A teacher who previously wrote that „ethnic studies means free Palestine” is due to lead a professional development workshop for elementary school teachers through a University of California, Berkeley education programme, prompting criticism from Jewish organisations, Jerusalem News Syndicate reports.
The workshop, scheduled for 22 August, is being organised by UC Berkeley’s History–Social Science Project (HSSP), one of the regional branches of the California Subject Matter Project. It is aimed at Bay Area primary school educators and will focus on incorporating an ethnic studies perspective into existing classroom lessons.
According to the programme description, participants will explore practical ways to integrate ethnic studies into the curriculum through lesson plans, sample teaching units and classroom strategies.
The featured presenter is Joemy Ito-Gates, an ethnic studies teacher working with the Berkeley Unified School District.
Ito-Gates has attracted attention for previous public statements and social media activity relating to Israel and the Palestinians.
In November 2023, she wrote on a personal social media account that „ethnic studies means free Palestine.” Her name also appeared among the signatories of a letter urging California Governor Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to oppose what the authors described as censorship of teaching about Palestine, settler colonialism and Critical Race Theory.
In a video published in May, Ito-Gates criticised a lawsuit brought by the Louis D. Brandeis Centre for Human Rights Under Law, StandWithUs and the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. The case alleges that California has failed to properly enforce anti-discrimination protections for Jewish students in K–12 schools.
Speaking in the video while wearing a keffiyeh, Ito-Gates said that removing Palestinian history from California classrooms would amount to erasing part of American history.
She also shared photographs and videos from an anti-Israel demonstration in October 2024, including footage in which speakers called for „long live the intifada” and praised what was described as „the resistance.”
The workshop comes amid wider scrutiny of the California Subject Matter Project.
In May, the advocacy group Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, together with the Education Policy Project, called on the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Departments of Education, Justice and Labour to investigate the programme and suspend its federal funding, alleging anti-Israel bias.
The two organisations also urged Governor Newsom to block more than $3 million in funding allocated to the project under California’s 2026 Budget Act. The governor ultimately signed the legislation into law.
The California Subject Matter Project operates through more than 90 regional sites and provides teaching materials and professional development to around 40,000 teachers across approximately 1,000 school districts.
Oleg Ivanov, Executive Director of StandWithUs Northern California, said his organisation was concerned about the workshop.
„The UC Berkeley History–Social Science Project has a record of promoting anti-Israel and antisemitic agendas in K–12 classrooms,” he said.
„We are deeply concerned that the same thing will happen in this training. The State of California funds HSSP and must ensure that its instructional materials and professional development programmes are accurate, balanced and free of hate.”
Robert Trestan, Vice President of the Anti-Defamation League’s Western Division, said ethnic studies could make a valuable contribution to education when taught appropriately.
„Ethnic studies has the potential to enrich a student’s learning experience,” he said. „However, its use as a platform to fuel antisemitism and a political agenda is wholly unacceptable.”
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
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