Local students, parents and residents protest at Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
A standing-room-only crowd gathered at the Lewis F. Cole Middle School in Fort Lee on Monday evening to debate a lesson plan presented to students that was characterized as sympathetic to Hamas, a terror organization designated by the United States and dozens of other countries.
Hamas, according to public records, is an Islamist militant movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip between Israel and Egypt for nearly two decades. Hamas violently rejects Israel’s existence and frequently targets Israeli civilians. On October 7, 2023, Hamas infiltrated southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking several hundred more hostage. Many of those hostages are now feared dead, and include senior citizens, babies and the disabled.
The very upset crowd gathered in response to a May 30 presentation to eleventh grade students by Fort Lee public school teachers Stephen Wolowitz and Fathia Balgahoo. This was an off-curriculum 29-page presentation to a social studies class at Fort Lee High School, about Palestine, characterizing Hamas as a “Palestinian political party and armed resistance movement.” The presentation was titled “1948-2024: World History with Ms. Balgahoon and Mr. Wolowitz.”
As the meeting concluded, the Board of Education voted on the advice of the superintendent to accept the resignation of the non-tenured teacher, Fathia Balgahoo, with the effective date June 30. No further action was announced or taken at the meeting.
Students told parents that the teachers, one tenured and one non-tenured, required the students to relinquish their cell phones for the duration of their lesson. Parents of students in the class who have seen copies of the presentation, which made its way to the class’ Google Classroom, contended it was skewed against Israel and claimed it “sugarcoated” Hamas rather than characterizing it as a terrorist organization as designated by the U.S. government.
Hundreds of residents, including children of Holocaust survivors and those who lost family and friends in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, appeared at a Fort Lee Board of Education meeting on June 3, demanding that the teachers be fired. Multiple Fort Lee residents as well as current and former Fort Lee High School students spoke, primarily against the teachers and asking board of education members to hold them and administrators accountable and in favor of an unbiased education. At least three rabbis of Fort Lee synagogues spoke as well.
Many pro-Palestinian speakers presented as well, many not stating their addresses correctly or stating they do not live in Fort Lee but have “many cousins” who go to the schools there. A woman named “Lisa Hassan” spoke once in person and at least three more times on Zoom. The full video presentation is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPp7l2Ykd0c.
