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The New York City schools boss has suspended release of mass communications sent to educators, students and parents without her approval — sparked by a furor over a recent Department of Education newsletter claiming Israel is committing “genocide in Gaza.”
The Post first reported Wednesday on the antisemitic message that was included in a 14-page “Teacher Career Pathways” spring 2025 newsletter — sent out to “master teachers” across the system’s 1,800 schools.
Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said newsletters and other mass communications cannot be released without first being reviewed by her office, following consultation with Mayor Eric Adams’ office.
“It is egregious and deeply disappointing that despite our efforts to streamline communication protocols in this massive system, politically one-sided materials that are deeply offensive to the Jewish community were once again shared with educators,” Aviles-Ramos said in a statement Thursday.
“I profusely apologize for this. Moving forward, all system-wide communication will be directly signed off by my office until we can further build team capacity to reflect our core values and the highest commitment to curating materials that ONLY reflect political neutrality.”
Adams — who is considering running for re-election under an independent “EndAntiSemitism” ballot line -— was furious after hearing of the Israel-bashing message sent out by his education department.
Meanwhile, a DOE directive sent to educators Thursday was even more explicit.
“Effective immediately, please pause all newsletters and mass communications from your teams and divisions until further notice,” the memo sent by a DOE supervisor obtained by The Post said.
“This applies to any staff-facing, family-facing, or citywide messages, regardless of audience or platforms,” the memo said.
English (US)