Political activism, antisemitism allegations put public schools under the microscope

Public schools in both Philadelphia and Los Angeles are facing scrutiny over allegations that educators used classroom and student activities to push politics on controversial topics, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The cases have raised fresh concerns among advocates about the infiltration of political activism in education.

The House Education and Workforce Committee found in Philadelphia that district curricula endorsed "ideology justifying violent resistance and legitimize radical groups that incite antisemitism." Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the school district substantiated 11 allegations involving teachers at Canoga Park High School, finding that they promoted one-sided views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Insider reported. The complaints were brought by the North American Values Institute, or NAVI.

"NAVI is very active in tracking what extremists are doing in education. And so, when we started seeing Code Pink do webinars discussing sort of what they were up to in Los Angeles County schools, we paid very close attention," NAVI Government Affairs Director Clifford Smith told Fox News Digital. 

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"When we saw that they were making plans to basically directly insert, you know, very politicized... far, far, far-left propaganda directly in the classrooms, we wanted to act because we knew that, you know, at least according to the rules of the school district, that shouldn't happen," Smith said. 

The Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) investigation found that high school teachers had been giving one-sided lessons on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including a lesson on the "martyrs of Gaza," according to Jewish Insider. The outlet noted that the investigation also revealed that teachers had been recruiting students to join the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine.

Following the investigation, LAUSD adopted several corrective measures, including removing political materials from classes, restructuring curricula and requiring staff training on antisemitism and political advocacy rules, according to Jewish Insider.

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Corey DeAngelis, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said the corrective measures did not address what he described as the broader culture behind the allegations.

"Legal remedies and corrective actions do not fix the root of the problem," DeAngelis told Fox News Digital. "Removing materials, restructuring some curricula, and requiring training marks a step in the right direction. Yet the underlying bias, ideology, and hostile environment remain embedded in the public school system as long as the same staff, the same culture, and the same monopoly persist."

Tina Descovich, CEO and co-founder of Moms for Liberty, said the findings in Los Angeles were "deeply troubling."

"Teachers actively pushed and anti-Israel prejudice on young, impressionable children," Descovich told Fox News Digital. "This should never happen in Ame