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Callers ask board to pull contract with AROC amid allegations of extremist rhetoric
Summary
Zoom callers and community speakers asked the board to pull consent calendar item G-14 — a contract with AROC — citing a federal Office for Civil Rights probe and alleging the group's executive director justified violence; they asked for more transparency and alternative vendors for Arabic-speaking student services.
Multiple Zoom callers urged the board to remove a contract with AROC from the consent calendar, saying the organization is under a federal Office for Civil Rights investigation and has promoted violent rhetoric. A caller asked the board to pull item G-14 or provide greater transparency about the vendor.
“Of course, we wanna make sure that there are adequate services in our schools for Arabic-speaking refugee and immigrant students, but this particular organization has a history of introducing violent rhetoric in our schools and creating an unhealthy and a harmful environment for other students,” a caller said. Another caller alleged the organization’s executive director “called the October 7 massacre of thousands of Israeli civilians … the only thing that can overcome Israel is a flood,” and said the organization distributed controversial materials; she asked the board to reconsider contracting decisions.
Board and staff did not remove the consent item during the meeting. The superintendent thanked members of the public for their comments and said there were no layoff items on the agenda and that staff would follow up with community questions about where the confusion had arisen. The public asked for more transparency about the inclusion of the contract on the consent calendar and for the district to consider other vendors.
