Philly Teachers React To "McCarthyite" Federal Investigation into District Antisemitism

At this evening’s School District of Philadelphia Board Meeting, teachers in the district spoke about the recently announced House Committee on Workforce and Education investigation into the School District of Philadelphia for antisemitism. The teachers claim that the investigation is racist, McCarthyite, anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim.

The House Committee on Workforce and Education, in its letter to the district, states that it is

investigating antisemitism in Philadelphia public schools, including whether there was or is a hostile environment against Jewish K-12 students and whether the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is fulfilling its obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) to end any harassment, eliminate any hostile environment and its effects, and prevent any harassment from recurring.

It goes on:

Today, SDP employs numerous educators who allegedly promote antisemitic content in their classrooms. One such teacher has allegedly threatened Jewish parents and students online. She and other Philadelphia educators also allegedly use lessons from an effort called Teaching Palestine, whose class materials rationalize terrorist violence and advocate for the destruction of Israel. In addition, SDP employs a senior administrator—its director of social studies curriculum—who has been widely condemned by Jewish advocacy groups in light of his “pattern of denying the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, refusing to speak about peace or coexistence, and downplaying the lived experiences of Jewish people in the face of violence.” In a recent example, after the murder of two Israeli embassy workers and the antisemitic firebombing attack in Colorado, the senior administrator wrote, “The groups who align themselves with American savageness should not be surprised when the savageness is turned on you[.]”

The Committee’s letter is referring to the Racial Justice Organizing Committee (RJOC), the group made up of School District of Philadelphia teachers and founded by School District of Philadelphia Director of Social Studies Curriculum, Ismael Jimenez.

The RJOC openly supported October 7.

The RJOC, sponsored by Rethinking Schools, organized a “Teaching Palestine” study group for teachers and students in the district.

The teacher who “has allegedly threatened Jewish parents and students online” is Keziah Ridgeway.

Ridgeway, who is back in the classroom, is suing the district as a result of its investigation into her posts.

Ridgeway, along with Hannah Gann, leads the RJOC.

Keziah Ridgeway at the School Board meeting

Ridgeway spoke with a current SDP student sitting beside her. Ridgeway, who is not Palestinian, donned a Keffiyah.

In her remarks, Ridgeway repeatedly referred to her students as “her babies.” She called cooperation with the investigation into antisemitism “capitulation to McCarthyism tactics.” She ended her speech by saying that “Our black children deserve better. Our Muslim children deserve better. Our Palestinian children deserve better.” I leave it to the reader to note which children were left off Ridgeway’s list.

All I’ve ever wanted was to protect students in the ways that I wasn’t protected from the racism and discrimination that permeates the SDP schools. While recently the district has addressed antisemitism, it has not addressed racism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian discrimination with the same rigor. And to be clear, the numerous stories are not student versus student. It’s teachers versus students. Being a teacher should be heart work. That’s why when my students come to me needing money for trips, food formula for their babies or underwear, I will spend my last to provide it. And when I don’t have it, I call on my community and they answer. It’s December and I probably spent $2,000 of my own money on our babies because they are indeed our babies.

Because teaching is heart work. We love to support the wins like the 1967 walkout, but we gloss over the harm those who protested experience. I don’t because I know personally what happens when you stand up for something, sleepless nights, death threats campaigns to take away your livelihood ,calling out because your anxiety is so severe you don’t have the energy to teach, mentor and counsel and love on the 65 kids who sit in front of you every day because you work for a system who would rather ask about your lesson plan than how you’re coping with the death of a parent. Or would rather punish you for not being quiet while rewarding a teacher that students said harmed them. You’re at a crossroads right now with a national spotlight looming - capitulate to McCarthyism tactics or channel the spirit of Harriet and Martin. Close schools and destroy community anchors or being creative with how you keep them open. This is heart work, this is not a business. It’s heart work. And these are our babies. Our black children deserve better. Our Muslim children deserve better. Our Palestinian children deserve better. Will you give it to them or will you disappoint them. Also where is Ismael Jimenez (emphasis added).

If the child next to Ridgeway looks familiar, that’s because she is frequently involved in Ridgeway’s activism - including an event in which Ridgeway and others discuss the fact that a white teacher in the district teaches African American history and was in the Israel Defense Forces.

That event was also filmed, with the camera trained on the school student almost the entire time.

Hannah Gann at the School Board Meeting

After Ridgeway, it was Hannah Gann’s turn to speak.

Can I pass these forward to the board the recommendations for some systemic measures to protect black students? Thank you. These are from Ismael Jimenez, who we dearly miss.

