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Saturday, December 28, 2024

Mellman’s OPRF school board bid challenged over antisemitism allegations

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OPRF Superintendent Greg Johnson | Oak Park - River Forest School District 200

OPRF Superintendent Greg Johnson | Oak Park - River Forest School District 200

D200 Neighbors for a Fair School Board, a newly formed advocacy group, is opposing the candidacy of Nate Mellman for a seat on the Oak Park-River Forest (OPRF) School District 200 Board of Education. 

The group takes issue with Mellman’s platform, as it calls for disciplinary action against teachers accused of antisemitism.

Mellman, a father in the district and administrative judge for the Social Security Administration, has filed for the April 1 election alongside five other candidates vying for four open seats. 

He's running as part of a slate with Josh Gertz, an Oak Park lawyer, against incumbents Fred Arkin and Audrey Williams-Lee, as well as first-time candidates Kathleen Odell and Tania Mattera Haigh. 

Incumbents Mary Anne Mohanraj and Board President Tom Cofsky, who has served for 12 years, are not seeking reelection.

Mellman’s campaign has focused heavily on allegations of antisemitism within the OPRF school system. 

In June 2024, Mellman and 110 other signatories filed a formal complaint with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Attorney General’s Civil Rights Bureau, accusing three teachers—Anthony Clark, Daniel Cohen, and Wafaa Alwawi—of promoting antisemitic views.

His complaint highlights Clark’s controversial social media posts, including a tweet that misidentified a student who posted an image of a swastika as Jewish. 

It also references Clark sharing falsehoods about the Israel-Palestine conflict, including claims that Hamas terrorists did not rape Israeli women during the October 7 attack and that Israelis harvested organs from dead Gazans.

Mellman addressed these issues during public comment at a school board meeting. 

“When a teacher posts that a ‘Jewish student’ airdropped a swastika in an assembly, but it’s clear that it was a non-Jewish student who did it, when a teacher reposts that Jews steal organs from dead Palestinians, and when a teacher reposts that Jews were not raped on October 7th, we, as a community, need to hear from you,” Mellman said, according to the Wednesday Journal. “We need to hear you speak immediately and forcefully denouncing such rancid posts and ensure the community that you’re on it.”

The complaint also alleges that Cohen and Alwawi, as co-sponsors of the MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) club, endorsed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, citing controversial content posted on the club’s Instagram. 

One post featured T-shirt designs tied to “Palestinian solidarity” movements, which Mellman equated with endorsing violence. One design depicted a bulldozer smashing through an Israeli fence, similar to the one used by Hamas terrorists during their incursion into Israel on October 7.

“Prints can be centered around Palestinian solidarity like the attached examples,” the post read.

Mellman’s vocal criticism has sparked debates about the responsibilities of educators. 

“How long would you allow a student club to post on social media the sale of T-shirts celebrating the death of George Floyd?” Mellman asked the school board.

Others have said that Jewish students have faced backlash following the October 7 attack and its aftermath. 

Amy Guralnick, the mother of an OPRF sophomore, addressed the school board after hostile comments were directed at her child by another student. 

“You need to know that your Jewish students at Oak Park and River Forest High School live in a climate of fear,” Guralnick said, according to the Wednesday Journal.

OPRF Superintendent Greg Johnson and the school board have previously declined to comment on the matter, citing personnel issues.

In an early September letter, parents and community members at Oak Park-River Forest High School voiced strong concerns about the school’s handling of rising antisemitism, criticizing Johnson and administrators for ineffective responses and a lack of accountability. 

"Short of a pandemic or school shooting, it’s hard to imagine a greater disruption to a school and adverse impact to a learning and work environment than what these three teachers and [the] club have caused," the letter reads. "The acts of these three teachers and [the] club have been the subject of complaints internally by other teachers, complaints to two state agencies, and countless media articles and 7 broadcasts."

Now, Mellman’s candidacy has been challenged by a group of local residents—D200 Neighbors for a Fair School Board—including Dean Christ, Jim Poznak, and Caren Van Slyke, who filed objections with the Cook County Board of Elections on November 25. 

The group, which includes longtime Jewish community members, argues that Mellman is attempting to redefine antisemitism in ways that could suppress free speech and limit academic freedom at OPRF.

“We believe that Nathan Mellman is unquestionably unqualified to serve on D200’s School Board,” the group wrote in a post on Medium. “Mr. Mellman has fundamental misunderstandings of the role of school boards and has egregious conflicts of interest. We believe that Mr. Mellman’s serious shortcomings fall within the Cook County Board of Elections guidelines and procedures for removing a candidate from the electoral process. And so, after deep reflection, we feel bound to enforce Cook County’s election guidelines by objecting to Mr. Mellman’s candidacy as our civic obligation.”

The group also contends that Mellman’s efforts to remove teachers from the MENA club are misguided. 

“Mr. Mellman has attended at least one meeting of the D200 School Board where he demanded that the Board bar these teachers from serving as MENA’s faculty advisors,” the post reads.

The objectors also point to Mellman’s ongoing legal complaint against OPRF, claiming that if it remains unresolved by the time he assumes office, it could conflict with his duties as a board member. 

“D200 is now expending resources to respond to Mr. Mellman’s Complaint and actions. If Mr. Mellman is elected to the D200 School Board while his Complaint is pending, he would automatically be in breach of these fiduciary duties. We cannot risk this occurring,” the post reads.

Mellman did not respond to requests for comment from West Cook News.

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