|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Since 2017, the Pittsford Central School District has partnered with the Jewish Federation of Rochester to facilitate cultural exchange between Israel and Rochester. The program’s curriculum aims to provide instruction on Israeli history, art, and culture.
Some students, however, have reported viewing content that involves the military goals and perspectives of the Israel Defense Forces. For Anwar Upal, father of three Pittsford students, learning that his daughter felt uncomfortable with the program prompted him to question then-PCSD Superintendent Michael Pero about the program’s logistics and other details.
At the start of the school year, he and a group of up to 10 concerned parents coalesced to gather information on the program from district leadership. Despite several complaints, parents say, they received few answers. The Rochester Beacon met with several parents and students to learn more about their concerns; some requested anonymity, citing safety concerns.
Their efforts have culminated in public testimony at multiple Board of Education meetings so far this school year. Some have called on the district to remove the program, claiming that Muslim students have felt uncomfortable viewing imagery associated with the Israel Defense Forces.
“Families trust the district to protect our children and to maintain full oversight of anyone who interacts with them in the classrooms,” Upal said during a November school board meeting. “That responsibility can’t be delegated, no matter how well-intentioned the outside partner is.”
Pero, who retired in early December, and successor Shana Cutaia have signaled efforts to reform the program’s oversight and include a variety of perspectives.
“We’re really just doing a lot of listening and making sure that we’re providing a safe space for our students to share any concerns (and) for our families to share any concerns,” Cutaia said this month. “We’re in the middle of a situation that we don’t want to see tear apart people in our community or relationships in our community.”
Parents and students who have participated in the Jewish Federation’s program say it offers valuable interfaith perspectives on history and culture. Others have reported feeling traumatized by the cultural exchange program and have continued to share their frustration, claiming years of complaints have gone unheard.
Pittsford’s program
The ShinShinim program, run by the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, serves as a cultural exchange for Israeli high school graduates.
After deferring service in the Israel Defense Forces for one year, Israeli students—called ShinShinim, a Hebrew acronym for “year of service”—are paired with host families in Rochester under the Partnership2gether Program before taking part in programs with partnering school districts, including those in Pittsford and Brighton. They are among a number of ShinShinim programs in cities throughout the U.S.
Pittsford’s ShinShinim program, says PCSD spokesperson Laurie Everhart, has been in place since 2017. Volunteers are selected to teach at different schools; this year, the program saw ShinShinim programs at Thornell Road Elementary School and Barker Road Middle School.
The curriculum is created in collaboration with teachers to provide relevant learning on Israel’s history, culture, and art. Students who were uncomfortable with the program told their parents that they did not receive prior notice of the program, and were treated disrespectfully when they asked about Palestinian identity or culture.
“My freshman year, we were suddenly shown a presentation from this Israeli exchange program. There was no notice, no context given, so it was honestly kind of a jump scare for some students,” said Alicia Upal, during November’s school board meeting. She graduated from Pittsford Sutherland High School in 2023. “The slide showed some very political, Greater Israel maps. Also, when a student, a classmate, asked a question about Palestinians, his mic was taken away.”
In interviews with the Beacon, students and their parents claimed the classes included imagery of the Israel Defense Forces and its military goals.
“(Our son) came back upset. He felt a little bit betrayed by his teacher, and even his friends,” says one parent who spoke to the Beacon on the condition of anonymity, and shared that their son’s Muslim name was mocked. “The next time, I sent an email to the teacher, and I told her, ‘Please, I don’t want (our son) to attend any of those classes. … (After a) couple months, (our son) came back. He was really angry and upset. They showed up again. The teacher did not tell me. No one told me.
“We’re trying as much as possible to empower (our child),” the parent adds, noting the fear that transferring him out of the district may not prevent him from feeling discriminated against due to his identity.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Upal, who sought information from Pero on program notices, curriculum, and participation methods. After questioning Pero, Upal says, all mentions of the program were removed from the district website.
