Islamophobia Concern after CPS Library Bulletin Board Display
Chicago Board of Education June 26, 2025
The debate over Islamophobia v Antisemitism has hit the Chicago Public Schools.
Several speakers from CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S., spoke out against Islamophobia in CPS at the June 26, 2025 Chicago Board meeting.
Maggie Slavin, a CAIR member and former CPS teacher, told Board Trustees that there was discrimination against Palestinian freedom of expression in CPS after a library worker at Peirce Elementary on the Northside displayed an Arab American bulletin board that included facts and demographics about Arab Americans. She said the library worker put up information about Gaza and the genocide happening there, showing the students there are no more libraries left in Gaza, but within days the principal received hundreds of emails from community members, many who do not have a connection to CPS, complaining that they were offended by the word genocide. She said each month the library will display a different demographic group and received zero complaints.
“The complaint here is the library worker and the principal had to field the complaints on their own,” Slavin said.
She said the school did not have any support from CPS because there was no clear directive on how to solve this issue. CPS should give the attention and accountability that it deserves.
“We expect more so that our Muslim students can be supported in their schools,” Slavin said.
He said the bulletin board included facts about scholasticide and genocide, because the Israel war has left no libraries or universities in Gaza. He noted too that CPS does not have any policy guidelines to follow on bulletin boards.
Jordan Esparza-Kelley, communications coordinator at CAIR Chicago, told the Trustees he wanted to speak against the discrimination and dehumanization at Peirce Elementary School via the backlash about the bulletin board to display info for children. He said the bulletin board included facts about scholasticide and genocide, because the Israel war has left no libraries or universities in Gaza. He noted too that CPS does not have any policy guidelines to follow on bulletin boards.
He said the Peirce attack campaign garnered far more letters than there are parents at the school, meaning the letters were mostly written by people living in the surrounding community with little to no connection to the school.
“We're asking CPS to create a policy to stop these events from happening,” Esparza said.
Another speaker who was an award winning writer who attended Stevenson Elementary School also talked about the bulletin board controversy and said Palestinians have been dehumanized. “CPS allowed an outside organization to harass us just to erase Palestinian culture,” she said.
I believe there is no place for Islamophobia and no place for antisemitism
CPS Board member Ellen Rosenfeld, who represents the 4th district, responded at the end of the public participation period to the bulletin board controversy.
“I believe there is no place for Islamophobia and no place for antisemitism,” she said. “I’m the only elected Jew. Unfortunately Jewish students are under attack and being murdered on our streets. No form of hate is justified.”
She said the words like scholasticide and genocide do not belong on a bulletin board outside a library. These words do not highlight the achievements of leaders such as poets or authors, they are just hateful words.
“I’m happy to share images,” Rosenfeld said. “Students felt scared, teachers felt unsafe. I will do everything to make sure every child in Chicago Public Schools feels safe.”
Ellen Rosenfeld is married to the powerful lobbyist and former 47th Ward Committeeman Paul Rosenfeld. The CTU supported a candidate against Feldman in the school board election, even though her husband has worked with the CTU to elect democrats.
CPS Board Trustee Debby Pope, a former CPS high school teacher and Chicago Teachers Union employee, said she is a Jewish woman who lives in the Peirce School district and the issue over Gaza is not a simple matter. (It should be noted that Debby Pope was appointed by the Mayor while Ellen Rosenfeld was elected, so Rosenfeld was correct to say she was the only ‘elected’ Jewish member.)
“We are not going to solve those problems, but we must educate students with the tools when they see hatred is spewing,” Pope said. “We (need) to acknowledge that 60,000 people have been murdered in Gaza since October 7th. I condemn Hamas, but I condemn the genocide I see going on in Gaza. I think our children need to be educated about this. We cannot keep these things from our children. I do not think those are words that should be banned from our classrooms. I think those are words that have to be explored.”
Pope said she did a genocide project with her students at Gage Park High School that explored genocide in a variety of places all over the world.
“I deplore Islamophobia,” she said. “I think we all have to unite to protect our children.”