[IsraelTimes] Anti-Discrimination Committee files federal complaint charging that new law hampers free speech, claiming teachers are too scared to teach properly
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
…founded in 1980 by James Abourezk (D-SD), the first Arab-American US senator, after he retired from politics, and Arab-American activist and pollster James Zogby. Both were Christian. and the children of immigrants. It looks like both were more interested in supporting secular Palestinian nationalism than Muslim Brotherhooder connections... is challenging a new Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, law that is designed to protect Jewish students from discrimination, but that plaintiff teachers and students say is unconstitutionally vague and violates their free speech rights.
The federal complaint, filed Sunday in San Jose, seeks to invalidate legislation Governor Gavin Governor Hair Gel Newsom
...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland...
signed last month, creating an Office of Civil Rights to help schools identify and prevent antisemitism. State politicians approved the legislation as political tensions have flared in the US over the Israel-Hamas
 ..always the voice of sweet reason...
war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
The new law, which takes effect January 1, does not define antisemitism but gives educators the impression that they could be charged with discrimination "if they expose their students to ideas, information, and instructional materials that may be considered critical of the State of Israel and the philosophy of Zionism," according to the complaint.
The civil rights office does not need legislative approval for educational materials for teachers. But some educators have criticized a part of the law requiring that all teacher instruction "be factually accurate" because they say it could unintentionally stifle learning.
Jenin Younes, national legal director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says the lack of guidance has a chilling effect on speech among educators.
"They censor themselves very broadly because they don’t know what’s going to get them into trouble," she said.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of individual teachers and students in California public schools, and the Los Angeles Educators for Justice in Paleostine.
In the complaint, middle school science teacher Jonah Olson says students at his rural, largely Christian school district often ask him what it means to be Jewish. He responds in part by saying that his Judaism does not include support for the State of Israel, and now he fears that might violate the law.
Does he also point out that in this he differs from about 95% of Jews, and explain why they feel otherwise? If not, he is ignoring his responsibility to teach accurately, not to mention the fact that it is not his Judaism that informs his preferrence, but his politics and possibly cowardice. Parents who are part of the lawsuit say they fear their children will be prevented from learning about differing perspectives on Israel, the Paleostinians and the Middle East.
Students in public schools across the US are generally protected against discrimination through state, federal and district policies, but supporters of the law say they need to do more given a surge in harassment and bullying of Jewish and Israeli students.
The Anti-Defamation League, which supports the new law, said 860 antisemitic acts such as harassment, vandalism and assault were reported to the group last year at non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide. The number is a 26-percent decrease from the previous year, but much higher than the 494 reported in 2022.
Lev Miller Ruderman, a Jewish student at San Lorenzo Valley High School near the coastal city of Santa Cruz, said at a legislative hearing that school officials did not take an antisemitic act on campus seriously during his freshman year. Another student used school materials to make a Nazi flag and pinned it to Ruderman’s back, he said. Ruderman walked past numerous students across campus before a teacher asked him about it, he said.
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