The Trump administration on Thursday opened an investigation into New York City’s Education Department over claims that a group of pro-Palestinian teachers had violated Jewish students’ civil rights.
It was the latest clash between the federal government and the country’s largest school district.
The federal Department of Education said it would examine the group, known as N.Y.C. Educators for Palestine, and seminars on “Palestine, Zionism and Resistance.” The department asserted, without providing evidence, that the teachers had taught students to support Hamas and had called Zionists “genocidal white supremacists.”
Dominique Ellison, a spokeswoman for the city’s schools, said that the group was not affiliated with the district. “We received this notice today, and we are reviewing,” Ms. Ellison said.
N.Y.C. Educators for Palestine was started in 2019 and describes itself on social media pages as “public school educators committed to fighting for Palestinian liberation.” Earlier this year, the group advertised a “Palestine teach-in” for families and children ages 6 to 18 that was scheduled for Martin Luther King’s Birthday, a school holiday.
The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On its Instagram page, N.Y.C. Educators for Palestine had posted images expressing support for the Palestinian cause and images of protesters, with their faces covered, advocating that New York State and New York City divest their holdings of Israel bonds.
The group, along with the organization Teaching While Muslim, created a five-day lesson plan on Palestinian history and culture for elementary, middle and high schools, though it was unclear if any schools adopted the guide. “Take time this week to uplift the beautiful culture and history of a people who have remained steadfast in their fight for dignity and survival,” they wrote in the guide. “Be brave. Teach Palestine.”
The investigation is the latest confrontation between the Trump administration and the New York schools. After the federal government last April ordered public schools across the country to eliminate their diversity, equity and inclusion policies, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the schools chancellor at the time, said that the district would not comply.
“Diversity is a superpower here in New York City,” she said.
In September, the Trump administration withheld more than $35 million in grants for the city’s magnet schools after New York refused to overhaul guidelines that allow students to use bathrooms and to participate in sports based on their gender identity. New York sued, and a federal judge recently ruled that the government had improperly withheld the money.
