Tensions remain high as K-12 schools struggle to address Israel-Hamas war

Administrators are grappling with the balance of supporting students’ free speech rights while ensuring everyone feels safe and welcome. But students and parents said heightened emotions in their school communities are evidence of the need for educational discussions on the issue.

“What better place to do that than in our schools?” said Raul Fernandez, senior lecturer at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. “These are spaces where students through dialogue can learn, but we need better facilitation.”

But already, critics said there have been missteps among school leaders and students alike.

A Holliston High School sophomore told the state board of education at a recent meeting she has witnessed antisemitic incidents at school, including students performing the Nazi salute during the Pledge of Allegiance, students saying, “Hitler was right” in the hallways, and seeing swastikas drawn on desks and bathroom walls. A Brookline High School senior said the state isn’t adequately supporting Jewish students.

“There’s a trend of conveniently neglecting to address antisemitism in my town, or worse, being actively complicit in it,” said Yuval Levy, the Brookline senior.

After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, districts across the state came under fire for issuing statements some felt didn’t strongly enough condemn Hamas’s violence. Others were criticized for not issuing statements at all. More recently, campus leaders have been chastised for not reining in some of the language students use in protests.

In recent weeks, some Boston Latin parents and alumni have expressed outrage and students have been divided over specific verbiage used in student demonstrations supporting Palestinian rights and language used in a story in the student paper.

A November headline and article in the school’s newspaper accused Israel of committing “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. After the story published in print, the principal emailed community members acknowledging many viewed the article as “inconsistent with the principles that are the foundation of our work here,” and pointed to a joint statement of unity from the school’s Jewish Culture Club and the Islamic Students of Boston Latin groups. The head student editor of the paper didn’t return Globe calls and texts for comment, and the school did not publish the story, or the most recent edition of the paper, online. (The United Nations human rights office has said Israel’s force “points to a genocide in the making.” Supporters of Israel argue its actions do not constitute a genocide because Israel is responding to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and targeting the militant group, not seeking to destroy the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza.)

Nearly 100 students protested at Boston Latin Dec. 1, calling for a permanent cease-fire in the war. Donning keffiyehs, a traditional Middle Eastern scarf which has come to represent solidarity with the Palestinian cause, and waving Palestinian flags, they chanted, “Free Palestine” and, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a divisive slogan that pro-Palestinian activists have said is a call for peace and justice for Palestinians who have been under Israeli military rule for decades, but some others have said is an antisemitic call for the destruction of Israel.

The students said they were frustrated over the lack of educational conversations about the conflict.

“Students should have the right to express how they feel, they should be given the opportunity to learn about the world around them, and they should have the opportunity to stand up for what they think is right,” said Amirah Redwing, a Boston Latin senior who helped organize the protest.

Rama Bah, a 17-year-old Boston Latin senior and the president of the school’s Muslim Student Association, asked to hold a fund-raiser for organizations providing food and medical supplies for Palestinians in Gaza, as well as a day of solidarity.

But school administrators rejected both proposals, saying they couldn’t have a fund-raiser or day of solidarity for only one side of the conflict, Bah said.

“I wanted to spread information, I wanted to have a safe space where people could talk about (the war) and learn about it, and it was just frustrating to hear ‘no’ and for them to shut me down,” said Bah, who also helped organize the protest.

Students also said they weren’t allowed to read statistics on Palestinian fatalities in Gaza during the school’s annual Human Rights Day in November. Valerie Dam-Nguyen, a Boston Latin senior, said administrators told students a 20-minute presentation isn’t the time or space needed to discuss such a complex issue.

“You don’t have to explain 75 years of history, you can explain human rights violations right now, without being biased,” she said. “We’re learning all this history and they are refusing to connect it to our present.”

Boston Latin campus leaders did not respond to requests for comment. Boston Public Schools declined an interview, but Superintendent Mary Skipper at a recent School Committee meeting said the district is “proud every time our students make their voices heard.”

“There’s a difference between free speech and hate speech, and we will work with all of our students to make sure that they feel supported and safe and understand the impact that words can have.”

Ken Winikur, a Jewish father of a junior at Boston Latin, said he strongly supports the students’ right to protest, but said the language used in the school newspaper and at the rally is painful for Jewish families to hear, considering how Jewish people have historically faced persecution and genocide. He said the school needs to provide opportunities for students to learn and talk about the historical context of the conflict.

“It’s great that these kids feel passionately about what’s happening in the world, and they are looking to engage with this very complex, emotional, challenging subject,” Winikur said. But “if nobody helps them understand the complexity, and what it means when they say things like ‘genocide’ … how can they possibly understand the implications of what it is that they’re saying?”

Hannah Stoll, a Jewish junior at the school, said that without much opportunity for nuanced conversations, many students are leaning into extremes.

“I would really love to see the space made for student-facilitated, adult-supported dialogue about what is going on, in which there is support and encouragement for people to ask questions, for people to share different views,” Stoll said. “I really trust the students at our school to make that space and engage positively with it.”

Adam Marks, a Jewish parent of a seventh-grader at Boston Latin, said the district has not provided schools with guidance and resources to facilitate these discussions, and suggested bringing in experts.

“This has to be a teachable moment,” Marks said. “We live in the mecca of education. … There has to be resources available, there has to be room for conversation, there have to be adults in the room that are not only willing, but also capable to handle these types of discussions.”

While the district has pointed to emotional support and antidiscrimination resources for schools, Winikur said it’s insufficient.

“BLS is full of very intelligent, very passionate kids that are going to go on and make an impact on the world,” Winikur said. “This is a perfect opportunity to teach them to engage in thoughtful discourse about a difficult subject, and not as fodder for some kind of litmus test on where you stand on an issue.”

Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.