A public school teacher in Texas is facing disciplinary action for passing out pamphlets blasting Islam and instructing students how to survive an encounter with terrorists.
KHOU news reported this week that a teacher at Foster High School in Richmond, Texas, recently gave students an 8-page handout entitled “Islam/Radical Islam (Did You Know)” which framed Islam as a religion founded on an “ideology of war” and led by a “false prophet.” The document, which did not cite any sources, claimed to reveal a secret agenda latent within Islam and included detailed sections on beheadings, jihad, and “what to do” if “taken hostage by radical Islamists.”
“You will either give into their demands recognizing Islam’s ‘noble’ rule, you will become a Muslim yourself, or you will die,” the flier read.
According to KHOU news, a Muslim student in the class showed the pamphlet to their parents, who reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR then contacted the school with a complaint.
“Only a strong response to this attempt at student indoctrination will send a message that our schools must never be incubators of hate,” CAIR-Houston Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll told New York Daily News.
School officials responded quickly to backlash over the episode, ensuring reporters the teacher will face “appropriate disciplinary measures.” In addition, a spokesman for Lamar Consolidated Independent School District released a statement condemning the instructor’s actions.
“We’re disappointed to learn one teacher made independent changes to a lesson plan, resulting in information being given that didn’t follow subject matter, or state and local curriculum plans,” the statement read. “As soon as this issue was brought to our attention, the administration addressed the situation with the teacher. Ensuring our students have access to factual information, given in the proper context, is a priority in our District. Arbitrary curriculum decisions, which are clearly outside of the guidelines, won’t be tolerated.”
It was not immediately clear what kind of class the instructor oversaw, but the report joins a growing list of anti-Islamic incidents enacted at American schools. In October 2014, CAIR lodged a complaint with Parkdale High School in Riverdale, Maryland after reports emerged of an English teacher who allegedly told a classroom, “Muslims are dangerous. They are terrorists and they will kill you,” and dismissed Muslims students by saying “You guys did 9/11.” A North Carolina branch of CAIR also called for disciplinary action in 2007, alleging that a guest speaker handed out pamphlets to a local ninth-grade social sciences class labeling Muhammad a “criminal,” “Demon Possessed,” and “Inspired by Satan.” Similarly, a high school in New York state caused an uproar last month simply for allowing a student to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic.