MCPS Employee Files EEOC Discrimination Complaint for Being Placed on Leave for Her Palestinian Email Sig

[Anonymous]

SOURCE: https://wjla.com/news/crisis-in-the-classrooms/mcps-montgomery-county-public-schools-employee-educator-on-leave-discrimination-complaint-hajur-el-haggan-palestine-israel-gaza-conflict-jewish#

A Montgomery County Public Schools employee on administrative leave is speaking out about the discrimination complaint she filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Maryland Commission on Human Rights.

The 13-page complaint alleges that Hajur El-Haggan was discriminated against as a Muslim and Arab-American woman.

El-Haggan was placed on administrative leave from Argyle Middle School in November amid an investigation into her work email correspondence. El-Haggan said she was told her email signature, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” was not allowed. She said she offered to remove the signature but was still told she had to go on leave.

“It’s been difficult,” she said. “I miss my students every single day.”

A district spokesperson pointed to a policy prohibiting any quotations or sayings in email signatures. Only the school’s motto or vision statement is allowed per the policy.

Honestly, if the sin she committed was violating the district policy on signatures, than she is absolutely right that she's being discriminated against since other MCPS employees modified their signatures for BLM and LGBTQ allyship without consequence.

This is one of the big problems with MCPS. There is no consistency in the system. Rules are enforced or overlooked school by school and then when MCPS is called out for this inconsistency, they act like they have no idea why it's happening and they need to investigate the matter. Then one person gets scapegoated for the behavior of many, and MCPS pretends like they've addressed the issue.

I predict El-Haggan is going to get a nice settlement from MCPS for this very foolish decision, which only hurts us since it'll add to the stockpile of lawsuit settlements were already paying for.

Clearly, El-Haggan was punished because McKnight and MCPS was getting SERIOUS heat from the Jewish community for antisemitism and these examples of MCPS teachers being pro-Palestinian in the classroom or on social media turned up on the temperature on the anti-semitism problems, so McKnight directed her underlings to put out the fire.

[Anonymous]

It could be argued that her signature clearly represented a terror threat, unlike many others appended to staff emails. And, with all the antisemitic attacks in the school system, someone probably overreacted. I don't think she needed to be put on leave, maybe just a warning, but maybe there's more to the story.

Having said that I have also given some side-eye to some employees clearly sharing on social media some really nasty antisemitic posts/memes and there is one particular school I will not work or volunteer at for, as one staff member did something very much along those lines. I would not feel safe in her presence if I suddenly revealed that I'm Jewish. (Or if any Jewish student did the same.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be argued that her signature clearly represented a terror threat, unlike many others appended to staff emails. And, with all the antisemitic attacks in the school system, someone probably overreacted. I don't think she needed to be put on leave, maybe just a warning, but maybe there's more to the story.

Having said that I have also given some side-eye to some employees clearly sharing on social media some really nasty antisemitic posts/memes and there is one particular school I will not work or volunteer at for, as one staff member did something very much along those lines. I would not feel safe in her presence if I suddenly revealed that I'm Jewish. (Or if any Jewish student did the same.)

What exactly do you think she would do to you? White women love to pull the old, "I do not feel safe" BS. I've been through a lot in life so it takes a lot for me to feel unsafe. Maybe for a snowflake like you, it takes very little but that should not qualify as the universal standard.

[Anonymous]

JCRC is shameful.

Self appointed Jewish "leaders" think free Palestinians is anti-Semitic. They really believe that their God gave them dominion over the native people of Palestine.

Hard to not see the genocide complaints when they say that freedkm is an attack in their identity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be argued that her signature clearly represented a terror threat, unlike many others appended to staff emails. And, with all the antisemitic attacks in the school system, someone probably overreacted. I don't think she needed to be put on leave, maybe just a warning, but maybe there's more to the story.

Having said that I have also given some side-eye to some employees clearly sharing on social media some really nasty antisemitic posts/memes and there is one particular school I will not work or volunteer at for, as one staff member did something very much along those lines. I would not feel safe in her presence if I suddenly revealed that I'm Jewish. (Or if any Jewish student did the same.)

How safe do you think she feels hearing that you are opposed to her people being free in their own homeland?

To a privileged person, equality is a threat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SOURCE: https://wjla.com/news/crisis-in-the-classrooms/mcps-montgomery-county-public-schools-employee-educator-on-leave-discrimination-complaint-hajur-el-haggan-palestine-israel-gaza-conflict-jewish#

A Montgomery County Public Schools employee on administrative leave is speaking out about the discrimination complaint she filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Maryland Commission on Human Rights.

