Welcome to the PENS website!

Welcome to the Parents for Excellence in Newton Schools (PENS) website! We hope you will find the site informative and that what you read here inspires you to learn and take action about inaccurate and biased class material, especially material concerning the Middle East, used in public schools in Newton, Massachusetts and other communities throughout the country.

Right now (summer 2025), we are concentrating on updating this website, including fixing broken links and standardizing format, and countering the intense, worldwide antisemitism that arose after the invasion of Israel and corresponding rape, murder, torture, and kidnapping of Israeli and foreign citizens on October 7, 2023. In our view, this has become an emergency requiring our (hopefully) temporary but full attention, especially as the formerly 'respectable' media outlets are broadcasting Hamas and other anti-Israel propaganda without investigation, balance, or restraint. The website Honest Reporting as well as English-language Israeli newspapers (Times of Israel, Israel HaYom), blogs (ElderofZiyon and the IDF's blog), and online Jewish newspapers (The Algemeiner), are good places to find accurate reporting.

The K-12 class materials issue remains important, however, if for no other reason than it has been almost entirely ignored by Jewish communal organizations. This is a grave mistake, however, as the K-12 years are where most students will receive their first introduction to Middle East history, politics, and religion. The attitudes of both future politicians and voters will be shaped by their first lessons. It is vitally important that these lessons are factual and accurate, and avoid propaganda and bias. In too many classrooms, including many in Newton, that is not the case.

 Classroom bias is not limited to anti-Israel or anti-Jewish themes; students are also presented with inaccurate and prejudicial views of Islam and the Arab people. One handout describes pre-Islamic Arab society as "pious but barbaric"; another states that Islam approves of spousal abuse and discrimination against women. While some Islamic authorities may condone abuse and discrimination, many others do not.

Our goal is to ensure that material presented to students is accurate and non-biased. We do not object to material advocating a particular philosophy or point of view so long as its source and inherent bias are disclosed and students receive information and/or materials on contrary views. Unfortunately, this is not the case at the moment. 

Major events in our quest asking the schools to review class material and remove objectionable material are on the Breaking News section and Facebook page.

Links to objectionable class materials are here.

This website is a work-in-progress and we are continually updating and revising it. Currently, we are reformatting the site in conjunction with changes to our host's platform. If you have trouble accessing the content you want, or if you come across formatting errors or broken links, please let us know at NewtonExcellence@gmail.com.

The explosion of antisemitism after 10/7/23 has led to a resurgence in organizations and individuals that oppose antisemitic speech and materials. We are coordinating with others to update our review of Newton high school class material and take action with respect to remaining inappropriate sources. 

Success, But More to Accomplish

We are proud of our successes to date. A good amount of material, including seven chapters of a widely utilized, grossly inaccurate Saudi-funded text called the Arab World Studies Notebook and a (now defunct) hate-filled website at www.Flashpoints.info were removed from Newton schools due to pressure from PENS and others.

The Newton Public Schools (NPS) also agreed to 'white out' a statement in the book A Muslim Primer claiming that the Catholic church was "reconsidering polygamy as a Christian option". Newton North High School History Chair Jonathan Bassett acknowledged that the statement "might be misleading".

However, little has during the past few years; if anything, the situation has become even worse. Inaccurate and biased texts, including anti-Israel and arguably anti-semitic material, remain in use. This material is not used as a basis for discussion or to compare different points of view, but is presented as fact. The introduction of a new course, which includes an often-inaccurate and biased depiction of Israel, has made continuing this work even more important.

Support from other organizations

The Newton community and PENS are by no means the only ones concerned about class materials used in the Newton Public Schools (NPS). The issue has been ongoing for over a decade and a variety of organizations have attempted, and at times succeeded, in removing anti-Israel and anti-semitic material described as factual. Back in 2014, Verity Educate, an organization of volunteer academics that worked with school committees, teachers, and professional education firms throughout the U.S. to resolve complaints about biased unsuitable student materials, volunteered to publish a pro bono report. Its detailed analysis (the Verity Educate Report), summaries of the Report, and the materials themselves are discussed on this website and here.

The well-respected organization Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) published a book about the anti-Israel bias in Newton classes, "Indoctrinating Our Youth" (available on Amazon and as a free pdf), and issued a follow-up a year later. Other organizations, including the Fordham Foundation for Educational Excellence,  Jewish Telegraph Agency, The Textbook League, and the American Jewish Committee have issued reports on specific items of material used in Newton classrooms.  

In addition, numerous articles about the controversy in Newton Schools and the materials have been written by CAMERA, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, StandWithUs, and other organizations in addition to PENS, and published in online and print newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and Israel.

Working for a more equitable curriculum

PENS and other organizations investigating the materials have come up against extreme intransigence by the NPS, including the demand that community members, including parents, pay hundreds of dollars to access materials used in their own children’s classrooms. The NPS also broke promises to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee, Israeli Action Committee, and other groups regarding "Middle East Day", the establishment of a “safe space” for students subject to anti-Israel and anti-semitic harassment, and suspending the study of modern Middle East history until the curriculum underwent review.

Just as concerning, if not more so, was threatened retaliation against parents, students, and teachers if they spoke publicly regarding their concerns about the curriculum and other issues, and actual retaliation against a 9th grade student after her parents filed a formal complaint about the curriculum with the Massachusetts education department. In 2014 and again in 2016, the Massachusetts and federal departments of education found that the NPS violated student confidentiality law by sending copies of a confidential letter about the student to several media entities, which published the letter and confidential information from the letter to over 60,000 newspaper and blog readers. A state court judge later determined that the student and her parents had causes of action for invasion of privacy, slander, and infliction of emotional distress against the NPS, then-School Committee member Matthew Hills, and the media entities themselves.

We are hopeful that the appointment of a new Superintendent, Dr. Anna Nolin, will resolve many of the issues that occurred in the past with the NPS' obligation to use accurate and non-biased class curriculum. We look forward to working Dr. Nolin and her administration in the future.