Toni Morrison warned us that a serious function of racism is distraction. Of course, racism is also a very material violence, as corporeal as one of the black bodies recently found hung from a tree or a bomb sent to exterminate an entire family based on an AI-generated “terrorism list,” or a child told that their very existence is not an appropriate topic for a school project. But we must be judicious when racism is weaponized to distract us from the actual work we owe to our students. The baseless attacks on some of Philly’s best black teachers are meant to distract them from their anti-genocide advocacy. The spurious House investigation that dogwhistles these educators is meant to distract you from demanding just funding to keep our schools open.

Do not capitulate to partisan stooges who have never used their position to provide for our children. In contrast, dozens of Philly students can tell you about the immeasurable impact that Keziah Ridgeway and Ismael Jimenez have had on their learning. So whose side are you on? The district does not have to give Congress any more records than what is already public knowledge. So don’t. Protect the teachers who protect our students - period. But I’m also urging you to do more than the bare minimum. Specifically, treat Islamophobia, anti-black, and anti-Palestinian racism just as seriously as allegations of antisemitism. This starts with school demographic information that includes options for children who identify as SWENA, MENA, or Arab. And a question about religion on the Student Wellbeing survey so we can identify and respond to patterns. Why are Jewish staff members experiences immediately assumed to indicate systemic failures? While black, brown and Muslim students testimonies are treated as isolated incidents?

I want to emphasize many accusations of antisemitism have been levied by district staff members. Whereas multiple children have spoken at this board about adults entrusted with their education, who have photographed them without their consent, doxed them, harassed, bullied, and invalidated them. This power dynamic is crucial and cannot be ignored. The district has far more culpability and responsibility to act when it staff harms students than when employees feel uncomfortable because they see the word Palestine on a t-shirt. Do not allow a political stunt from the pro genocide camp to distract you from your crucial job to protect our most vulnerable students. Do not play into the McCarthyian intimidation of these educators…that these racists are trying to repeat. Stand up to the bullies and fight for what our children deserve. Especially keeping their schools open (emphasis added).

Gann’s speech ignores the fact that students within the district have reported antisemitism.

Gann talks about “allegations” of antisemitism but does not use a qualifier when talking about “anti-Palestinian racism” or Islamophobia or anti-black racism in the district.

For Gann, concerns about antisemitism are simply a “distraction” tactic to discourage discussions over district funding, she calls those concerned with antisemitism “pro-genocide.” Yet Gann is concerned by “dogwhistles” from the House investigation…

Gann and the Rally For Rage and Resistance

The RJOC was an organizing group for the “Rally for Rage and Resistance” held on October 7, 2025. Gann advertized the rally on her public Instagram.

Gann uses her public Instagram to communicate with her students, posting her daily class schedule on her Instagram stories.

Gann wants revolution:

Alex Volin Avelin, former teacher in the district and an “instructional coach” to teachers in the School District of Philadelphia, also spoke out against the investigation. Volin Avelin follows the RJOC on Instagram. She called the House investigation “political theater” and “government overreach”, arguing that the point of the investigation is to silence and intimidate teachers. Volin Avelin says that because she is Jewish, she can discern that the definition of antisemitism in the Committee’s letter is false. Instead, she says, the district should put its “energy and resources into combating discrimination against our black, Muslim, and Palestinian students.”

Another teacher used their Jewish credentials, claiming that they were 25% Jewish and therefore qualified to opine on antisemitism. She called the investigation “a witch hunt” that “will target black, brown and Muslim students and staff while doing nothing to protect Jewish people.”

In written testimony, RJOC member Norman Shaw Macqueen wrote:

My name is Norman Shaw MacQueen, and I am a proud teacher of middle school social studies at Mitchell Elementary. I am writing to you due to my grave concerns with the recently announced House committee investigation of our district for claims of antisemitism. Educators across the district have been facing ongoing harassment due to their advocacy for the rights to life and land for Palestinians. They have been accused of antisemitism and spreading Jewish hate for allowing for space in their classroom for students to learn about the history of Palestine and the Palestinian fight for their land and right to not live in an apartheid state and ongoing genocide. In fact, many educators taught on this history prior to the events of October 7th. However, as you all are well aware, theattacks against these educators have been ongoing and escalating since October 7th. Teachers have been doxxed, students have been doxxed, teachers have been harassed by outside agitators as well as their colleagues, teachers have faced death threats. Sadly there has been no real action taken by the district to protect and advocate for the academic freedom and 1st amendment rights of these teachers. The district has done very little to genuinely protect and foster a safe and caring environment for our Palestinian students, Muslim students/staff, nor have done much to protect non-Palestinian students who choose to speak out against genocide and the erasure of Palestine as a nation and people. In actuality, the district has done little to foster an antiracist environment and curriculum despite your rhetoric. I could cite multiple pieces of evidence where the district has backtracked on efforts to partner with organizations and educators to do this important work. I could cite countless examples where anti-Black racism has gone ignored, brushed under the rug. I digress (we can revisit those issues at a later date), back to the outrageous House committee investigation. The District has already been through this with the Office for Civil Rights and complied with their recommendation that professional development be implemented to deal with antisemitism (but not anti-Palestinian hate, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, etc….). This new investigation holds no validity, it is a politically motivated witch hunt, and it is a very concerning and dangerous attempt to control public education and further the agenda of the Trump administration as it relates to public education in America. This should not be a surprise given the dismantling of the Dept. of Ed. and the efforts to whitewash the history of America. The District has a responsibility to stand strong against the attacks against its educators, especially those who are Black and/or Muslim. The District has a responsibility to stand up for academic freedom, 1st Amendment rights, to protect its educators, its students, and to protect public education. I urge you all to be courageous leaders of our district, to not give in to this horrific political theater, and to protect the educators being targeted. I genuinely fear for the future of our District if you cannot do so (emphasis added).

