Three teachers at Canoga Park High School violated federal civil rights law and a California statute barring biased instruction, according to findings from the LA Unified School District's Office of Student Civil Rights, which determined the educators created a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students through dance recitals, classroom flyers and lessons used to promote pro-Palestinian political messaging. The district has ordered flyers, posters and videos removed from classrooms by Thursday, October 29.
The investigation substantiated all 11 allegations brought against the Canoga Park staff, according to the New York Post, which first reported the district's findings. The complaint that triggered the probe was filed by the North American Values Institute with Jewish Teachers Los Angeles and Emet Legal, and separate reporting from Jewish Insider confirms that LAUSD substantiated all 11 allegations against the teachers, identified in the district report only as Teacher 1, Teacher 2 and Teacher 3. District investigators found the teachers promoted one-sided political views about Israel and Gaza through required classroom lessons and recruited students for Students for Justice in Palestine, per Jewish Insider's account.
Dance Recitals and a Disputed YouTube Channel
Teacher 1, who worked as the school's dance instructor and adviser to its Students for Justice in Palestine club, taught Palestinian resistance through the music, movements and history of dances and described students involved as taking a stand, according to the Post's reporting. The school's May dance recital reportedly opened with a student introduction about destroyed schools and homes in Gaza that urged support for Palestine and the club, and Teacher 1 assigned students to review the dance team's YouTube recital playlist for a graded final exam — a playlist that included selections framing Gazans as martyrs.
Teacher 1 denied operating the YouTube channel, though the school's principal said she did, according to the Post's account of the findings. Investigators also found that Teacher 1 summoned 49 students from class to attend an SJP meeting in June, kept Free Palestine and genocide-related posters in classroom windows throughout the school year, and offered community-service hours for attending a Gaza fundraising event at her church. The district said it found no evidence that Teacher 1 changed grades or penalized students who disagreed with her views.
Flyers, Keffiyehs and a Library Display
Teacher 3 repeatedly linked Israel with genocide in class and urged students to join SJP, with students recalling classroom comparisons between Gaza and the Holocaust as part of the findings, per the Post. Investigators also found that Teacher 3 filed videos titled Is Israel Guilty of Genocide? and How Did the Nakba Happen? inside a folder labeled Videos – The Armenian Genocide.
Teacher 2 kept three flyers in the classroom, one declaring “Israel kills! USA pays!!” and another blaming orphaned Palestinian children on what it called Israel's genocide on Gaza; according to the school's principal, Teacher 2 used and reposted those flyers in lessons even after they were taken down. All three teachers wore keffiyehs while teaching and promoting the cause, though the district said its finding rested on the teachers' words and actions, not the keffiyehs alone. A principal-approved library display portrayed Palestinians solely as victims and Israel solely as the aggressor, which the North American Values Institute described as a mini-Gaza exhibit featuring vehicles bearing the Star of David beside dead children, the Post reported.
Separately, emails obtained through a Public Records Act request and examined by a records-tracking newsletter indicate that at least six Canoga Park teachers were involved with the Students for Justice in Palestine club, writing its constitution, setting meeting agendas, organizing activities and drafting speeches and communications for students. Those identified in the emails include Laura Pinho, Gabriel Studt, Tanya Selig, Michael Console, Nicholas Flores and Karen Kungie-Torres. In emails reviewed by JNS, English teacher Nicholas Flores wrote that “there are no multiple perspectives in a genocide,” referring to what he called the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
Where District Investigators Drew the Line
District investigators said criticism of Israel and support for Palestine alone do not establish Title VI discrimination; what crossed the line, they found, was teachers repeatedly using their authority, class time and school programs to push the same message, according to the Post's reporting. The district report said lessons on genocide and current events remain permissible if they meet state standards and avoid employee political advocacy. LAUSD told JNS that it expects employees to maintain neutrality on sensitive and political topics in educational settings, and that its curriculum is based on district policy, state standards and developmentally appropriate content.
An LAUSD spokesperson said the district investigates complaints through uniform complaint procedures and issues findings and corrective actions under applicable law and regulations, but declined to elaborate further on the investigation or say whether the teachers remain in the classroom, citing confidentiality laws that prevent sharing additional information when matters involve student or personnel records.
Corrective Measures and Looming Deadlines
The district has set a cascade of deadlines tied to the findings. Beyond the Thursday deadline to remove flyers, posters and videos, SJP advisers must be limited to non-participatory supervision and the dance team's YouTube channel must be placed under administrative oversight by November 18. All faculty and administrators must receive Title VI and antisemitism-prevention training by December 18, after which the three teachers will be observed, per the findings detailed by the Post.
Amy Leserman, chair of Jewish Teachers Los Angeles, said her group's public records request helped break the case open. Ben Austin, NAVI's California director and a former California State Board of Education member, praised the district's investigation as thorough but warned that the incident was not isolated, and said LAUSD and other California districts must codify the findings into formal policy. David Bernstein, NAVI's founder and CEO and also a former State Board of Education member, said the determination establishes a national precedent for holding public educators accountable when political activism replaces objective instruction.
Part of a Broader Reckoning in California Schools
The case lands amid a wider legislative push in California following a surge in antisemitic incidents after the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel and the ensuing violence in Gaza. A new state law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom created an Office of Civil Rights within the California Department of Education, including an antisemitism coordinator, according to CalMatters. That office is tasked with educating school districts about bias and investigating discrimination complaints, and for districts found to persistently violate anti-discrimination laws, the state may cut funding for textbooks or other discriminatory materials, per the same report.
Separately, a lawsuit covered by the Daily News alleges that at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, a Jewish honors student was forced to sit through a teacher's celebration of the October 7, 2023 attacks, while at Kester Elementary School a third-grade student was allegedly barred from a talent show over an Israeli-flag poster. Those claims remain allegations and have not been ruled on by a court.
