MARCH 23 • 2023 | 25
a complete understanding that Arraf should
have never been allowed to speak and had no
place as an invited guest to the school.”
Gamer said part of the problem was that
administrators and school faculty do not
understand the nuances between criticizing
Israel and slipping into anti-Zionism as an
expression of antisemitism.
“There were 25 of us all in a room that
included administrators and school board
members,” Gamer said. “
Across the board,
they all said they had learned things they had
no knowledge of before. They will continue to
learn with us, the ADL and the JCRC to con-
tinue to understand the difference between
valid criticism of Israel and when that lan-
guage slips into denying the existence of the
state of Israel — and how and why that is very
hurtful and offensive to Jewish people. For
this, I am hopeful.”
However, parents and students are sensing
that things will be hard to heal.
Parent Robyn Michelle, whose son is a
student at the school, had a conversation with
Principal Stroughter where he listened to her
concerns and, as an educational administra-
tion professional herself, she offered to assist
in the healing process.
“Though Stroughter said moving forward
that faculty will work with Jewish and Muslim
student leadership groups, students are not
yet at a point where they can come together
to talk,” she said.
“My son feels like school has become an
ethnic/culture war zone. But Stroughter did
agree that things are a bit out of sorts, and
they are working hard to support students
and faculty also plan to teach staff to recog-
nize all forms of antisemitism.”
SECOND APOLOGY
The school administration issued a strongly
worded second statement to district families
on March 16.
Superintendent Pat Watson stated in the first
sentence that the district made a mistake and
expressed a sincere apology “for the harm that
was caused by allowing a conversation that was
not appropriate in a school setting.
”
“We own what went wrong and will improve
our practices,
” the statement read.
It did not mention Arraf by name, but said
she deviated from the prompts and “discussed
specific incidents, political in nature, which
were outside of the parameters of the assembly
and not their own lived experience.
”
The statement continued: “In a school of
‘No Place for Hate,
’ antisemitic rhetoric was
shared with our students, and we recognize
its devastating impact. For this, we are very
sorry.
” (No Place for Hate® is a student-led
Anti-Defamation League national program
introduced at BHHS last September.)
“We also recognize that in the aftermath,
many others were hurt as well. We apologize
for failing to guide our student organizers
properly. We regret that we allowed the speak-
er to continue their presentation.
”
The statement acknowledged that Arraf
spoke about a “very tumultuous and com-
plex situation, the conflict in the Middle East
involving Palestinians and Israelis. A situation
of this complexity with various sides, perspec-
tives, hundreds of years of suffering, war, and
tragedy is not one well-suited to be presented
at a diversity assembly and should have been
eliminated as a potential topic for discussion.
As the adults responsible for the safety,
success, and well-being of our entire student
body, we have failed in demonstrating how to
highlight diversity in a positive way and how
to address sensitive topics appropriately.
”
Watson stated that going forward, school-
wide mandatory assemblies and other stu-
dent-led programming will be “supervised by
adults with intention and purpose and will
more thoroughly vet invited guests who will
speak to the school community.
”
He stated that the district, working with rep-
resentatives from the Jewish community, has
identified “significant areas for improvement,
and we acknowledge we need to do better.
”
STUDENTS EXPRESS DISMAY
In the days following the diversity day pro-
gram, Jewish students at BHHS reported an
increasingly hostile environment as students
asked each other whose side they were on.
And a student-generated Instagram post
invited other students to wear the colors of the
Palestinian flag on March 17 to show support
for the school’s Palestinian and Arab students,
while Jewish parents debated whether or not to
send their teens to school.
One Jewish student, who wants to remain
anonymous, said she attended the second
assembly and was quickly alarmed when Arraf
began her presentation that swiftly turned to
claims that Israelis were murdering Palestinian
children in the Gaza Strip.
Deeply offended, she turned to her friend,
who is Egyptian American, to express her
alarm. But her friend did not understand why
she was so upset because he was unfamiliar
with the history of the conflict.
“She started speaking about the conflicts in
Gaza and was saying that Israelis are murder-
ers. And as soon as I heard that, I was shocked
and deeply offended. I just tuned out the rest
of what she had to say, left the presentation
and texted my parents,
” she said.
The student, who last December traveled
to Israel on a mission with Temple Israel,
said Arraf’s statements were completely
inappropriate to share with the entire school.
She said she sent a lengthy letter to BHHS
Principal Lawrence Stroughter, describing her
“life-changing” experiences in Israel and ques-
tioning why the school would invite such a
hateful person into a school with a large Jewish
population to deliver what was “basically an
antisemitic hate speech.
”
“I also reminded him that, on a daily basis,
he tells us that our school is no place for hate
and that if you see something you must say
something. If this is so, why was this woman
SHARI COHEN
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