Canary Mission
An antisemitic “bait and switch” appears to be happening in New York City’s Department of Education (NYC DOE). The ruse, facilitated by the department and its Chancellor David Banks, claims they are addressing the rampant antisemitism in its public schools while at the same time, facilitating it.
Specifically, the department is taking steps to educate the next generation of New York City’s children against Israel and into the pro-Hamas, “anti-colonialist” ideology now prevalent on the city’s streets.
The NYC DOE, over which Bank presides, is the largest K-12 public school system in the United States and among the largest in the world. NYC’s public schools serve over 1.1 million students across the city’s five boroughs in 1,800 separate institutions.
A month after the Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 250 more, Chancellor Banks sent an email to teachers prior to a planned November 9, 2023 student and staff walkout billed as part of a national “shutdown for Palestine” event.
In the email, Banks cautioned teachers about violating the education department’s rules on political speech, even going so far as to warn them that this type of activity, “even on one’s personal time,” can violate city rules if it “disrupts…the school environment.”
The email continued:
“All employees should ensure that expressions of their personal political views are kept separate from their NYCPS job. School leaders, teachers, and other school staff should not express their personal views about political matters during the school day, while on school grounds, or while working at school events, and it is critical that they set aside their personal views during class discussions about current events.
However, what has happened in practice tells a different story. Not only did staff participate in the November 9 walkout, but there have been no perceivable consequences for their actions. In addition, instances have been reported where teachers directly facilitated student involvement in the protests.
Teachers have not only been emboldened by Banks’s lack of disciplinary action, but some consider themselves impervious because they are tenured. (Unlike many public school systems around the country, the NYC DOE has a system of quasi-tenure, which makes it harder to fire a teacher who has been granted this status.)
But arguably some of the most egregious violations of the NYC DOE’s rules have come from the chancellor himself. Since the conflict began, Banks has hired or rewarded a number of blatantly anti-Israel activists, some for the explicit purpose of educating students and staff on Israel and the war.
