Journal & Topics: CJA Returns With Concerns Over Maine West Teacher’s Assignments, But Opponents Call It Bullying
At last month’s Maine Township Dist. 207 Board of Education meeting, community members as well as Jewish and Muslim organization representatives voiced their respective concerns and support for a Maine West teacher’s classroom recent assignments, which included reading Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir “Night” and juxtaposing the text to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Monday’s (Feb. 3) regular meeting saw more public comments on the matter, with calls to possibly change the curriculum and assignments in response.
Board members did not officially comment on the matter. Chicago Jewish Alliance CEO Josh Weiner, who is also with the North American Values Institute, said that he has been speaking to Assistant Supt. for Curriculum & Innovation Shawn Messmer about Maine West English Department Chair Sawsan Jaber’s assignments on the issue of dehumanization, and is “committed to assessing appropriate changes to it.” A follow-up may take place in the summer to see what was decided on.
“There is a common threat among all these incidents. They’re called activist educators, and they sometimes refer to themselves as scholar-activists,” Weiner said during public comment at Monday’s school board meeting. “They treat education curriculum and classroom work as political and teach some of the following: Anti-racism, which sounds like a good thing, but aims to eliminate inequities by promoting ongoing discrimination as a solution for past discrimination, specifically toward those perceived as being overrepresented.”
Other community members and nonprofit groups see the comments as an effort to demonize Jaber beyond her classroom assignments. Operations Manager and School Support Coordinator for American Islamic Relations Maggie Slavin said the Chicago Jewish Alliance has a history of bullying people as a right-wing organization, and that Jaber’s curriculum provides more culturally relevant and responsive education with more diverse voices on what is going on in Gaza.
“It’s really baffling to us as an organization that Dr. Jaber has not been protected from these attacks, and why there’s not been commendation of CJA’s campaign to harm her reputation, which I understand is in excellent standing,” said Slavin. “We urge and expect clear and forceful action to end this ridiculous, racist fiasco against her immediately.”
Joseph Milburn from the Council on American Islamic Relations returned to public comment and agreed with the thought that it was “bullying” and that teachers should be judged based on their merits and how students perceive them, not what outsiders think.
The board has never publicly discussed Jaber’s job status in response to the comments. Jaber also initially faced some criticism over an assignment requiring students to make a TikTok video, raising questions of privacy. Still, she is a celebrated educator and recipient of the 2024 English Leadership Quarterly Best Article Award for her piece about transformative equity in English classrooms.
“These ideas are dangerous, and make children feel either guilty, dangerous, or like victims for who they are. They teach us to dismantle the institutions of freedom in our country. They create permission structures for bullying a violence against other kids,” said Weiner.
With the assignments in question already completed for this school year, it remains to be seen whether they will return for next year. Support local news by subscribing to the Journal & Topics in print or online.