PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — About 30 protestors calling themselves "Philly Parents for Palestine" disrupted a Philadelphia School Board meeting Thursday night calling for Northeast High School teacher Keziah Ridgeway to return to the classroom.
They say Ridgeway was removed from the classroom seven weeks ago for allowing her students to express opinions supporting Palestinian rights.
Ridgeway's sister Ronita Jones told our partners at NBC10 that Ridgeway never did anything wrong and is a beloved teacher.
“We look to the school board to support our teachers, support our students, support the parents, but they’re supporting outsiders who have no idea what’s going on. They don’t even have children who go to Northeast High School,” Jones said.
This parent of a Northeast High student told NBC10 Ridgeway “is a great teacher and it’s unacceptable that during a teacher shortage, we would punish a teacher for doing absolutely nothing but being a good teacher.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia filed a complaint against Ridgeway at the beginning of the school year, accusing her of teaching anti-Israel views and threatening Jewish parents on social media.
Ridgeway has denied doing anything wrong.
The school district says this is a personnel issue and they do not comment on personnel issues.
The school board meeting continued in a private room and was live-streamed on the district's website.