{"id":207887,"date":"2026-04-24T00:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207887\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:44:12","slug":"trump-officials-investigate-n-y-c-schools-over-pro-palestinian-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207887\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Officials Investigate N.Y.C. Schools Over Pro-Palestinian Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration on Thursday opened an investigation into New York City\u2019s Education Department over claims that a group of pro-Palestinian teachers had violated Jewish students\u2019 civil rights.<\/p>\n

It was the latest clash between the federal government and the country\u2019s largest school district.<\/p>\n

The federal Department of Education said it would examine the group, known as N.Y.C. Educators for Palestine, and seminars on \u201cPalestine, Zionism and Resistance.\u201d The department asserted, without providing evidence, that the teachers had taught students to support Hamas and had called Zionists \u201cgenocidal white supremacists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominique Ellison, a spokeswoman for the city\u2019s schools, said that the group was not affiliated with the district. \u201cWe received this notice today, and we are reviewing,\u201d Ms. Ellison said.<\/p>\n

N.Y.C. Educators for Palestine was started in 2019 and describes itself on social media pages as \u201cpublic school educators committed to fighting for Palestinian liberation.\u201d Earlier this year, the group advertised a \u201cPalestine teach-in\u201d for families and children ages 6 to 18 that was scheduled for Martin Luther King\u2019s Birthday, a school holiday.<\/p>\n

The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The group, along with the organization Teaching While Muslim, created a five-day lesson plan<\/a> on Palestinian history and culture for elementary, middle and high schools, though it was unclear if any schools adopted the guide. \u201cTake time this week to uplift the beautiful culture and history of a people who have remained steadfast in their fight for dignity and survival,\u201d they wrote in the guide. \u201cBe brave. Teach Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity is a superpower here in New York City,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In September, the Trump administration withheld more than $35 million in grants for the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration on Thursday opened an investigation into New York City\u2019s Education Department over claims that a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34936,1452,13997,82408,18535,9,24,55,54,56,82409,1479,82407,1069,1876],"class_list":["post-207887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-civil-rights-and-liberties","tag-donald-j","tag-education-k-12","tag-education-department-nyc","tag-education-department-us","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-palestinian-americans","tag-palestinians","tag-teachers-and-school-employees","tag-trump","tag-united-states-politics-and-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}