City Councilor Owen Zaret, who announced his resignation via Facebook on Feb. 4, is pictured during the City Council’s Jan. 22 meeting.
Reminder Publishing screen capture
EASTHAMPTON — City Councilor Owen Zaret announced his resignation on Feb. 4 saying it was time for him to seek joy for himself and his family while continuing to look for places where his “efforts and love for the city and the world can be most productive.”
The resignation comes two weeks after a contentious Jan. 22 City Council meeting where the School Committee read into record a request for censure of Zaret. The request for censure, made by the School Committee, described Zaret being frustrated and not satisfied with the committee’s handling of his requests to address antisemitism within Easthampton Public Schools, eventually escalating to, “incidents of clearly unprofessional and unacceptable conduct,” according to the letter.
“I see promise in stepping out of my role as a councilor to stand with the Jewish community and other communities facing extreme prejudice during this time in history. My love for the city, its people, and its places continues to grow every day, and I will continue in my own way to support Easthampton and demonstrate my affection for this community,” Zaret said in his resignation post on Facebook. “Now more than ever is a time for us to work together and build a community that can engage in respectful dialogue, appreciation for different experiences, and reasoned action. I look forward to future opportunities to gather and build community, to stand with and for eachother during times of difficulty and to appreciate this city we love.”
The City Council Rules & Government Relations Committee canceled its meeting scheduled for the day following Zaret’s announcement. The committee was prepared to review the School Committee’s request for censure during that meeting.
Zaret later gave a public statement to JewsInSchool, a coalition of Jewish organizations, leaders, parents, teachers and students seeking to ensure fact-based curriculum on Jewish identity and history, equal rights, representation, opportunity and safety for Jewish students in pre-K through college.
“I was publicly humiliated by the School Committee for shining a light on antisemitism. I had to resign because I wasn’t going to participate in a modern-day inquisition with a committee that was engaging in antisemitism instead of fighting it,” Zaret said.
When asked about the quote attributed to Zaret, he told Reminder Publishing it was not a direct quote. He added he was still certainly appreciative of the support from Jewish organizations on the matter and it was important to continue combating antisemitism.
The social media post, headlined by “Mass. Jewish City Councilman Zaret resigns due to School Committee persecution of Jews,” is the only public quote appearing to be attributed to Zaret that share his thoughts on being “humiliated” and the claim the committee was “engaging in antisemitism instead of fighting it.” JewsInSchool did not respond to Reminder Publishing’s request for context on Zaret saying it was not a direct quote and their decision behind the post’s framing as one.
Zaret’s comments to Reminder Publishing described a different mindset post resignation.
“I believe at this time I am not involved in any process to discuss or refute the allegations from the School Committee,” he said. “I remain committed to the safety of all students in our schools, and at this time, particularly Jewish students when we live at a time in the country and in Massachusetts, where antisemitic incidences are occurring and documented in our schools.”
As of press time, School Committee Chair Laura Scott did not respond to a request for comment on Zaret’s resignation.
A censure request serves as a formal way of disapproving an official’s conduct and would not have impacted Zaret’s ability to participate in council proceedings and was not a call for him to resign.
The request for censure detailed a series of meetings and communications with Zaret over the past year-plus where the councilor brought forth concerns of antisemitism in the schools and what the district could do about it. According to the letter, Zaret is alleged to have attempted to schedule an unauthorized meeting with the district curriculum specialist and an outside organization — something not allowed as a city councilor.
Zaret told Reminder Publishing that he was under the impression that for those involved in the various meetings on how the district could address concerns of antisemitism, they were to pool potential resources and attempt to schedule this meeting.
“That was my understanding from a conversation I had and if I misunderstood that conversation, I would have already reached out to the other people involved. I would certainly not purposely circumnavigate the process. I was under the impression I was sharing resources that I was asked to share,” Zaret added.
He said his concerns have always been about the manifestations of antisemitism and its complicated framework. While now resigned, Zaret reiterated he was trying to impart this concern on the city to engage in conversation and felt the request for censure was used as a punishment, as opposed to furthering discussions on his raised concerns.
“How [antisemitism] works both consciously and unconsciously is complicated and is tied to centuries of messaging and social constructs. It’s a much longer conversation than I can have here,” Zaret said. “I also think it’s important to acknowledge that everyone involved in the situation seems to have different feelings and opinions about this, and that is OK. I think the problem is we lost an opportunity to sit down and talk about other diverging opinions. I think that would’ve been a better solution here than moving to some form of punishment.”
During the Jan. 22 meeting, where the request was initially read into record, many public speakers spoke in favor of Zaret’s concerns and that the censure was out of line. There were also a handful of former colleagues of Zaret who spoke of personal experiences of Zaret’s history of bullying among city officials.
The full meeting and discussion can be viewed via the Easthampton Media YouTube channel.
Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle provided a statement on the ongoing saga before the request for censure was read into the record.
“The School Committee’s request seems to be more about the actions of a city councilor reaching outside their official duties, rather than the curriculum,” said LaChapelle. “This is something for the School Committee and City Council to address, but it’s concerning to see an elected official’s pattern of behavior take attention away from the important work that the school district is already doing as targeted hate actions, specifically antisemitism in this example, dramatically rise across our nation.”
