The K-8 school River City Science Academy in Jacksonville, Florida, has declined to make any public statements to their constituents — parents, community members and students — after their Palestinian afterschool educator went on a viral rant against Jews last month.
Netizens have responded by making petitions against the self-described substitute teacher, calling for the school to fire her, and demanding that the school make a public statement condemning their educator’s antisemitism.
“An investigation is not enough. What we need from River City Science Academy is accountability. Accountability means being transparent not just with the media, but to the Jewish taxpayers of Florida that help fund this school” one netizen wrote on Instagram.
“Thinking the problem is solved by placing the teacher on leave doesn’t solve the problem at hand: we need to know that the employee is terminated, that students won’t be subjected to antisemitic rhetoric in the schools we fund.”
The controversy began when Jaden Salameh, a Florida TikToker and self described K-12 teacher uploaded a video to TikTok titled “My controversial opinions that are 100% correct” on August 6th.
Of note: While Jaden claimed to be a teacher at the school on LinkedIn, the school was eager to distance themselves from her and minimize the perceived extent of her influence on students, claiming that she’s merely an “afterschool supervisor.”
In her video — which has now been viewed over 372,000 times — Jaden Salameh argues a litany of antisemitic tropes. “There’s one group of people who own literally everything,” “they own the banking system, the White House, the legislative, executive, judicial branch.”
“We send all of our money to this country,” she claims, adding that Israel was “literally curated out of thin air.”
On the petition that was created, one signatory commented her concerns.
“Jaden doesn’t belong teaching children. She is someone who needs to be taught that tolerance is everything to civilization and cruel, bigoted tropes are for the ignorant and dangerous. Does our country need more stupidity or meanness, or does it need to be healed from this? She isn’t healer, she is a perpetrator of harm.”
Jaden Salameh will be attending Nova Southeastern University in the Fall in hopes of becoming a mental health counselor, according to her now-deleted LinkedIn account.
While Mazelit’s Corner has reached out to Salameh in an attempt to have her explain her remarks about Jews on social media, she has not responded. However, Salameh explained her philosophy on social media.
“I just got my dream car this month, from doing TikTok shop affiliate… I post all the time I don’t care what I post… I don’t care if people are watching me… because I make so much money from my phone.”
“Start posting videos. Start making money on TikTok shop,” the teacher advised.
Jaden Salameh and River City Science Academy have not responded to requests for comment on the petition demanding she be fired since our last article on the situation.
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Thank you for keeping us informed. Much antisemitism starts in the classroom.
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