NJ high school apologizes for Ramadan note accusing Israel of genocide

A New Jersey school district was forced to apologize this week after a staffer shared a flyer about Ramadan that accused Israel of “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The infographic on Ramadan – the month-long season of fasting, prayer and reflection in Islam that started on Sunday – was sent out on Monday by the assistant principal at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NBC 4 reported.

“When we speak about celebrating Ramadan within the US context, it is imperative to contextualize that the US is a co-conspirator with Israel, preventing Muslim Palestinians from partaking in Ramadan as the Israeli Zionist occupation enacts a genocide against them,” the third paragraph of the flyer read, according to the copy shared on X by Jewish Insider editor Melissa Weiss.

The final paragraph was seemingly a response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent, controversial ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The statement was shared widely in the community, prompting the South Orange-Maplewood School District’s acting superintendent, Dr. Kevin Gilbert, to issue a statement refuting its content just a few hours later, NBC4 said.

“The document was not reviewed or approved by any district office or personnel, and while the intention of sharing the document was to provide a resource, serious content was overlooked,” Gilbert wrote in the letter, which was also shared by Weiss.

Gilbert added that he was “disappointed, angered and saddened” by the incident, particularly the use of language that “particularly now, is deeply problematic and inappropriate for our schools.”

“The language in the document does not reflect what we believe creates a community that values inclusivity and belonging,” he insisted.

The district is now working on an additional resources for Ramadan, Gilbert said.

Gilbert did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Columbia High School has four assistant principals, according to its website. It was not immediately clear which of them sent the Ramadan notice.

The Ramadan letter gaffe was merely the latest in a string of high-profile controversies for the district, which serves over 7,000 students in 11 schools across the two suburbs.

Also on Monday, Columbia High School principal Frank Sanchez surrendered to authorities on charges of assault and endangering the welfare of a child, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to The Post.

The charges were supposedly tied to an incident that took place on March 9, 2023, in which the victim was a black female student, the Black Parents Workshop wrote in a Facebook statement.

Gilbert told NJ.com that he was “deeply saddened” by Sanchez’s arrest.