Speakers at Henrico School Board meeting debate Deep Run High School teacher’s comments about Israel-Hamas war

An abnormally large crowd assembled at the Henrico School Board meeting Feb. 22, after Henrico Schools removed a Deep Run High School teacher from her classroom.

Social studies teacher Catherine Massalha was recorded by one of her students in her ninth grade world history class making comments in December on the conflict in Gaza, stating that Israel committed war crimes against Palestinians and calling Hamas a group of “resistance fighters.” The student’s father sent the 12-minute recording of Massalha’s remarks to the conservative-leaning Defense of Freedom Institute and spoke to the Washington Examiner, which published audio of the recording on Jan. 31.

In the recording, Massalha, who said she has family in Palestine, also said that the United States is funding a genocide in Gaza and encouraged students in her class to send letters to their representatives and sign petitions advocating for a ceasefire.

“This is a holocaust. It’s happening to Gazan people,” Massalha said to her students. “And you need to think about what are you going to do because your government is doing the wrong stuff. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to stand by and say, ‘It’s not my problem?’”

The student’s father told the Washington Examiner that he did not take the recording to Deep Run principal Brian Fellows or the school board because he thought they would “bury it,” according to the article.

The school division launched an investigation into the incident in February and released a statement on Feb. 21 saying that after concluding its investigation, the division decided to remove Massalha from Deep Run but continue her employment within the school system. The statement also said that Massalha’s comments “contradicted guidance provided to all high school history departments earlier this school year” and that the division “does not condone the manner in which her comments were delivered.”

However, several HCPS parents and community members at the Feb. 22 school board meeting urged the school division to go further, asking the school board to remove Massalha from the entire school division and not just Deep Run.

“HCPS has yet to acknowledge how dangerous this behavior is,” Tiffany Sweetser, a Deep Run parent, said at the meeting’s public forum. “While I am happy that she is not returning to Deep Run, this is not enough. If you allow Catherine Massalha to enter another classroom or remain anywhere in this HCPS system, you are putting other students at risk of the same indoctrination.”

Other HCPS students and parents defended Massalha’s speech, saying that she was simply doing her job as a high school social studies teacher by encouraging students to embrace a different perspective.

“Are we teaching our children to shy away from conversations about difficult or complicated topics?” Sara Jamal, an HCPS parent, said. “How is HCPS creating a school culture that fosters a sense of belonging for our marginalized Muslim students, avoiding the tendency to ‘other’ them and their lived experiences?”

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At the school board meeting, several parents and community members said that Massalha had violated HCPS’ “Controversial Subjects” policy, which instructs teachers to “exert their most conscientious efforts to present facts objectively and impartially,” and the “Political Activity” policy, which states that teachers must not use their position to “further a political cause.”

Keeping Massalha in Henrico Schools will only encourage other teachers to break division rules and policies, said Rachael Kulak, a parent of a Deep Run graduate.

“To keep this Hamas-sympathizer in a job with the county schools, it sends a message to others that flouting policies will simply get you a different job position,” Kulak said. “What is to put off anyone else from breaking policies?”

Massalha’s “anti-American” and “pro-Hamas” comments were full of inaccuracies, said Henrico resident and Marine Corps veteran Phil Bonnie, and represented those of an “activist with an agenda” rather than a teacher.

“She failed as a teacher, and as a shaper of young minds and as a human being,” Bonnie said. “Holding students hostage while a teacher spouts for 12 minutes anti-Israel and anti-American Hamas talking points is something I never thought I would witness.”

Sweetser, whose child was a student of Massalha’s last school year, also said that Massalha’s December speech was not an “isolated incident.”

“She regularly took time away from teaching world history to share her personal beliefs with the class,” Sweetser said. “These were not discussions or debates where differing views were encouraged and shared, these were speeches where she, the person in a position of authority, lectured the students.”

Community members were also upset that HCPS did not specifically condemn the content of Massalha’s remarks.

“The communication said that the school division ‘does not condone the manner in which her comments were delivered’ – why is there no clear condemnation of her actions, the deliberate manipulation of those she has been entrusted with, and the lies that were spread?” Henrico resident Martha Cohen said.

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School board members did not respond to any of the comments, but at one point during the meeting, school board chair Alicia Atkins threatened to end the public comment period after an argument ensued between audience members.

“I may call a recess or you may be asked to leave,” Atkins said. “It is important that everyone is heard. I’m not asking you to like it, love it, but I’m asking for you to be respectful.”

Several community members spoke out in defense of Massalha’s comments, asking the school board to reconsider her removal from Deep Run.

Charles Turner, a representative of the Virginia Muslim Civil League, said the parents and community members were “concerned for the well-being of Muslim students” in HCPS after Massalha was removed for speaking out about “the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine.”

“Ms. Massalha spoke from a place of profound grief when she addressed her class about the unprecedented violence occurring in Palestine, and because of that, she was permanently removed from her classroom and from her students,” Turner said.

Deep Run senior Athena Savoji said that a petition she created earlier in February on Massalha’s behalf, urging HCPS to allow Massalha to remain in her classroom, gained more than 1,000 signatures within four days.

Savoji also said that when HCPS launched their investigation into Massalha, she and other Muslim students – at Deep Run and at other Henrico schools – faced negative comments and harsh reactions from their school communities.

“I have been threatened and pushed around in hallways,” she said. “While Ms. Massalha’s investigation is more closely related to a certain school within the county, the news of her situation seemed to act as a trigger to release bottled-up hate and create a barrier throughout our county, destroying our sense of community.”

Massalha was the faculty sponsor of Deep Run’s Muslim Student Association and had opened up her classroom for Muslim students to be able to pray during school hours, according to Turner. Her removal and HCPS’ initial investigation has caused Muslim students to face discrimination, he said.

“Muslims students have reported harassment since the very beginning of this process – things that many parents here tonight wish their children didn’t have to experience…being associated with terrorism, being accused of not caring for innocent lives, being called anti-American,” Turner said.

Many Muslim students are now afraid to express themselves and their opinions at school, Savoji said.

“Regrettably, many students have a sense of disconnection from their faculty, scared that the words may expose them to similar investigations or hostility from others,” she said. “Thus, it is an obligation of school administrators to create an environment where discrimination is condemned and students are assured of the availability of support during hard times.”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.