“One of the questions I asked was, you know, have there been complaints about this program? (Pero) said, ‘No, there have been zero complaints about the program,’ which I found really interesting,” Upal says. “I got emails from parents from a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, you know, complaining about the program.”
According to sample curriculum provided by the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, ShinShinim programs include a range of teachings on Israeli culture, art, and history, integrated into existing lesson plans under the direction of a partnering teacher.
“ShinShinim act as teachers’ assistants who can introduce information and engage students; they defer to the classroom teacher when questions beyond the content or learning objectives arise,” says Monica Gebell, Jewish Federation director of community relations. “When issues arise in the classroom during a lesson, ShinShinim are trained to step back so that the classroom instructor can intervene.”
Which way forward?
At December’s Board of Education meeting in Pittsford, district parents and graduates shared their experiences with the ShinShinim program as an opportunity to grow in empathy and understanding of different cultures and faiths.
“The lessons introduced every two weeks brought genuine curiosity, thoughtful discussion, and a window into a culture my daughter would not otherwise have had the chance to learn about,” said parent Katie Polumbo during December’s meeting. “Their willingness to share their culture and perspective with our children was not only kind, it was a profound contribution to the type of education that shapes compassionate, open-minded young people.”
New superintendent Cutaia shared progress on joint efforts made to incorporate further oversight and variety of perspectives after continued conversations with parents, the Jewish Federation, and the Islamic Center of Rochester.
“Adjustments made in response to community feedback include communicating to families ahead of any visit, offering alternate options for students if parents do not want them to be a part of the visit, administrators observing presentations, and vetting materials prior to presentations,” Everhart says. “The superintendent and the district remain committed to ongoing dialogue, continued learning, and evolving our practices as needed to ensure a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment for all students.”
Parents who oppose the program say their meetings with Cutaia were positive. That, however, has not changed their position on the program, as the coalition group continues to petition the district to remove the cultural exchange program associated with the ShinShinim volunteers.
“If there’s something else that is a glaring, you know, contradiction to our guidelines on equity, then I think we should call that out as well,” says Upal. “I don’t know of another one; this is the one I know about, so this is the one I’m going to talk about.”
Those in favor of the program say, however, that the exchange has proven invaluable for students and their access to interfaith, Israeli-centered culture.
“The ShinShinim and Education Bridge programs have been deeply meaningful for Jewish families like mine, but their value extends to students of every background,” said parent Kate Goldstein during December’s meeting. “Programs like these help our children grow as learners and global citizens, and I hope Pittsford continues to support them for years to come.”
Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
To encourage Monroe County school distrfict personell and concerned citizens to get involved with my recommendation for collaborative curriculum development that focuses on cultural understanding and confllict, the information below could be valuable for taking some meaningful action. However, even without this kind of funding, I encourage concerned individuals to advocate and take part in a process to build positive multi-cultural relations.
Rochester Area Community Foundation invites applications for John F. Wegman Fund
December 24, 2025
Deadline: January 16, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET
The Rochester Area Community Foundation, in partnership with local philanthropists and community partners, works to improve the quality of life for people who live and work in the eight-county region through its leadership and strategic grantmaking.
The foundation invites applications for the John F. Wegman Fund. Established in 1953 through John F. Wegman’s will, the fund addresses “charitable and philanthropic and educational purposes which will make for the welfare of the Rochester and Monroe County community…particularly giving assistance in the case of the aged, whether institutionalized or not, and to character building agencies…and in developing through educational work and otherwise, better relationships between capital and labor.” Since 1964, the John F. Wegman Fund has focused on “new or experimental programs for a limited period of time.” Membership of the committee established by the will includes members of the Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant faith communities, the United Way of Greater Rochester, and organized labor.
Grants ranging from $1,500 to $10,000, with a median size of $7,300 will be awarded in support of efforts to address the concerns of older adults, provide character-building opportunities for youth, and improve labor/management relations through education or other means.
The fund has limited resources and looks for opportunities to provide small amounts of money that significantly impact community-based programs. Most awards are one-time grants for specific, participant-driven projects. The grant preference is for agencies, projects, and programs that are small scale, start-up, innovative (develop or adapt new strategies), and participant-driven (based on identified needs of beneficiaries).
