Glenbrook South yearbook investigation begins as community tensions rise

Glenbrook Township High School District 225 officials said Tuesday they are continuing to investigate the publication of a quote from a Glenbrook South student’s yearbook expressing support for the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

During a sometimes noisy school board meeting Tuesday night, school board vice chairman Peter Glowacki said the council had instructed the district administration to complete a report and make recommendations in the coming weeks.

It is a recent article in the Etruscan Yearbook entitled “October 7, War in Gaza,” which contains the testimony of a student expressing his joy at the Hamas attack.

“These statements hurt our students, staff and community and will not be condoned or tolerated,” Glowacki said. “The board, administration and staff condemn anti-Semitism, hate speech and violence of any kind.”

Glowacki said the principal, vice principal and staff did not learn of the contents until after the yearbook was distributed.

Members of the Jewish and Muslim communities, supporters of student press rights, students, parents and alumni spoke at the board meeting in the school’s auditorium, which brought dozens of speakers to the podium for public comment that lasted nearly two and a half hours.

Board members adjourned the meeting at one point when tempers ran high when a man carrying a Palestinian flag spoke and his microphone was cut off. When the board returned to the auditorium stage about 10 minutes later, Glowacki said the meeting was not a political forum and comments on the yearbook controversy and school matters should be directed to the board.

Among those speaking Tuesday was Rabbi Aaron Braun of the Northbrook Community Synagogue, who said the school’s principal and yearbook adviser had “failed” to allow the publication of the quote that “celebrated the killing of civilians in the only Jewish state.”

“In this case, censorship was clearly justified,” said Braun, the father of a freshman.

Members of the school’s Muslim Student Association said there had been death threats against the student on social media.

“The student who wrote the quote did so out of personal conviction and cultural identity,” said Ishmael Khandokar, a graduate of the graduating class. “For many Palestinians and their supporters, solidarity with Palestine is not just a political statement, but a plea for recognition, justice and basic human rights.”

Before the meeting, two national journalism organizations expressed support for the student yearbook staff and their adviser. In a letter to the school board president, the Student Press Law Center and the Journalism Education Association’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee explained that the Illinois Speech Rights of Student Journalists Act protects the editorial decisions of the yearbook staff except under narrowly defined circumstances.

The yearbook controversy in the Glenview/Northbrook high school district follows a similar incident at Bartlett High School, where a yearbook photo showed a group of students holding a Palestinian flag and two signs, one of which read “From the River to the Sea.” The school’s interim principal said the text was “considered anti-Semitic” and temporarily halted distribution of the yearbooks.