Some call for Brooklyn principal's removal after Holocaust survivor speaker controversy

Jewish parents at a Brooklyn Heights middle school are raising concerns about alleged bias after the school's principal decided not to invite a Holocaust survivor to speak to students.

Back in December, Middle School 447 Principal Arin Rusch declined a request to invite Sami Steigmann to speak to students, causing a controversy. In a surprising move, the Department of Education reversed Rusch's decision and invited Steigmann to speak at the school on Thursday, which he accepted.  

Still, some are calling for the principal's removal.

Principal's concerns about politics

In a Nov. 18 email to a parent, Rusch said Steigmann's presentation wasn't right for the school "given his messages around Israel and Palestine." 

In video obtained by CBS News New York from a virtual PTA meeting on Dec. 9, Rusch said she would arrange for students to visit museums that teach about the Holocaust and defended her decision about Steigmann.

"When I reviewed the speaker's website ... I found the slides to be political in nature," she said. "DOE's policy is that students should learn in a politically neutral environment."

A 2021 DOE policy states, in part, "School buildings are not public forums for purposes of community or political expression."

Back on Dec. 4, Steigmann told CBS News New York he had never spoken with Rusch.

"What I tell people that invite me, I said, look, I would like to say A, B, C, OK? Is it against your company's or your school's policy?" he said at the time.

A DOE spokesperson told CBS News New York, in part, "Our top priority is ensuring their students feel safe and get the high-quality education they deserve ...We are not able to comment on the outcomes of investigations of every reported incident. We have handled them and continue to handle them as they arise."

Rusch did not respond to CBS News New York's multiple requests for an interview.

Parents allege pattern of antisemitism

Some parents who spoke to CBS News New York say this is the latest in a pattern of instances of alleged antisemitism.

At the Dec. 9 PTA meeting, parent Ramon Maislen asked how the school is making decisions on political neutrality, citing a seventh grade art assignment from the fall that referenced keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian pride.

In 2024, the group New York United in Fighting Antisemitism asked the mayor to ban keffiyehs, writing, "This symbol is prominently displayed at protests where chants, slogans and signs openly call for the death of Israel and Jews."

"So why is something that is being taught as current events, which is also political, acceptable, but the story of a Holocaust survivor is not acceptable because it's too political?" Maislen told CBS News New York.

He added, "I think at the end of the day, most of the people that are protesting with keffiyehs aren't, you know, hating Jews or anything like that, but certainly there is a minority of people that are actively anti-Jewish, and if you're going to teach kids, just teach them the whole breadth of what's going on."

Maislen said this isn't the first time he has felt like the principal has been "dismissive" of his concerns. He said he previously emailed her about a performance of "Apocalypse Defiance Circus" by the Bread and Puppet Theater that students attended in December 2022.

In one scene, performers say, "U.S. taxpayers currently pay $3.8 billion annually in military aid to Israel ... We are breaking through the dam, but we must keeping pushing until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea."

Maislen shared Rusch's response, which read, in part, "I was able to check in with several teachers who were on the trip ... None of the adults I spoke to found the tone to be anti-Semitic ... They didn't interpret this as criticism towards Jews or Judaism (and I didn't get the sense that the show presented Israel as a Jewish state so much as a country that is well funded by the U.S.)."  

Several other parents who spoke to CBS News New York did not want to reveal their identities for fear of retaliation.

The United Jewish Teachers organization is now calling for the principal's removal, saying in a Dec. 14 email to the district's superintendent that it believes Rusch is not accepting responsibility for what it calls her "bias against Israel."

Members of New York City's Bipartisan Jewish Caucus will be at Steigmann's presentation on Thursday.

CBS News New York's Lisa Rozner called Rusch's office multiple times and emailed her requesting responses to the specific concerns raised by parents and the United Jewish Teachers. Rozner has not heard back.