which you can read below, encouraged students to take what appears to be an Anti-Israel view in understanding Gaza. While parents reaching out to BocaNewsNow.com acknowledge the importance of understanding all views, the teacher apparently provided no context or lessons to accompany the assignment. It was not pre-approved by the Palm Beach County School District.
“This seemed to be extremely biased,” said a parent. “Is it okay to learn about Gaza and its history? Of course. Is it okay to be provided one article as fact, told to formulate beliefs based on that one article, and to offer absolutely no context? Of course not.”
School administrators immediately stepped in to stop the assignment from continuing. Internal communication obtained and reviewed by BocaNewsNow.com confirms that a mid-level manager demanded that the teacher not only rescind the assignment, but offer an alternate assignment for any student who had completed the original but feared that the teacher may not appreciate his or her response.
“That the teacher felt this was appropriate at all is a real concern,” said another parent. “If you’re not going to teach lesson plans approved by Palm Beach County, or at the very least discussed with school administration, then maybe find another line of work. This isn’t the time or the place to throw controversy into the classroom.”
A senior Palm Beach County School District official told BocaNewsNow.com there would be no comment over the Thanksgiving break. On Monday afternoon, an official issued these statements and confirmations:
“The assignment was: 1. Mark your confusion. 2. Show evidence of a close reading. 3. Write a 1+ page reflection. The teacher was told to either exempt the assignment or give an alternate assignment to students who did not complete the assignment.”
What do you think about the assignment and the response? Share your thoughts, below.
How long does the apartheid state and now a war killing thousands of civilians with many, if not most, being children need to go on before criticism is allowed? Screw Hamas, screw Likud and their contributors, and screw anyone who thinks terrorism or war crimes are justified, regardless of the actor.
Thank you for demonstrating the heinous actions committed by Hamas. Hamas is an apartheid state whom is “now a war killing thousands of civilians with many, if not most, being children.” I think it is fine to critic Hamas, you have seen the videos of the acts they committed right?
Your response in itself is a testament to the level of abhorrent stupidity and lack of knowledge we see in western civilization.
I keep herring the sale chants from people that appear to have zero to no understanding of (a) the words they speak, (b) the reality in the region.
Why havent you published all the pro-Israel protesters who have been arrested or causing trouble at rallies? Just curious LOL
I haven’t heard of even one pro-Israel protestor causing trouble or being arrested>
If you have, why didn’t you post it here?
This is an ‘open forum’
we are mad at teachers for attempting to discuss legit backgrounds of historic events? bffr it’s always “Anti -Semitism” the minute it doesn’t push the western medias agenda, the children can benefit from learning what is and HAS been occurring for 75+ years!
Critical thinking on both sides of an issue, yes. But using an article from The Washington Compost? LOL, sure no bias there…
Students can be exposed to a variety of viewpoints, but the exposure should not lead to self-loathing or destruction as is often the case with progressive entities. The “Gays for Gaza” and other such groups are such examples of the self-destructive tendencies pushed by progressives.
Israel would not have occupied Gaza and the West Bank had they not been attacked. They moved the
Jewish settlements out, give them food, electricity and water. Egypt wants nothing to do with Gaza. They wouldn’t even let the people in when Israel was trying to save them. What should Israel do, open the border? Why, I thought they want their own state. They have it Gaza. Let them figure out how to live like humans and not teach their children to kill Jews at age of three. They voted in Hamas, a terrorists group. Sad to see people die, but unfortunately, they provoke it, and Israel is the bad one? Their only objective is to destroy Israel. Sympathisers are basically anti-semites, for what reason I do not know or comprehend, who do not know or care about the history of the Jewish people or Hebrew people and Israel.
The article conveniently left out that Jews occupied that area way before “the ottoman empire”. it also didn’t discuss that hamas has in its own charter, to kill all Jews, and Israel must be eliminated. kind of an important fact conveniently left out. The UN says they have no clean water. the U.S. has given over 500 million since 2021 to Palestinian authority. did they build a water plant ? no. schools? farm? No. did they build missiles and terror tunnels? yes. just tell the whole story please.
Mark, that comment about Jews occupying the area before the Ottoman Empire does not wash. Compare it to the Indians who occupied where you live now – should you cede your property? Any criticism of ✡️ and automatically the label anti- Semite applies . I have deep concern for the first amendment. My criticism applies only to Netanyahu and his fascist cabinet.
The comments should be about the assignment , not your views of the conflict . Should they review current events at school ? Yes. Is this about current events? No, it’s a literary assignment .
Students can bring home the assignment and discuss the facts with their parents. Keeping our children in the dark is NOT education and using ‘approved by Palm Beach County’ is why we have teachers showing no creativity . The county is going to avoid anything controversial .
Most students today couldn’t identify a country on a map, or a famous work of art, or name more than five Presidents. The U.S.A. used to be competitive in the world for education . Now we’re not even in the top twenty which is sad considering the resources at our disposal .
The IMD World Competitiveness Center reports that the U.S. ranked 10th in its 2020 Competitiveness Report. The U.S. fell to the third spot in 2019 after ranking first in 2018. The seven-point tumble to 10th place represents the lowest the U.S. has ever been in the annual ranking system.
To be fair, that massive fall in rank in 2020 had more to do with closing schools and trying to teach children on Zoom a.k.a. Chinese Communist-sponsored spyware over a Chinese Communist-sponsored plandemic.
I could ‘slightly’ understand the assignment if this was for a History or debate class. But, this was an assignment in an ENGLISH class. Please read the 2nd page of the assignment and the ‘possible response questions’ (pro Hamas sided). Either a tone deaf teacher with poor timing, or a teacher with an agenda to push terrorists ideology. Let our ‘kids’ be kids without indoctrinating HATE for any religion/race. Keep race/religious/political propaganda out of our schools!
Teach facts not opinions. Israel left Gaza in 2005. Hamas has been subjegating it’s own people and teaching children to hate Israel. Blaming Israel for Hamas inability to bring peace and prosperity to their own people. Israel gave them concrete to build up the city instead they built tunnels of death. For 20 years they have been attacking Israel, this is a fact not an opinion. I feel bad for those people as they are fed a steady diet of lies and propaganda of hate. Imagine if they had made peace. Japanese made peace and prosperity found them .
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