Letter: In Support of Author Hannah Moushabeck’s Visit to Fort River School
New Mural at Fort River Elementary School. One panel of two. Photo: Amherst Regional Public Schools
by Drew Egan and 173 additional signatories.
We are a group of concerned educators and administrators from the Amherst Regional Public Schools community, writing to affirm our responsibility to our students to share human experiences, family stories, and cultural information of all people. We will continue to invite in speakers and alumni of various backgrounds and cultures.
In accordance with the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, we seek to address a main purpose of Social Studies standards: “promote respect for people of diverse backgrounds and human rights.” It is our great joy and responsibility to collaborate with students, families, and stakeholders in order to share specific, autobiographical, and human stories, occasionally through author visits.
Therefore, in response to the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s March 13th article, “Special commission gauges climate for Jews,” we strongly disagree with any assertion that Hannah Moushabeck’s visit to Fort River Elementary School in 2024 was concerning. As the local author of the picture book, Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine, Hannah Moushabeck is an appropriate and exemplary choice for an author visit. Labeling her visit as antisemitic is wrong and not supported by evidence.
Again, inviting authors to read stories of their human experiences is something we have always done and something we will continue to do. We stand in solidarity with the work of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, who said: “Children need windows and mirrors. They need mirrors in which they can see themselves and windows through which they see the world.”
Co-signed by Drew Egan, Derek Shea, Catherine Aldrich, Jamie Roblee Gonzalez, Julie Haddad, Dustin James, Waleska Santiago, Justin Bard, Eleanor Lincoln, Miguel Cruz, Joseph Mares, Mary Ann Amaru, Jennifer Zera, Danielle Kadinoff, Judah Hughes, Amy Coulthard, Kara McCloskey, Patricia Nambu, Leigh Pratt, Mary Donoghue, Lisa Moriarty, Catherine Woods, Anna Bartolini, Jessica Brown, Stephanie Grabowski, Timothy Sheehan, Sharri Conklin, Lauren Mattone, Kristen Roeder, Jacy Armenti, Leslie Daugherty, Elizabeth Wojtusik, Allison Estes, Liz Elder, Soleil Sonoda, Tiffany Hickman-McGee, Susan Wells, Maria Moos, Chris Eggemeier, Joyce Gooden, Jaimie Bust, Sarah Bing-Owen, Hannah Hunt, Mario Perez, Pam Cavanaugh, Alan Kuusisto, Laura Evonne Steinman, MaryAlice Dupont, Dan Kieras, Oliver McFadden, MaryLee Austin, Naomi Cope, Mackenzie Brown, Sean Lehane, Jennifer Hoey, Sophie Harman, Kate Westafer, Alexeya O’Brien, Shannon Applegate, Lisa Poirier, Ellen Dalkas, Sara Johnson, Margaret Principe, Jeff Kalman, Lorrie Murenzi, Pete Nolan, Quintin Dykes, Carolina Rothkegel, Mary Brandt, Georgia Ledereman, Beth Chesworth, Jessica Morin, Taryn LaRaja, Diane Chamberlain, Mangala Jagadeesh, Lydia Robinson, Rory Keogh, Brooks Scott-Rotkopf, Jaydin Chapin, Molly Cooksy, Omar Almodovar, Zac Early, Aaron Jensen, Kelly Carlisle, Giselle Gonzȧlez Vendsell, Markyta Ables, Dawn Sawula, Amanda Lewis, Chris Herland, Danielle Seltzer, Keith McFarland, Kate Kuhn, Matthew Despres, Sara Barber Just, Marita Banda, Kathy Olson, Emily Coelho, Sarah Jergenson, Rick Howes, Deidre Cuffee-Gray, Alessandra Mucci-Ramos, Jonathan Sivel, LissaPierce-Bonifaz and 71 more educators and administrators from the Amherst Regional Public Schools
Thank you to our educators for providing our children with the mirrors and windows. Providing enriching opportunities like author visits enhances learning and builds empathy. I am so glad Hannah Moushabeck has been able to visit not only Fort River, but also Wildwood to share her story with our students.
As an educator, a therapist, the parent of two adults who were ARPS students — and as a Jew — I join ARPS educators and administrators in fully supporting Hannah Moushabeck’s reading of her book, Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine, in our schools.
When I was a child, my parents and I fought for Jewish representation in my elementary school. And as a queer parent, I asked for and donated LGBTQ+ themed children’s books to my kids’ elementary school classrooms. Widening the mirror that reflects the experiences of community is essential to helping children become compassionate, critical thinkers. Isn’t that what we all want?
As a retired teacher and a mother of three children, I find the attack on Hannah Moushabek abhorrent. My half Palestinian children faced discrimination in their Cambridge Public Schools. My oldest a 12 year old then was called a terrorist. That was 1982. My youngest faced racism in lower schools and in college girls at one of the five colleges played a nasty prank on her at a graduation party. Children need to see themselves in books but others need to see them as human and not caricatures of political diatribe.