NYC Schools Chancellor, David C. Banks, visited Hillcrest High School in Jamaica following a student rampage incited against a pro-Israel teacher.
Photo by Iryna Shkurhan
New York City Department of Education Chancellor, David C. Banks, visited Hillcrest High School in Jamaica on Monday Nov. 27, following a disorderly protest inside the school a week earlier that threatened a Jewish teacher for her pro-Israel stance.
Before laying out the details of the incident on Nov. 20 to dozens of members of the press inside the school’s library after dismissal, he met directly with dozens of Hillcrest students to hear their perspective. He also held a talk with more than 200 staff members and called on them to use recent events as teachable moments.
Several students planned a pro-Palestine protest, which would also condemn a teacher’s pro-Israel stance, to take place during the 5th period passing period on Monday, Nov. 20. By then, school officials had heard about the planned action. As the protest began to unfold, police were questioning the teacher in a separate area of the school.
A video of students at the school rampaging went viral on social media over the weekend, days after it occurred. The incident lasted approximately two hours and resulted in a water fountain ripped out of the wall and shattered tiles in a restroom.
The Jewish teacher had changed her Facebook profile picture to one of her holding a sign that said ‘I Stand with Israel’ weeks before the incident. Students found the image and began to circulate it in disapproval of her stance. The day before the incident, the teacher expressed concerns of her safety to the administration after she saw social media posts about her circulating online.
Contrary to other reports that he labeled as “misinformation,” the chancellor repeatedly said that “the teacher was not in direct danger” and was on a different floor, in the assistant principal’s office, while the incident unfolded on…
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