Upper Dublin school board member resigns after sharing webinar referring to ‘genocide’ of Palestinians

A newly elected Upper Dublin school board member resigned Wednesday, after community outcry over a post she shared on social media promoting a webinar that referred to “ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

Tricia Ebarvia, who is the diversity, equity and inclusion director at Greene Street Friends School in Germantown, was accused by numerous community members of antisemitism for sharing a link last month to sign up for the webinar, titled “Getting to the Root: Sharing Stories and Humanizing Palestine.”

A petition circulating against Ebarvia that generated more than 2,600 signatures said the description of the webinar — which also referred to “structural inequity” and “colonial history” — was “more akin to propaganda” than a discussion of the Israel-Hamas conflict, ignoring the Oct. 7 attacks, which killed 1,200 Israelis, with about 240 taken hostage and 116 soldiers killed in the subsequent Gaza ground offensive, Israel says.

Ebarvia, who was elected Nov. 7, was sworn in privately Tuesday — having missed the board’s reorganization meeting last week, when a packed room of residents pushed for her resignation. Ebarvia, who said she had a business trip that forced her to miss that meeting, said during a board committee meeting Wednesday that she had watched a recording.

“It is clear to me that, however willing I am to listen and learn and dialogue, I will not be able to serve in the capacity I had hoped,” Ebarvia said.

Her resignation follows the resignation last month of another Montgomery County school board member, Jamina Clay, in the Colonial School District. Clay, an assistant superintendent in the Philadelphia School District, who faced community outrage over a Facebook post that described the Israeli Defense Forces as a “terrorist organization” carrying out a genocide against Palestinians. After Oct. 7, the ensuing Israeli military siege has killed 18.700 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Ebarvia had apologized during a Nov. 15 school board meeting, telling community members she had not meant to cause anyone pain by sharing the post, which she said she had done at the invitation of a fellow educator.

“There is no justification for the violence that Hamas inflicted on the Jewish people, who were brutally murdered and kidnapped,” she said. “Jewish people cannot be used as scapegoats to justify hate.”

But she continued to face opposition from community members who said her apology fell short.

Quoting Ebarvia’s explanation that she shared the post out of a “place of compassion for people I know who are also suffering,” resident Andy Kessler told the board last week that “it does not seem bearing witness to those atrocities” committed by Hamas ”is on Ms. Ebarvia’s radar.”

Kessler, who had previously presented the board with the petition for Ebarvia’s resignation, said Ebarvia also appeared to have ties to people with antisemitic views. He said she would be hosting a conference in January featuring an author with a “history of posting and promoting antisemitic information,” including “resistance to Israel, which parrots language used by Hamas,” Kessler said.

The petition also faulted Ebarvia for following someone on Instagram who had called President Joe Biden “Genocide Joe,” along with “other disturbing and antisemitic posts which are simply too numerous to set forth in this letter,” according to the petition.

Ebarvia “continues to demonstrate a total and utter lack of awareness of the pain she has caused and continues to cause to this community,” Kessler said.

Others said they feared a spreading antisemitism in Upper Dublin schools. Jaclyn Ackerman told the board that she had pulled her son from the district and placed him at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy after experiencing antisemitism in the 2021-22 school year.

“Jewish people don’t feel safe,” Ackerman said. She accused Ebarvia of “deep-rooted antisemitism” and said her post was “a way to incite more hate and to infuse our schools with Jew-hatred.”

Some people said the district had failed to adequately respond to antisemitic graffiti in a high school restroom and questioned whether Jews were considered in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Mark Sirota, the board’s vice president, told community members criticizing Ebarvia that no one board member could make changes on her own.

“If she wants to take initiative on her own, she’s going to have to persuade four of us to go along with it, and she’s starting from a difficult position,” Sirota said of the nine-member board.

On Wednesday, Ebarvia said she had spoken to many community members over the last few weeks, and the pain people expressed was “something I regret deeply. And I’m sorry.”

She also said that people had scrutinized her social media, “selectively highlighting details that make me ‘guilty by association.’” Some called her employer and contacted universities where she’s been invited to speak, in an effort to discredit her, she said.

“My fear is that there will be those in the community who will use what’s happened to me to derail the real and very necessary work of equity and inclusion that our community needs now, more than ever, for all kids,” Ebarvia said.

She said she hoped her resignation would “open up a space for the healing work that needs to happen,” adding that although “the voices in this room are vocal ... they are not the only perspectives.”

After giving her remarks at the start of the finance committee meeting, Ebarvia left the room.

The district’s superintendent, Laurie Smith, said details about the board vacancy would be shared later this week. She also said administrators were compiling information about where the Holocaust was taught in the curriculum, and a list of professional development providers; community members had asked last week whether board members would take anti-bias training offered by the Anti-Defamation League.