Tom Horne wants schools to kick two groups off campus. Doing so might be illegal

Arizona schools chief Tom Horne urged schools across the state to kick two student clubs off campus — a potential violation of federal law — because students at a Scottsdale high school presented material he considers antisemitic at a joint meeting last week.

UNICEF and Amnesty International are harmful to “impressionable young people” and their ideas should be kept away from students, the state's superintendent of public instruction said in an email to district superintendents Tuesday.

UNICEF provides humanitarian aid to children worldwide. Amnesty International is a human rights advocacy organization.

“It’s not my purpose to criticize the school but to alert other schools,” Horne said at a news conference Wednesday.

About 80 Desert Mountain High School students attended a gathering of the UNICEF and Amnesty International clubs during a lunch period last week, where students presented about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The student presentation claimed Israel has engaged in human rights violations against Palestinians, which Horne described as antisemitic.

The presentation crossed the line between free speech and hate speech, said Adam Brooks, a Jewish Desert Mountain parent who joined Horne on Wednesday. He said the presentation fostered hatred of Jews and that he wants accountability for the school employee sponsors of the student groups, the Desert Mountain principal and Scottsdale Unified's superintendent.

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Scottsdale Unified leader: 'Tremendous learning opportunity'

On Wednesday, following Horne's news conference, Scottsdale Unified Superintendent Scott Menzel said Desert Mountain is reviewing club protocols to ensure adult club sponsors properly screen sensitive materials and all students continue to feel welcome on campus.

The district will follow up with club guidance for all schools once the Desert Mountain review is complete, he said.

“The perceived antisemitism as a result of what was in those slides, that was not anticipated by those students," Menzel said. "So now there’s a tremendous learning opportunity in the campus between student groups of both Jewish and Palestinian descent who go to school together, learn together, are friends, to be able to have those difficult conversations."

Menzel said he confirmed the students opened their presentation acknowledging the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians. Horne’s letter claimed the students never addressed how the ongoing Israel-Hamas war began.

Principal Lisa Hirsch met with student leaders from the UNICEF, Amnesty International and Jewish Student Union clubs to decide how best to move forward, according to an email Hirsch sent to Desert Mountain parents.

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Barring clubs from public schools potentially violates federal law

Horne acknowledged Wednesday that he does not have the authority to outright bar organizations or their materials from school campuses.

That power is instead reserved for school boards, said Paul Tighe, the executive director of Arizona School Administrators, a nonprofit that provides training for school leaders. Horne’s email to superintendents can do little more than apply political pressure or influence school board actions, he said.

Even so, Menzel said that disbanding a club over Horne’s concerns could open the district up to lawsuits that the district "would not be successful in.” The federal Equal Access Act prohibits public high schools from denying equal access to student groups like clubs based on religion, politics, philosophy or other contents of speech.

“That would be viewpoint discrimination,” said Menzel, who made clear he has no plans to remove UNICEF or Amnesty International from Scottsdale Unified campuses.

“Disbanding clubs puts any club at risk because there will be people who have an issue with the Turning Point Club or with the Bible Study Club or with the Jewish Student Union or with the Black Student Union," Menzel said. "That becomes a very slippery slope.”

Adult club sponsors provide guidance but do not control the content of student conversation, Menzel said. The district will intervene if clubs use hate speech, discriminate or violate district policy, but students are otherwise entitled to host meetings free of interference, he said.

Amnesty International: School leaders are trying to silence students

In a statement to The Arizona Republic, a leader with Amnesty International USA said school administrators are putting “increased pressure” on the group's student chapters “to not speak out on human rights.”

“Amnesty International’s criticism of the Israeli government is based on international law, and on evidence of the great harm and suffering the Israeli government's policies and practices cause to Palestinians,” said Bethany Criss, the organization's chief movement building and member engagement officer. “Amnesty criticizes the Israeli government’s actions and policies, not Jewish people or Israelis. Conflating legitimate criticism of the Israeli government’s actions with antisemitism does a great disservice to the cause of fighting antisemitism."

Criss expressed concern about school districts' talk of disbanding Amnesty International student clubs.

"Silencing and misrepresenting students in this way must stop," she said.

Reach the reporter at nsullivan@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tom Horne urges schools to boot UNICEF, Amnesty International groups