PHOTO: From left, retired Tigard-Tualatin School District Assistant Superintent Karen Twain speaks at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland's K-12 Parent Advocacy Training Monday, Sept. 23 at Congregation Neveh Shalom, as part of a panel that included Taylar Lewis, a civil rights specialist with the Oregon Department of Education, Julie Brin-Edwards, a member of both the Portland Public Schools Board and the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, and was moderated by Federation Chief Community Relations and Public Affairs Officer Bob Horenstein. (Rockne Roll/The Jewish Review)

By ROCKNE ROLL
The Jewish Review
With schools back in session and antisemitism still a growing force in public life, questions naturally arise about how to address issues of antisemitism in education. For area parents, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland looked to provide some answers preemptively at a K-12 Parent Advocacy training session hosted Monday, Sept. 23 at Congregation Neveh Shalom. 
On hand were Taylar Lewis, a civil rights specialist with the Oregon Department of Education, Julie Brin-Edwards, a member of both the Portland Public Schools Board and the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners as well as a parent, and Karen Twain, a retired Assistant Superintendent with Tigard-Tualatin School District. 
A number of questions came up, including what limitations can be placed on the political speech of teachers. 
“When we’re looking at political speech, teachers are, for the most part, able to say what they want outside of their classroom environment,” Lewis said. “In school, it’s a little different. When they’re actually in classrooms during school day, they’re considered public employees, and public employees do have fewer rights to be able to express themselves as they see fit.”
There are also limitations based on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination based on a number of protected classes in any program which receives funding from the federal government. 
As that would apply to Jewish students, Lewis said, “we’re looking at tertiary ancestry characteristics, so things that would be commonly associated with kids that are Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, anything in that vein, as opposed to religious practices.”
Discriminatory acts which create a “hostile learning environment,” which is defined as “harassment that is so severe, persistent or pervasive that it’s restricting a student from enjoying the benefits or privileges of their educational programming,” are something ODE would get involved in, Lewis said. 
As for displays in classrooms and buildings – a point of contention for many parents after some posters were displayed by a teacher at Grant High School accusing Israel of genocide – districts are handling that individually. Brim-Edwards explained that a new Portland Public Schools policy required materials to be related to curriculum.
“If any of you are in PPS, you’ll know there was a lot of things that were posted [last year.] It was a little bit like the wild west in the hallways and the cafeterias,” she said. “Hopefully this will provide guidelines so that individual parents don’t have to be the police.”
“Right now, there’s a variety of policies,” Twain said “I know  a lot of the districts in Oregon are looking at all of this, especially this election year where there’s a lot of things being said and opinions being given, both by students and educators.”
The curriculum that is being taught, however, is much more tightly regulated. Adopting curriculum costs significant sums of money, both in materials and continuing education for the teachers implementing it, so school boards are naturally very careful with those decisions – and they aren’t the only ones. 
“Over the last six years, I think we’ve approved over $70 million,” Brim-Edwards said of curriculum adoption expenses in Portland. “But before it gets to us, it’s gone through a very extensive vetting process that the superintendent and the district office needs. Often on the curriculum committee, say it’s for high school science, you will have some high school science teachers who will provide sort of their classroom expertise to the larger curriculum committee.”
Twain elaborated that this process is not done frequently and is focused on adopting tools that enable students to meet state standards in the relevant subject areas. 
“What I would underscore is when I’ve had these processes, we really focus on standards,” she said. “So it’s not people sitting down with a bunch of opinions and agendas, but it’s, here’s the standards for health, science, math, literacy, social studies, and from those standards you choose from different curriculum.”
That doesn’t mean it’s cut-and-dried.
“Understand that teachers have a lot of leeway in terms of what books they use and those kinds of things,” Twain said, “even if there’s an accepted curriculum and textbook adoption.”
That’s where parents come in.
“We really do rely on parents letting us know if they have a concern that something doesn’t seem aligned with the curriculum, or they have a concern about it,” Brim-Edwards added. 
This is also the case with concerns about educators posting antisemitic or discriminatory content on social media, something that has become an issue in the last year. While Lewis explained that established judicial precedents dictate a balancing test between free speech rights and the disruption of the educational environment, Twain encouraged parents and students to speak up if something is bothering them and that the wellbeing of students should come first. 
“Paramount to everything is that our kids, Jewish and otherwise, need to feel safe when they’re in school,” she said. “When I talk to families, I say, ‘how does your child feel?’ If a kid ever comes to me and says, ‘I don’t feel safe,’ that’s a huge red flag.”
Connections with educators – and administrators – are vital to facilitating those conversations, explained Mel Berwin, Neveh Shalom’s Director of Congregational Learning and a Portland Public Schools parent. The same goes for relationships with other Jewish parents – connections which have been facilitated through parent advocacy groups like the one Berwin helps lead for Portland. 
“Do you know your principal? Have you had a conversation with them before there’s a challenge so that they kind of know you as a parent. Do you know your school board members or members to know the other Jewish parents in your children’s schools?” she said. 
Parents looking to connect with an advocacy group in their child’s district, or looking to discuss an issue that hasn’t been handled adequately by school staff, can contact Federation Chief Community Relations and Public Affairs Officer Bob Horenstein at bob@jewishportland.org or Director of Educational Initiatives and Associate Director of Community Relations Rachel Nelson at rachel@jewishportland.org.