Tam Union Superintendent apologizes for terrorist image in the school video

The parents in the High School District of the Tamalpai's Union would like to know why students showed a video with a picture of an avowed terrorist in the Middle East.

According to Tara Taupier, the district superintendent, the latest event should be a “stop -and -learning meeting” for LGBTQ+ problems. It contained a video in which a woman was wearing a T-shirt that Leila Khaled, a Palestinian political activist who kidnapped an aircraft in 1969 and was wearing a rifle. In addition to the picture, the words “Resistance is not terrorism”.

In a letter to the district community, Taupier apologized for the video on Tuesday, which was founded in 2015 in cooperation with an organization called Campus Pride by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“As a district, we recognize that this picture is worrying, especially because of its connection to violence and terrorism against Jewish people,” said Taupier. “We apologize for pain that caused this.”

Taupier refused to say which faculty members, if at all, step the video or who made the choice to record it.

“While the focus of the video was to promote the understanding and support of LGBTQ+ students, we can see that the presence of this image has impaired this important message and caused unintentional damage,” said Taupier. “We take full responsibility for this supervision and companies to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future.”

Benedetto Cico, a parent in the district, said he wanted to learn more about how the video was selected for the event.

“I would like to understand how such a content exceeded the screening process of the district,” said Cico. “Who proposed this video, who approved it? Did you see it before you showed the students? Is the person responsible for such a bad choice in a possible way? “

The questions come at a time when the district in controversy was involved in the program for ethnic studies. The controversy, which contained allegations of anti -Semitic references in the curriculum and the political influence of external activist groups, had been moderated in recent weeks by frequent feedback sessions about parents. But the video lit the same tensions.

“The picture of Leila banged on the T-shirt with a Keffiyeh armed with an AK-47 with the words' resistance not terrorism,” speaks for the insidious nature of the anti-Semitic content, which we appear in the school curriculum in school in school curriculum. Together, said in an e -mail.

“It is also worrying that the T-shirt image and the words refer to current topics in the written ethnic study curriculum of the district of the district,” added Dubin and said that the curriculum “Historical Armed Resistance without critical analysis of its effectiveness or examples of peaceful protest movements and its leader has.”

Betina Baumgarten, a parent in the district, has blown up the use of the video.

“I wish there was no excuse,” said Baumgarten in an e -mail. “The Jewish community has always offered to get involved and be committed – and again and again instead of accepting our offers, sitting at the table and offering our perspective.

Baumgarten called the video “a serious supervision on so many levels – something that should be checked more thoroughly”.

“It could have been identified quickly if someone at the table had the necessary experience and insight,” said Baumgarten.

Originally published: February 26, 2025 at 5:38 p.m. PST