Where is Ismael Jimenez

The teachers who took umbrage at the investigation into antisemitism in the district also expressed concern over Ismael Jimenez, the director of Social Studies Curriculum for the district.

Thomas Quinn, a social studies teacher at Central High School, argued that “bogus claims” of antisemitism were being used to target black and Muslim educators. He questioned why Ismael Jimenez had been “missing” in action for two months.

RJOC member Nick Bernardini wrote:

Good Evening, Over the last several years the Social Studies curriculum office’s outreach has grown leaps and bounds from where it was after Melvin Garrison departed the district. Upon Mr. Garrison’s departure, Social Studies leadership in the district completely vanished. No professional developments offered, opportunities for collaboration amongst colleagues from different schools vanished and general support for the discipline within the school district was nowhere to be found. It was over a decade before the school district decided to hire a new director of Social Studies (Ismael Jimenez) and the impact was felt immediately. Consistent outreach and communication from the curriculum office to social studies teachers, newly developed professional developments for all of our various disciplines within the content and a focus on training educators how to effectively teach our historic African American History curriculum (even though many of my colleagues asked to teach the course never cracked a text related to African American or Black history in the Atlantic world) became normalized. Google classrooms were created for collaboration, weekend study opportunities and book readings became available for us to have discourse around teaching difficult content and topics such as race, racism, and the impact of modern colonialism and war on our students and society. Our new leader within the department, Ismael Jimenez has successfully worked to pull our content area out of irrelevance in the eyes of the district and shined a light on the value that effectively teaching social studies history can have on improving the critical thinking and literacy of our students. He has provided us again and again with opportunities to share experiences, visit and learn from local museums and historians and pushed the value of embracing the diversity of our local history and connecting us with our communities. He has leveraged his connections in and out of the district to provide our department with groundbreaking and progressive educational opportunities such as the Africana Study Series as well as opening up a pathway through Dr. Lagarret [sic] King for teachers of African American history to receive teaching certification in that specific content area, something that was never available or known to us before. His work first as a curriculum writer then as director has shaped our curriculums in positive ways, injecting skill based methods that lean on close reading strategies and analysis well before outsourced english curriculums were following suit. The goals and pursuits developed by Ismael and his team and outlined by the department are our backbone and are exemplary guideposts for all educators not just ones within our content and should be recognized as such. Yet, where is Isamel [sic]Jimenez? Over the last 6-8 weeks or so he has vanished. No weekly emails or check-ins, colleagues have reached out to me as a former Social Studies SBTL asking why he has not responded to emails. Projects and planned events he was collaborating on with people dropped off or were restarted by other people and pushed out to us with rushed requests for assistance or participation. Going to 440 yields no results as he has not been in his office and has not been seen in person by his 440 colleagues in some time, with no word from our district leaders on the matter. We read the news reports in the inquirer [sic] about allegations dubious and unfounded, but no comments from the district showing support for their Director of Social Studies Education leader? Ismael is an educator and man who holds awards both locally and nationally for his work inside and outside of the classroom. As a teacher and leader within our local community and beyond he is well respected in the fields of higher education and our k-12 world, as evidenced by his invitations to speak at and participate in social studies education and Black history engagements all over the world (that’s right the world not just the United States). How is it that our School District has simply ghosted Ismael from his colleagues and educational community without so much as word or justification for those actions? I would like to ask the board, where is Ismael Jimenez? When, if at all will he return? And when can we as Social Studies Educators expect a statement from the school district addressing these unfounded allegations and slander against our department leader who has only ever displayed his guile for the art and science of teaching and his hard work and dedication to our city, our students and his fellow social studies teachers?