To be eligible, applicants must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations serving Monroe County, New York. The John F. Wegman Advisory Committee will consider new requests from previously funded organizations after the final report has been submitted and 18 months have passed since they were last funded.
For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Rochester Area Community Foundation website.
Link to complete RFP
Looking to schedule time on my calendar? please email Lynda Armstrong and in the meantime…
Follow me on LinkedIn! – https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewfrishman/
Follow BPL on LinkedIn! – Big Picture Learning
Friend BPL on Facebook! – facebook.com/bigpicturelearning
Check out BPL on the Insta aka the Gram! – BigPicLearning
Click here to DONATE to BIG PICTURE LEARNING
I think there’s a process that could lead to more critical thinking, creative problem-solving, positive interpersonal relationship development & greater well-being for students, staff and parents. Why not have the Pittsford staff collaborate with the Shin Shinim staff and local Palestinian and Islamic resource people to develop a curriculum that emphasizes these skills. Start by asking students why a unit of study focusing on Isreal & Palestine might be interesting and important for them to learn about. Ask them how it might help them become better people and citizens. Brainsorm all the possible questions, issues, concerns, problems and ideas they have about Isreal & Palestine; including hiatorical and cultural questions, as well. Teach students how to “fact-check” as well as how to be respectful and how to demonstrate empathy & compassion when dealing with diverse perspectives, as well as how to ask clarifying questions. Use local resource people to help teach about the history of Isreal & Palestine. Doing so, would be beneficial for all students & allow teachers to be creative & supportive of a variety of student perspectives. Check out the Self-Determination Theory research & practices for further information on this type of education strategy.
Is this the only program of it’s kind? Are there Nigerian students who come from Nigeria to teach Pittsford students about Nigerian art and culture? Or Chinese students? Or Finnish? Or Peruvian? I kind of doubt it. So why only Israeli?
“Between 7 October 2023 and 17 December 2025, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as stated by the Office for the Coordination of Health Association, 70,668 Palestinians reportedly have been killed in the Gaza Strip and another 171,152, injured. Since the ceasefire, 394 Palestinians have been killed, 1075 injured and 634 bodies have been retrieved from under the rubble, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
UNRWA has recorded 382 colleagues killed in Gaza since the war began (309 UNRWA personnel, in addition to 73 persons who were supporting UNRWA activities[1]), as of 23 December 2025” (https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-202-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem).
With these horrific fatalities and injuries in mind, why would we consider having a program like ShinShinim, which features Israeli high school students who plan to join the armed forces at the conclusion of the program, meet with Pittsford students or any other students in the Rochester area? Why don’t we all band together to stop the billions of American dollars directed to Israel’s burgeoning military to stop the hate? I am Jewish with family members living in Israel. I’m horrified and ashamed by the war waged against Palestine. Palestinians deserve a homeland and the opportunity for peace, justice and prosperity. Israel does not need or deserve yet another “public service announcement” like ShinShinim.
Precisely. It’s bad enough that the Palestinian voice has been silenced for decades in Palestine. Now they are ignoring the legitimate concerns of Palestinians here in our country. There is no room for this propaganda tool which is just a mouthpiece for Israel, the state committing atrocities and genocide as we speak.
We are a pluralistic society with a long history of absorbing, integrating, and ultimately strengthening ourselves through waves of immigrants of different faiths, cultures, and traditions. Tension at the outer edges of that pluralism is nothing new, and throughout history it has often erupted into open conflict — as we are seeing today in Israel and Gaza.
Rather than responding to such tensions by diluting or retreating from programs like this exchange, we should be doing the opposite: teaching history (remember when schools actually taught history?) and helping young people develop the perspective necessary to understand complex conflicts and cultures. Shielding students from discomfort or controversy does them no favors; it deprives them of the very tools they need to navigate the real world thoughtfully and responsibly.