The 13-page complaint alleges that Hajur El-Haggan was discriminated against as a Muslim and Arab-American woman.

El-Haggan was placed on administrative leave from Argyle Middle School in November amid an investigation into her work email correspondence. El-Haggan said she was told her email signature, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” was not allowed. She said she offered to remove the signature but was still told she had to go on leave.

“It’s been difficult,” she said. “I miss my students every single day.”

A district spokesperson pointed to a policy prohibiting any quotations or sayings in email signatures. Only the school’s motto or vision statement is allowed per the policy.

Honestly, if the sin she committed was violating the district policy on signatures, than she is absolutely right that she's being discriminated against since other MCPS employees modified their signatures for BLM and LGBTQ allyship without consequence.

This is one of the big problems with MCPS. There is no consistency in the system. Rules are enforced or overlooked school by school and then when MCPS is called out for this inconsistency, they act like they have no idea why it's happening and they need to investigate the matter. Then one person gets scapegoated for the behavior of many, and MCPS pretends like they've addressed the issue.

I predict El-Haggan is going to get a nice settlement from MCPS for this very foolish decision, which only hurts us since it'll add to the stockpile of lawsuit settlements were already paying for.

Clearly, El-Haggan was punished because McKnight and MCPS was getting SERIOUS heat from the Jewish community for antisemitism and these examples of MCPS teachers being pro-Palestinian in the classroom or on social media turned up on the temperature on the anti-semitism problems, so McKnight directed her underlings to put out the fire.

If only McKnight got some serious heat about her staff sexually harassing employees, which was an actual threat to safety.

[Anonymous]

She violated MCPS policy, and my guess is there’s a lot more to it than just the email signature.

[Anonymous]

Putting a treacher on leave for this is so stupid. Who benefits? The students losing teaching? The substitute teacher getting $100 for a day? Dock her pay or fire her if it's a policy violation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It could be argued that her signature clearly represented a terror threat, unlike many others appended to staff emails. And, with all the antisemitic attacks in the school system, someone probably overreacted. I don't think she needed to be put on leave, maybe just a warning, but maybe there's more to the story.

Having said that I have also given some side-eye to some employees clearly sharing on social media some really nasty antisemitic posts/memes and there is one particular school I will not work or volunteer at for, as one staff member did something very much along those lines. I would not feel safe in her presence if I suddenly revealed that I'm Jewish. (Or if any Jewish student did the same.)

What exactly do you think she would do to you? White women love to pull the old, "I do not feel safe" BS. I've been through a lot in life so it takes a lot for me to feel unsafe. Maybe for a snowflake like you, it takes very little but that should not qualify as the universal standard.

Don't make it a racial thing. "I don't feel safe" is a BS tactic employed by a wide range of people trained by left wing political activism or by police officers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She violated MCPS policy, and my guess is there’s a lot more to it than just the email signature.

This, it is MCPS policy. No staff should have anything in their signature line but their name, title, and contact information. Teachers need to leave their personal lives and politics at home. I am always shocked at how much some teachers share and discuss with students. What my kid tells me (not of it necessarily bad) shouldn't be shared with students. Students are not their friends and they are crossing boundaries which is why kids don't respect teachers anymore (and the most effective teachers we have are traditional non-nonsense teachers that actually teach).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Putting a treacher on leave for this is so stupid. Who benefits? The students losing teaching? The substitute teacher getting $100 for a day? Dock her pay or fire her if it's a policy violation.

You cannot dock pay.

[Anonymous]

I'm interested in how this will play from a legal perspective.

If other people who were not Arab-American did the same thing and were not put on leave, she has a case. But the question is what qualifies as "the same thing." Does putting a political/religious statement in a signature line count? Or would it need to be a signature line ABOUT Palestine?

(I also think it is risky to file this claim because it seems HIGHLY unlikely she was put on leave only for the signature line, particularly if she immediately offered to remove it. More facts/allegations will most likely come out that make it a lot more complicated.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She violated MCPS policy, and my guess is there’s a lot more to it than just the email signature.

This.

There was a long thread about this already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She violated MCPS policy, and my guess is there’s a lot more to it than just the email signature.

FWIW the fact that it is a policy matters very little from an EEO perspective if that policy was selectively enforced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She violated MCPS policy, and my guess is there’s a lot more to it than just the email signature.

FWIW the fact that it is a policy matters very little from an EEO perspective if that policy was selectively enforced.

Correct. A policy that is only enforced against a particular protected class of employees is an EEO violation.