State education officials in September rejected a parent’s complaint that the history curriculum for ninth- and 10th-graders at Newton’s high schools contained anti-Semitic material and Islamic dogma.
But the issue reemerged in recent weeks when a separate group took out advertisements in multiple publications accusing the Newton school district of using materials that “demonize Israel” and glorify Islam.
The accusation was flatly rejected by Newton school officials.
The ads were also criticized as misleading by a spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League, and repudiated by clergy from two Newton temples.
‘There is not a single accusation that has merit.’
The Anti-Defamation League has in the past investigated assertions by Jacobs, said its New England regional director, Robert Trestan, and found them to be “misleading.”
“We take these allegations very seriously, and we look into them,” said Trestan. “We concluded that the ad’s description of the material that we reviewed goes beyond reasonable criticism.”
Parents should not be worried by allegations in the ads, he said. “The Newton public schools do not have an agenda to delegitimize Israel and glorify Islam,” Trestan said.
Trestan said the Anti-Defamation League also found that some passages cited by the ads were not taught in Newton schools, and that “much of what they allege is out of context, and doesn’t take into account the class, the methodology, and the whole context of whatever the publication is.”
Read the joint statement from ADL, CJP, and JCRC Regarding these allegations.
Read the full article in The Boston Globe.