Seattle Public Schools staff accuse Israel of “colonialism,” “ethnic cleansing,” “occupation,” and “genocide” in emails; one employee had crowdfunding campaign to transition to another gender

Defending Education submitted a public records request to Seattle Public Schools in October 2023 seeking any emails discussing the terrorist attack Hamas committed against Israel for the two weeks after it happened. The school district is still providing Defending Education with additional emails for the request. Defending Education previously reported on documents received from this same request in 2024.

In an email dated October 18, 2023, a teacher accused Israel of “colonialism,” “ethnic cleansing,” “occupation,” and “genocide.” He stated in this email:

This is an apartheid regime based on dispelling and eradicating the Palestinians who are resisting settler colonial encroachment. You can’t say you value Indigenous Peoples Day and our resistance to settler colonialism while staying silent about the massacre of Palestinians that have been taking place for the last 80 years.

In the long email, the teacher promoted a boycott of Israel and cited the “Boycott, Divest, and Sanction” movement. He then stated the controversial phrase: “From the Land to the Sea Palestine will be Free.” This is a phrase associated with the elimination of Israel as a country.

In an email dated October 17, 2023, another teacher promoted a resolution calling for Israel to agree to a ceasefire. She stated:

I am writing to share that I would like you to add your name to the Ceasefire NOW resolution introduced by Cori Bush, et al calling for an immediate ceasefire by Israel and the opportunity for humanitarian assistance to be allowed into Gaza.

She then appeared to accuse Israel of committing “war crimes.”

In an email dated October 10, 2023, a first-grade teacher claimed that “colonialism” created Israel. She stated:

Without going into detail of who was there first etc., the Jewish people were placed in the middle east because the UK, US and other western country did NOT want to take them in and so ‘agreed’ to let them be in that space without concern for the people already there. This is a problem caused by colonialism and selfishness by larger nations not caused by the Jewish or Palestinian people.

In an email without a date, one employee stated:

did you know hamas was created and funded by israel and it was during this period that Hamas was loudly anti-semitic (they’ve since moved HARD away from that)? Their plan was to pay off the islamic fundamentalists to drive a wedge between the religious and secular palestinian liberation movement and it worked for a time.

(Typos are included as originally shown in the email.)

This employee’s job title is “Senior System Engineer” at Seattle Public Schools according to LinkedIn. This employee is apparently transgender with a crowdsourcing campaign publicly available to fund his “gender affirming surgery.” The campaign raised only $435 out of a $10,000 goal. The employee states on the campaign:

I am a 30 year old transgender woman & socialist activist. I’ve been transitioning for 3 years now. I went through an orchiectomy already and know this is right for me, I’ve never felt so much like myself and am really looking forward to making the rest of my outside match what I am inside.

The fundraiser is dated as from about three years ago.

In another email dated October 10, 2025, an employee now listed as the district’s “Social Studies Program Manager” explained that her team “created a document for 6-12 ELA and Social Studies teachers and presented to school leaders” called “Teaching Racially Sensitive History.” She said this should be the district’s “go-to for grades 6-12, as it can support may current and past historical issues that can emerge.” The document was attached with the email.

The document started by stating: “The Guidance for Teachers Using Racially Sensitive Texts provides instructional supports, strategies and tools for social studies teachers to support the intentional design of inclusive, safe, racially and socially just, classroom environments.” This document tells teachers to “consider your own identity,” “know students’ identities and histories,” “seek histories of marginalized peoples,” “prepare to teach hard history,” and “interrogate institutional and structural systems.”

When discussing student identities, the document states to “provide opportunities to learn about the ways they identify through language, culture, tradition, sexual orientation, and experiences.” The document additionally encourages educators to teach about “history centering on race, racism, privilege, and oppression.”