It began with a letter from the Superintendent of the Teaneck school district, André D. Spencer, to the parents and students, characterizing Hamas’ October 7th attack not as terrorism, or even as something bad perpetrated by Hamas, but as “the latest incidents in the cycle of violence in the Middle East.” At the next Board of Education meeting, Jewish parents stood to address this failing. Board Vice President Victoria Fisher was having none of it.
The Board, however, repeatedly cut off commenters who described Hamas’s actions to
underscore why they thought Superintendent Spencer should have issued a stronger statement condemning the attack:…
Another commenter, Keith Kaplan, called on the district to revise its statement and condemn Hamas. “This is the week to talk about the savagery, the inhumanity that was perpetrated by a terrorist group on innocent civilians who were butchered, who were raped, who were mutilated, who were beheaded, and worse,” Kaplan said before Vice President Fisher cut him off for not following the “ground rules.” Kaplan continued, “Imagine for a moment these heinous acts were committed by any group in any other place. Raping, butchering, beheading, setting aflame some thousand people.” President Rodriguez interrupted again, but Kaplan went on, “Imagine any politician anywhere responding to those acts, those outrageous crimes, calling them incidents in a cycle of violence. You are noncommittal. It begs the question as to whether our schools operate in a value-free zone — a value-free zone where torture and rape are relative.” President Rodriguez told Kaplan, “You need to stop now,” and the Board cut his mic and had him removed from the lectern. Moments later, Vice President Fisher says, “Keep your politics out of it.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Keith is a regular here. Keith was silenced after he refused to go gently into the night.
Keith Kaplan being disruptive.
The board, however, wasn’t satisfied and had its attorneys send Keith a cease and desist letter, arguing that the board’s silencing Keith wasn’t because of his content, but how he “comported himself,” and ending in the best of lawyerly admonitions, “please be guided accordingly.” Keith called FIRE, and FIRE called bullshit.
The FIRE letter not only condemned the board’s flagrant violation of the First Amendment, and debunked its attorneys attempt to spin the board’s flagrant anti-Israel and pro-Hamas control of speakers, but even graciously offered to come to Teaneck and explain to the board using small words how the First Amendment works so it can.
FIRE therefore calls on the Teaneck Board of Education to bring its public comment policies in
line with the First Amendment, and to ensure constituents are free to comment at Board
meetings without facing unconstitutional censorship. FIRE would be pleased to work with the
Board to ensure its policies and practices meet these criteria.
Okay, they never promised to only use “small words.” That was my editorial contribution. So sue me. Keith, being perpetually diligent, wanted to be sure that the FIRE letter reached school board vice president Victoria Fisher, so he texted her.
Neither the Teaneck Board of Education nor their attorneys at the Weiner Law Group have responded to FIRE’s letter, but leading indicators suggest that this may not go as smoothly as hoped.
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Where’s the “after” pic?
Victoria Fisher is a bully. I have had police sent to my house under false pretences to try and silence me. She even complained that I was allowed to speak and berate her and wanted microphones turned off if the board didn’t like what a parent had to say. I’ve also had to remind them that in a public meeting parents do not need to be nice.
This board hates being criticized.
Keith and FIRE’s actions here brought a smile to my grumpy ass this morning.
Well done, everyone!
Your grumpy ass combined with your grump ass editor make for people reading and learning a whole lot.
God bless the Fault Lines crew and the malcontents you provided for all these years.
We may not be lawyers, but I’ve seen what passes for lawyers these days, and frankly… I’d prefer to remain on the educated side of the ledger.
Carry on.
It’s an interesting phenomenon. Once kids started chanting rhymes, the rapes and beheadings were edited out of political speeches and public discourse. Now, as with the recent Berniations on the floor of the U.S. Senate, the most we can hope for is a condemnation of the murders and abductions.
We are left to wonder why the politicians seemingly feel compelled to sanitize the Hamas atrocities. Do they believe the rapes and beheadings were fabricated? Do they personally find the rapes and beheadings acceptable? I think these are questions they should expect to be asked. If not in public meetings, then perhaps in a recall campaign.
The “woke” see the world through a lens of Marxist Conflict Theory in which one side is the oppressed and thus intrinsically good while the other is the oppressor and thus intrinsically evil. All actions are dependent on the identity group of the actors hence the bizarre proclamations on October 8 that rape was OK if committed by the “good people against the “bad people” which got plenty of clout in the echo chamber and a lot of strong words, rescinded job offers and unfavorable poll numbers This has led to lot of weasel words and false equivalence to minimize Hamas’ evil.
Some people take themselves too seriously, and here that includes everybody.
In this case, I rather side with the Superintendent. He has a meeting to run, presumably with an agenda, and the the villainy of Hamas, however awful, isn’t on it. I don’t see anything in the First Admendment that says every topic is always in order whenever and whereever there is an open mic.
I, for one, welcome comments from people with extreme reading comprehension challenges.
If no one else is going to ask, I will. How does Fisher know that Keith’s nickname around here is pencil dick?
Sorry Keith.
Quite alright… it was the risk I ran when posting to the net.
Remember kiddos, the internet is forever*
* or as long as our host pays.
“leading indicators suggest that this may not go as smoothly as hoped.”
Some things are better – on multiple levels – not going smoothly.
Fisher has a long and sordid history of being a racist loser.