West Cook News

Efforts to get a handle on rising antisemitism at Oak Park-River Forest High School (OPRF) have fallen short, parents and community members expressed in a pointed letter to administrators on Monday.

"You haven’t listened effectively, and you haven’t learned effectively," was directed at District 200 School Board president Tom Cofsky and superintendent Dr. Greg Johnson in response to an action plan administrators adopted for dealing with antisemitism.

Their message for going forward was straightforward: "When there is antisemitism, publicly denounce it to students, staff, faculty, and the community. Hold those who espouse antisemitism accountable."

Concerns were raised by more than 100 parents and community members who in June signed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Attorney General seeking investigation and accountability for three teachers who have made antisemitic statements stemming from the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.

They named teachers Anthony Clark, Daniel Cohen and Wafaa Alwawi as "unprofessional" and accused them of failing to "demonstrate the good character required of teachers."

Clark and Alwawi are advisers to the school's Middle Eastern and North Africa (MENA) Club, which the original complaint says "endorsed" the Hamas attack. The club also allegedly sells "Decolonize Palestine" t-shirts with a depiction of a bulldozer going through a fence.  

On Aug. 13, two days before students returned to class, superintendent Johnson addressed the community stating that the Israel-Hamas war had escalated tensions of an "increasingly polarizing environment," and that the school community was faced with "concerns that Islamaphobia, anti-Arab racism and antisemitism" were impacting the school environment.

He listed four steps OPRF had taken in the last year and five that are being undertaken this year in "Our Commitment to an Inclusive Environment."

In their Sept. 9 rebuttal letter, parents challenged the effectiveness of OPRF's plans in all nine categories, including this year's effort at "establishing detailed guidelines for extracurricular student clubs and activities."

"...the MENA club is still selling, and teachers, including Mr. Cohen and Ms. Alwawi, and students are still wearing merchandise that depicts the elimination of the State of Israel," parents and community members state in their letter. "This did not just occur last school year but it has happened on multiple occasions this school year, including in the main lobby during the first day freshmen arrived to school and during the Student Activities Fair."

The letter also states the MENA club posts "wild inaccuracies and omissions" regarding an historical Jewish timeline, in violation of school policy.

"If you - finally - ordered the removal of a MENA post that glorified the terrorist acts of October 7, why is this timeline still posted?" they ask.

"Is it appropriate to retain teachers who publicly support acts of terrorism, justify the murders of 1,200 and the brutal rapes of women and girls on October 7, and inculcate into students false facts and omissions?"

The parents and community members recommend the following for extracurricular club protocols:

- Order the immediate cessation of the wear of apparel that eliminates the State of Israel.

- Remove immediately Daniel Cohen and Wafaa Alwawi as advisors to MENA.

- Remove immediately all posts from MENA’s Instagram page that violates Board policies.

- Advise MENA to constrain itself to its stated purpose of “sharing and educating the OPRF student body on Middle Eastern/North African culture.” 

- Take immediate disciplinary action against teachers who violate the school’s social media policy. Just asking them to take down offensive posts is far from sufficient.