Rep. Elise Stefanik is demanding Gov. Kathy Hochul present transparency about curriculum and instructing supplies funded by Qatar or “malign home actors” being utilized in New York colleges, together with materials that she believes distorts the historical past of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults.
Stefanik (R-NY), who’s operating in opposition to Hochul (D) in subsequent yr’s election, contended that as a result of the New York Metropolis Division of Schooling (NYC DOE) has refused to launch the curriculum, the governor must step in.
“The [NYC] DOE has refused to supply copies of instructing supplies that twist the narratives of the September 11, 2001, terror assaults and the Hamas-led bloodbath on October 7, 2023, in Israel,” Stefanik wrote within the letter obtained by The Submit.
Stefanik raised considerations about curriculum and different content material funded by Qatar and instructing supplies from “malign home actors” that would give college students a distorted view of 9/11.
The New York rep pointed to $1 million in funding from Qatar Basis Worldwide that went to P.S. 261, an elementary faculty in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and P.S./I.S. 30, a public faculty in Bay Ridge.
Stefanik additionally raised considerations about instructing materials from Bridging Cultures, an schooling contractor led by Dr. Debbie Almontaser, who can be answerable for the Muslim Neighborhood Community (MCN) and has a “lengthy historical past of soft-pedaling violence,” Stefanik claimed. Almontaser will see her affect over New York Metropolis rise underneath Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D), she warned.
Bridging Cultures affords a course on instructing the historical past of 9/11 within the classroom. However Stefanik underscored how MCN has a historical past of vilifying “those that wish to acknowledge radical Islam’s function within the assaults.”
She additionally recalled how MCN petitioned to scrap federal funding for the Nationwide September 11 Memorial & Museum, contending that it conflates “all Islam with particular terroristic ideologies.”
Bridging Cultures held workshops concerning the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist assaults, which she argues “erases Israeli struggling.”
“The NYC DOE partnered with Bridging Cultures to coach lecturers on easy methods to converse to college students about 10/7, the struggle in Gaza, and the anti-Israel protest motion,” Stefanik famous.
Each MCN and Bridging Cultures have obtained at the very least $14.7 million from New York Metropolis since 2014, public information cited by Stefanik present.
Stefanik laid out a listing of questions and requests for Hochul, looking for materials similar to particulars about all contracts between Qatar Basis Worldwide and public colleges all through NYC, copies of present and beforehand used curriculum, and details about why the NYC DOE allowed.
Furthermore, Stefanik demanded Hochul work with the Commissioner of the New York State Division to research why the NYC DOE allowed Qatar to assist fund two of its public colleges, why it companions with Bridging Cultures and MCN, and extra.
She requested that data “as quickly as potential.” However Hochul’s crew brushed apart the request.
“This letter displays Congresswoman Stefanik’s misunderstanding of how New York’s schooling system and mayoral management function,” Hochul’s deputy press secretary Emma Wallner shot again in an announcement to The Submit.
“The Governor has no authority over NYC DOE curriculum, contracts, or FOIL [Freedom of Information Law] responses.”
The Submit additionally reached out to the NYC DOE for remark.
