America First Legal has opened an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia over a teaching guide for the 9/11 terrorist attacks that instructs educators not to center the extremists or associate the attacks with Islam or Muslims. The conservative legal group announced the probe after reporting on the district's guidance, seeking to determine who was responsible for developing the instructions.
The six-page guide, titled «25th Anniversary and Commemoration of 9/11,» was published on August 27 and edited on August 31. It directs teachers who choose to commemorate the attacks to follow the district's guidance and use only instructional resources available through the district's Atlas site. The guide tells teachers not to «associate the 9/11 attacks with Islam or Muslims» or «center the extremists or the acts of the extremists.»
America First Legal senior counsel Ian Prior said the group wants to know where the guidance came from and who the school district worked with to develop it. «We wanna know where this comes from. We wanna know who the school is working with to develop these guidances,» Prior said. He acknowledged that the group has not yet determined whether outside organizations participated in its development. «We're still seeking to determine how far this goes,» Prior said. «That's why we're investigating so that we can get to the bottom of it.»
The investigation was directly prompted by the reporting, Prior said. «The reason why we're investigating now is because this was just reported,» he said, adding that the group saw the report «just like everybody else» and wanted to determine who the district was working with when the guidance was developed. In announcing its investigation, America First Legal accused the school district of attempting to «sanitize history» and called for «full transparency regarding who is responsible» for the guidance. The group's announcement directs readers to a Freedom of Information Act request, though the release itself does not detail the records sought.
Fairfax County Public Schools did not directly answer questions about who authored and approved the guidance, whether outside organizations were involved in its development, or whether the district has made or considered changes to the document. The district referred to a statement published on September 11. In that statement, Superintendent Michelle Reid said the district «unequivocally condemn[s]» the 9/11 terrorist attacks and emphasized the district's connection to the Pentagon, military families, first responders, and survivors. The statement also said the district was «reviewing our materials» in response to community feedback, while maintaining that «the actions of terrorists should not define the entirety of any faith, culture, or community.»
The statement provides some information about how the materials were reviewed but does not identify who authored the six-page guide or who approved its final language. Prior argued that schools can teach students about the ideology that motivated the September 11 terrorists without assigning collective responsibility to Muslims. The district's guidance similarly states that teachers should make clear that al Qaeda carried out the attacks while drawing a distinction between the terrorist organization and Muslims as a whole. «When discussing this topic with students, please make clear that the September 11 attacks were carried out by Al-Qaeda, a terrorist extremist organization,» the guide states. «Al-Qaeda's ideology and actions should not be attributed to Islam or to Muslims as a religious community.»
The dispute centers in part on how much emphasis teachers should place on the terrorists and their ideology when commemorating the attacks. The district tells teachers that «the commemoration of 9/11 focuses on those whose lives were lost and those who sacrificed to help others — not those who attacked the United States.» The guide encourages teachers to emphasize stories of «resilience, support, and resistance» and use age-appropriate details about the violence.
For elementary students, the district suggests teachers could open by saying, «Twenty-five years ago today, there was an attack on the United States,» before allowing students' questions to determine what additional information is shared at the teacher's professional discretion. Its suggested language for older students is more specific, stating that «members of the extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four planes in a coordinated terrorist attack on the United States» before recounting the 2,977 people killed, including civilians, military personnel at the Pentagon, and emergency workers. The guidance also highlights the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers.