The board of the San Francisco Unified School District went on the record Wednesday against a U.S. war on Iraq and also scheduled a war teach-in day.
However, the teach-in is not explicitly designed to rally students against the war, and it also refrains from recommending specific anti-war groups as educational resources — to the satisfaction of several Jewish community representatives.
Into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the school board batted around an enormous hot potato: Should the district formally undertake to educate students about war against Iraq?
About 30 parents, teachers and other community members weighed in, before an audience of about 150. At the end of a wide-ranging philosophical debate about how far politics should enter the classroom, the seven-member board passed a proposal for a district-wide teach-in about the “root causes” and “consequences” of war against Iraq.
The planned day of “discussion,” to be held sometime in the next two months, will not aggressively promote an anti-war viewpoint. More critically, the revised resolution leaves off a list of controversial information sources, such as International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), which not only condemn war against Iraq but call for U.S. divestiture from Israel. It also says that schools may invite parents and other members of the public to participate as observers — as opposed to educators — which was another point of contention for some.
“It’s a victory,” said Bob Kane, co-chair of the education task force at the Jewish Community Relations Council, who spoke at the meeting. “The resolution previously talked about bringing in outside groups, which smacked not of teaching critical thinking, but of holding a giant rally. Now the teach-in is more student-oriented.”
After the original resolution came before the board on Dec. 10, Kane and JCRC representatives discussed their concerns with Eric Mar, the proposal’s main architect, and other key board members. At the JCRC, says Kane, they were worried about the potential for “disastrous” events — specifically referring to a incident at San Francisco’s Washington High last May, where an event billed as a “Middle Eastern Cultural Assembly” turned out to be a pro-Palestinian rally that compared Israel to Hitler’s Germany.
“I think we ended up in a very good place,” said Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan of San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El, who spoke as a father of a high school student. “The board is against junk food in schools; they should also be against fast-food discourse and junk resources. They reasoned it out, and invading the schools with amateur political groups is just not going to be permitted.”
Newly elected school board President Emilio Cruz said the substantial amendments had turned the resolution from “anti-war” to “pro-discussion,” adding that it allowed for the possibility of a pro-war position.
About half of the audience members came out to support the teach-in, and several “Stop the War in Iraq” signs festooned the boardroom. Teachers spoke about their students’ desire to learn more about current events and civic responsibility.
“Students are bombarded with pro-war messages, the media is sounding the drumbeats of war,” said Jonah Zern, a substitute teacher who had participated in Oakland’s teach-in earlier that day. “They need to know that they can be part of history, not the recipients of history.”
However, another half of the attendees were equally passionate in expressing their belief that such a teach-in was inappropriate for the classroom. Several said that while they personally opposed the war against Iraq, they felt that the school board was overstepping its bounds and presenting a one-sided view.
“The mandate of the school board does not include dictating foreign policy,” said parent Lenore Naxon.
Since the school board also passed a unanimous resolution stating its opposition to war on Iraq, many wondered how there could indeed be a balanced debate about war within the schools.
The resolution now goes to the office of San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, which has the task of creating guidelines for the teach-in, including selecting the date.