The Montgomery County Board of Education is being sued by three teachers who claim their First Amendment rights were violated after they were suspended for what the lawsuit claimed was “supporting basic Palestinian human rights.”
Named in the lawsuit that was filed by the Maryland chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations are teachers Hajur El-Haggan, Anike Robinson and Angela Wolf. All remain on suspension from their respective schools.
Robinson and Wolf are on suspension due to posts that the school system deemed antisemitic. El-Haggan was suspended for a pro-Palestinian statement she used on her email signature.
“The First Amendment clearly forbids the viewpoint discrimination that caused these suspensions,” said CAIR staff attorney Zanah Ghalawanji during a press conference in Baltimore on Wednesday.
Robinson is a teacher at Westland Middle School, and Wolf is a teacher at Takoma Park Middle School. El-Haggan teaches at Argyle Middle School. WTOP has not seen the social media posts at the center of suspensions.
WTOP reached out to the Montgomery County Public Schools system for comment. The school system has told WTOP in the past that it had launched investigations into the three teachers.
“I’m asking that Montgomery County Board of Education reinstate my position and our positions as educators and allow us to continue advocating on the behalf of all marginalized communities, including the Palestinians,” Robinson said.
The lawsuit also took issue with letters sent to the school communities after the three teachers were placed on suspension.
“Any allegations against me are false. I deserve to have my name cleared, and my position with MCPS reinstated,” Wolf said.
El-Haggan, who was taken out of the classroom, claimed it was a staff-facing email signature line that read “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” that led to her suspension.
“I was silenced. Deemed guilty until proven innocent. Judge and jury in one fell swoop without a trial, without evidence, without even knowing who was my accuser,” El-Haggan said.
Pro-Palestinian activists claim the phrase “from the river to the sea” is a call for “peace and equality.” But, for many Jews, it is believed the slogan, which has been adopted by Hamas, calls for the dismantling of the Jewish state.
The teachers are calling on a federal judge to not only reinstate their jobs, but also rule that the school system violated their First Amendment rights and award them monetary damages.
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