LAUSD Fires Substitute Teacher For Anti-Semitic Comments

LOS ANGELES (CBS)  — The Los Angeles Unified School District has fired a substitute teacher who says Jews have hijacked the nation's monetary system and should be expelled from the United States.

"As a day-to-day substitute teacher, Ms. [Patricia] McAllister was an at-will employee. As of today, she is no longer an employee of the LAUSD," Los Angeles schools Superintendent Jon Deasy said in a statement yesterday.

McAllister's problems began with an interview she gave Reason.tv at the site of an Occupy L.A. protest a week ago today.

"I think that the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government -- they need to be run out of this country," she said.

In subsequent remarks, McAllister condemned Jews without including the "Zionist" qualifier.

"Jews have been run out of 109 countries throughout history, and we need to run them out of this one," she told reportd.

Deasy acknowledged McAllister's free-speech rights, which suggested the district might have been hard-pressed to deal with her had she been a permanent employee.

`Her comment, made during non-work time at a recent protest rally, were her private opinions and were not made in the context of district services,"he said in a reference to the Reason.tv interview. "At LAUSD, we recognize

that the law is very protective of the freedom of speech rights of public employees when they are speaking as private citizens during non-working time."

But he said that "we condemn the remarks" made by McAllister, and "we will never stand for behavior that is disrespectful, intolerant or

discriminatory."

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles Unified School District has fired a

substitute teacher who says Jews have hijacked the nation's monetary system and

should be expelled from the United States.

"As a day-to-day substitute teacher, Ms. McAllister was an at-will

employee. As of today, she is no longer an employee of the LAUSD," Los Angeles

schools Superintendent Jon Deasy said in a statement yesterday.

Patricia McAllister's problems began with an interview she gave

Reason.tv at the site of an Occupy L.A. protest a week ago today.

"I think that the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our

Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government -- they need to be

run out of this country," she said.

In subsequent remarks, McAllister condemned Jews without including the

"Zionist" qualifier.

"Jews have been run out of 109 countries throughout history, and we

need to run them out of this one," she told Fox11.

Deasy acknowledged McAllister's free-speech rights, which suggested the

district might have been hard-pressed to deal with her had she been a permanent

employee.

`Her comment, made during non-work time at a recent protest rally, were her private opinions and were not made in the context of district services," he said in a reference to the Reason.tv interview. "At LAUSD, we recognize that the law is very protective of the freedom of speech rights of public employees when they are speaking as private citizens during non-working time."

But he said that "we condemn the remarks" made by McAllister, and "we will never stand for behavior that is disrespectful, intolerant or discriminatory."

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In:
• Antisemitism