I’m reminded of Irving Kristol’s observation:
“What the Left calls ‘progress,’ the Right calls ‘decay.’ What the Right calls ‘decay,’ the Left calls ‘progress.’ And what was once unthinkable becomes thinkable, then controversial, then routine.”
That progression is exactly why programs that promote understanding across cultures and beliefs matter — especially when the world feels most divided.
This argument has nothing to do with “integrating” various points of view. The Shin Shinim program is 100% Israeli propaganda aimed at controlling perceptions. They fail to include any mention of Palestine, Palestinian culture, Palestinian history. The program is harmful and inappropriate, particularly at this point in time. While their government is committing atrocities and genocide, no Israeli representatives should be welcomed into any public school, despite their intentions.
How tragic to have reached a point where the bigotry and ignorance in Pittsford exhibited by some parents and students has lead to questioning of the value of having the ShinShinim interact in Pittsford Schools. This article illustrates the third rate education that the district now provides and the wholesale acceptance of false, biased, and bigoted beliefs by some members of the Pittsford community.
Parents who express concerns about the program’s fairness and accuracy are not displaying “wholesale acceptance of false, biased and bigoted beliefs,” and the school district would not be acting responsibly if it failed to address those concerns. Allentoff’s dismissive and hostile comment, however, is a good example of bias.
Do you these parents hold all international students to the same standard that they have set for the ShinShinim? I’ve not heard a word about issues regarding any students from any other country that have been discussed in Pittsford Schools.
Michael seems to me that these Pittsford parents are applying the same standards, and that is precisely why ShinShinim is being questioned. In fact, this does not appear to be a student exchange program at all, and there are no other programs in Pittsford that resemble it.
For a baseline, International exchange students are enrolled as students under district and federal guidelines. They attend classes as peers, are subject to school rules, and are not placed into multiple classrooms to deliver recurring presentations, act as instructional assistants, or educate students about a specific country or political context.
ShinShinim is fundamentally different. These are post–high school graduates, not students, selected and trained as emissaries or ambassadors by external organizations, hosted and supported by the Jewish Federation, and placed into Pittsford classrooms to deliver structured programming. They defer mandatory military service and participate as representatives, not as peers.
That distinction matters because they are not enrolled students; they function as trained external presenters rather than visitors; they are part of a standing, recurring program rather than a one-off exchange; they enter required class time, not optional settings; and they are accountable primarily to an outside sponsor rather than directly to the district. Any one of those factors would warrant additional safeguards in a public school. Taken together, they clearly do.
This context also explains why parents are asking hard questions about content and classroom dynamics. Multiple students independently reported being shown “Greater Israel” maps and described being discouraged or shut down when asking questions about Palestinian history or identity. That is not critical inquiry, it reflects a breakdown in how sensitive material is being handled in the classroom.
Compounding this concern, it has been acknowledged that invitations for this program consistently came from teachers who themselves participated in Israel-based teacher exchange trips. Whether intentional or not, that creates reasonable questions about selection bias and underscores the need for independent vetting and district-level oversight, rather than reliance on a closed loop of affiliated participants.
Families are also grappling with the reality that these presenters are expected to enter the Israel Defense Forces after their service year, at a time when that military’s actions are under serious international scrutiny, including allegations of war crimes, apartheid, and genocide by major human-rights organizations and in proceedings before international courts. Regardless of one’s political views, it is reasonable for parents to question whether future military representatives from an active conflict should be placed into required classroom time – particularly when students report distress and silencing.
Also it’s worth clarifying that this is not just a “Muslim issue.” The Pittsford parent coalition includes Muslims, Christians, Jews, and families of no religious affiliation. The concern is governance, transparency, and student well-being – not religion or culture. It is also not isolated: hundreds of Pittsford community members have signed a petition calling for clearer safeguards and inclusive processes: https://c.org/T8GfBmQHzD
Parents would raise identical concerns if Pittsford embedded trained emissaries from any country: China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, or anyone else – into our classrooms under similar conditions. This isn’t selective outrage. It’s a basic expectation of good governance and of protecting our children.