Bernardini, a core member of the RJOC, references the “historic” curriculum that Jimenez put in place. That curriculum gained national attention thanks to a Free Press expose of the radical content to be found in the social studies curriculum.

Here are other examples of the recommended social studies curriculum in Philadelphia public schools:

• An African American history assignment asks students to select a song to “replace” the national anthem after “critically examining race and racism.” Students also are asked to write “scenarios that represent racism, systemic racism, bias, white supremacy, white privilege, discrimination, racial justice.”

• When learning about the Civil War, students should come away with the “understanding” that “racist attitudes played a foundational role in the formation of American identity.”

• A main takeaway of the unit about westward expansion is that “governmental policies around discrimination and exclusion perpetuate an ideal of American supremacy.”

• Students are taught to examine the “development of American foreign policy” through the lens of historical “race and racism.”

• “Wartime propaganda” during World War II “created the base for a culture of national unity across the United States.”

• A unit about domestic politics during the Cold War concludes “with an examination of the concept related to middle-class identity and mythology of whiteness tied to normalcy of status quo economics.”

• An assignment about Ronald Reagan and American conservatism asks students to write a “critical analysis of the American narrative” versus “reality” on topics such as the War on Drugs and the Cold War.

• A unit in world history teaches that “economic inequality” shows “the need for systemic changes and equitable economic policies.” The unit examines “the intersections of climate justice, economic justice, anti-fascism, and human rights.”

The Africana Lecture series, mentioned by Bernardini, and from which the district has now disassociated itself, had been used as a forum for Jimenez’ activist cadre.

Another teacher in the district, Adam Blyweiss , writes:

On the surface, this testimony serves to support the efforts of two educational colleagues and allies. I have known Curriculum Director Ismael Jimenez for most of my 17 years teaching in the District, and teacher Keziah Ridgeway for about half of that time. You do not give educators like these the responsibilities they have held and the accolades they have earned, only to unfairly strip them away and tarnish their reputations, without the input of peers working in bad faith as well as undue outside influences and agendas. || On a broader level, it feels like this District was briefly on the path to educational autonomy, allowing clear and full teaching of history and current events. The announced House investigation into academic antisemitism is the latest, largest obstacle in that path. Sensitivity to political and racial truth requires reflection leading to the breaking of habits and patterns, not lashing out at facts or conducting witch hunts on their messengers. || This brings back into focus long-standing criticism of this District as one that targets teachers, especially those of color, for helping students understand oppression, resistance, and complex global interactions. As a corollary, this also adds to a sense of victimization felt by students who already report anti-Black, anti-Latino, Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian, and other discriminatory acts by staff with little to no meaningful disciplinary action or support. If you haven’t yet seen fit to help these kids directly, at least protect their teachers and strengthen their curricula. || This Board and this District must, and I believe it can, continue to find ways to fairly and consistently address Islamophobia, legitimate anti-Jew hatred, and other instances of discrimination, harassment, and evil. But do not do this work in a manner that capitulates to poorly informed activists or flailing political pressure, sacrificing academic accuracy or highly qualified, deeply involved and concerned educators.

Jimenez is not shy about sharing his views on liberalism and the west. In this clip, he refuses to acknowledge that western civilization has benefited humanity in any way, preferring instead to talk about the “sickness” within western society.

Just last week, Jimenez published an article which seemed to suggest that investigations into antisemitism serve the “political and social interests” of the school district - in other words, there is social and political capital in supporting the Jewish community over others…

Institutions act when accountability serves their political or social interests. Investigating anti-Blackness threatens the narrativized identity of schools as neutral and merit-based. It requires examining whiteness as institutional property, a structure protected through the policing of Black expression. This is not fear of disruption. It is protection of a system that benefits those most able to demand comfort.

…

The refusal to investigate anti-Blackness is not a gap in policy. It is a deliberate practice of selective urgency that reveals whose experiences matter most.

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Weaponized claims of antisemitism often produce investigations within days, even when the allegations are based on perception rather than evidence. Across the country, national actors have increasingly used allegations of antisemitism as political leverage to pressure schools and universities, creating an atmosphere where institutions respond to perception with urgency while documented anti-Black harm receives no equivalent attention.

The NAVI K-12 Extremism Tracker has noted a distancing in public messaging between Jimenez and the school district as of late. The school board meeting has confirmed that there is a froideur between the district and its director of social studies curriculum - so what finally did it, was it the antisemitism complaints, the ties to an extreme activist organization, the Charlie Kirk conspiracies, or the national attention to the district’s problematic social studies curriculum? Or perhaps all of it together has become too much for the district to stand behind. Time will tell.