Jewish teachers are outraged over a full-sized Palestinian flag that’s been hanging in the hallway of a Brooklyn high school for months — as their complaints to education bosses fall on deaf ears.
The banner has been prominently displayed at Leaders High School in Gravesend, which shares space in the Lafayette Educational Complex, since at least April, said Moshe Spern, president of the 250-member United Jewish Teachers group.
It’s unclear who hung the flag — or why.
Spern believes the flag violates city regulations prohibiting political activities on Department of Education property. He emailed Principal Thomas Mullen on Tuesday, noting that “members of the Lafayette school community” have complained about the flag since the end of last academic year.
“I told [the people complaining] at the time maybe it was associated with a Heritage month and to give the benefit of the doubt,” Spern wrote in the email, which he shared with The Post.
“At this point, the fact that it still remains hanging seems more like a political statement.
“Jewish staff, parents and students are very concerned that this is still hanging,” he added. “My hope is that this flag is taken down, and neutrality in the conflict in the Middle East is the message at Leaders High School.”
He got no response, and fired off another message to Mullen on Friday, demanding the flag’s removal.
The flag is “clearly a political statement, and you’re making Jewish stakeholders really uncomfortable,” he wrote.
Spern has yet to hear back, he said.
“For five months, this flag has been a constant, political presence in this school’s hallways, and it’s impossible to ignore the message it’s sending to the school’s staff and children,” he told The Post.
“When we alerted school and district leadership to a clear violation of political neutrality regulations, they chose to ignore us. That’s simply unacceptable.
“They had every chance to correct this before students even walked through the door” for the new school year, “but they chose to leave it up. How can we trust that similar violations in other schools are not going unchecked?”
“I am calling on the [United Federation of Teachers] and DOE to remind school leaders and teachers that every stakeholder has the right to attend a school without feeling intimidated or scared.”
Mullen declined to comment. The DOE did not return messages.
The post Palestinian flag brazenly hangs in NYC school hallway despite complaints from Jewish teachers appeared first on New York Post.
