Students walk out, demand action on Gaza from Portland Public Schools

More than 300 students walked out of Portland Public Schools Friday afternoon and made their way across the city to the district’s administrative headquarters.

Their goal? Urge Oregon’s largest school district to do what it can about the mass killings happening overseas in Gaza and the impact it’s having on local families.

Though decades of history contributed to current events, the ongoing war started after Hamas, the militant group that governs parts of the Palestinian territory, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The assault killed more than 1,200 Israelis and led to about 240 people being taken hostage, as reported by NPR.

Since then, Israel’s military operations have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced about 2 million people in Gaza. Residents are facing evacuation orders and catastrophic levels of hunger from severe restrictions to aid.

Friday’s protest in Portland was the latest in a string of actions by area students, educators and community activists who are pushing for more attention on Gaza at the local level. The event was supported by Oregon Educators for Palestine, Mothers* For a Ceasefire in Gaza, the Democratic Socialists of America Portland chapter, and the Jewish Voice for Peace Portland chapter.

Students marched from their classrooms to the Dr. Matthew Prophet Center in North Portland carrying flags, cardboard signs and large banners. Signs had messages such as: “Killing children is not self-defense,” “This didn’t start on Oct. 7th. It started in 1967,” and “Educate. Speak out. Cut ties. Protect Palestine.”

During the gathering, students spoke over a megaphone, taking turns to share the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. One student who identifies as Jewish spoke about the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Others voiced their fear of speaking out before now. The event ended with a traditional Palestinian Dabke circle dance.

Some adults — including school employees — spoke as well, such as Jihad Qutub, a coach and parent who identifies as Palestinian. “Give them the microphone,” he said of the students, “and let them lead us out of this.”

Throughout, students chanted, “Portland to Palestine. Students deserve to thrive.”

Students call for action in Portland schools

The student activists have three core demands, as they outlined in a recent press release: “1. Implement comprehensive education about settler colonialism and Palestine for all grade levels, 2. Release a statement openly condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and 3. Cut all ties with companies complicit in the Israeli occupation.”

Students have also said they want the district to listen to and lift up the voices of Palestinian, Southwest Asian and North African, or SWANA, families and community members. They argue the district could also do more to provide counseling and resources for families affected by Gaza and other ongoing world conflicts, such as the civil war in Sudan.

The PPS Students for Justice in Palestine previously testified at a Portland school board meeting and submitted a letter with the students’ demands. They said they sent the letter to board members and administrative staff on Tuesday but had not received any responses from the district regarding the implementation of the demands when their press release was sent out the same day.

Staff and students aren’t arguing that local action, or a statement from a school district in Oregon, will solve everything. However, activists argue their demands are within the district’s power, and it’s a chance to show students who are impacted by the conflict that they support them.

Lora Morodai, a student at Benson Polytechnic High School, testified to school board members earlier this month. She said her modern world history teacher plays CNN 10 to cover the topics going on around the world, and in October, the teacher did a mini-lesson on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Morodai said it was very brief.

“It didn’t cover the fatality rate, the displacement of millions, the restricted livings of Palestinians, the illegal kidnapping, the idea of soldiers occupying civilian homes just because, or the fact that Palestinians cannot leave or enter the Gaza Strip,” she said.

“Had my teacher taught these things, it would have turned so many heads in my class,” Morodai continued to the school board. “The only thing the lesson taught me was that none of my peers care, because none of them know, and it’s your fault. In order for my peers to care, they have to be educated.”

Morodai questioned how many Palestinian students there are in Portland schools — a number district officials told OPB they did not have — and whether those students were getting the support they needed at this time. More than 44,000 students are enrolled in PPS, representing a range of racial backgrounds and dozens of different languages spoken at home.

Other students who testified to the board and participated in Friday’s rally have also accused the district of remaining quiet on the issue in its public communications compared to other tragedies. PPS sent a letter about the Ukraine war and one after Israel was attacked in early October.

Students also claimed the district has gone so far as to censor teachers and students who’ve tried to talk about Gaza, such as by tearing down ceasefire posters hung up in schools.

Morodai said her algorithms on Instagram and TikTok are filled with Palestine-related information. She’ll spend hours searching for more and wondering “why a place that is supposed to be teaching me this is failing me; why it’s failing so many students like me.”

Where do teachers, district leaders stand?

Before Friday’s protest, local activists held banners and recited chants about Palestine at recent school board meetings. One student said there have been more than 5,900 letters sent to the school board started by a group called PPS Workers for Palestine.

Board members listened to students during the meeting earlier this month, but no action was taken — at the time or since. Board chair Gary Hollands and vice-chair Herman Greene have not responded to emails from OPB.

Responding to claims of censorship, Valerie Feder, director of media relations for PPS, said the district is dedicated to teaching and learning, which includes the discussion of complex and difficult topics through a “carefully developed instructional framework.”

“Personal or political viewpoints on any topic, while very important to our educators as individual members of our community, are not the basis for the curriculum our educators use in our classrooms and buildings,” she said.

The executive board of the Portland Association of Teachers signed a ceasefire statement by U.S. Labor Against Racism and War back in November and recently posted a statement on Instagram, saying the union will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia or any forms of hate.

The union has received some pushback — including from some Jewish teachers and commenters on social media — over the past few months for either being too pro-Palestine or not strong enough in its statements on the conflict.

Regarding Friday’s walkout, Jon Franco, chief of schools for PPS, sent a letter to middle and high school families Thursday, detailing what they could expect and what students needed to do if they were going to be absent from class.

“The conflict challenges us adults to exercise compassion and critical thought, and the collaborative problem-solving we want our children to learn,” he wrote. “As they advocate, we hope you will encourage them to act in line with our policies and state laws, to be respectful of other members of our community, and to maximize this event’s potential as a learning experience.”

Part of a bigger conversation

Student activists have been key voices in global social movements throughout history. And local students have a history of it, too, having rallied against sexual assault and gun violence and in favor of racial justice and climate awareness.

Portland is also not isolated when it comes to Gaza. Young people around the world are taking action, such as a small group of students from the University of South Florida who are planning an upcoming hunger strike.

Oregon leaders have been a part of the conversation too. In the fall, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley became the first member of Oregon’s congressional delegation to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, joining, at the time, one other senator and at least 43 members of the U.S. House.

And more recently, Multnomah County commissioners unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

But Portland students are drawing a connection to the conflict and how it’s handled in the classroom.

Another Benson high schooler, Zahra Faruqui, argues lessons on genocide aren’t just about basic humanity — the district has an obligation to teach about it under Oregon law.

Senate Bill 664, originally passed in 2019, requires school districts to provide students with instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides.

“Genocide scholars have already come to the conclusion that what we’re witnessing is exactly what this bill is referencing — genocide,” Faruqui testified to school board members.

Some genocide scholars have been torn on this subject, but other leaders in the international community have stated their stance more clearly. This includes South Africa filing a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza.

“A school district’s job is not only to educate but to prepare us to make a change in the world,” Faruqui said. “We’re watching history unfold right before our eyes, and you are too afraid to let us see it, too afraid to let us change it.”

Faruqui challenged the board members to think about how they will look back on this moment.

“In 10, 15, 100 years — when we realize that we’re wrong, decades too late, just like history always has — what will we say?” she asked.

“Will you say that there wasn’t anything you could have done, that it was simply out of your hands? Or do you admit that your neutrality was compliance, that you have purposely sided with violence because peace was too controversial to you?”

Tiffany Camhi contributed to this report.