A New York City special education teacher is the subject of a formal complaint filed with the Department of Education and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels alleging that she joined demonstrators who overran an October 7 vigil in Manhattan's Union Square and that she wore a keffiyeh to school earlier that day.
According to the complaint, filed October 8 by Jewish educator Moshe Spern, Mia Kurzer, a special education teacher at The Heritage School in East Harlem, was among the protesters who took over the Israeli peace group's memorial event and drowned out the reading of the names of people killed in the October 7 Hamas massacre.
The complaint describes demonstrators carrying flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, and Spern told The Post that Kurzer "was comfortable sitting among the Hamas flags and Hamas chants." The chants reported in the complaint include "globalize the intifada."
Spern's complaint also alleges that the same day as the vigil, Kurzer came to school wearing a keffiyeh, the headscarf associated with Palestinian political activism. "That choice made staff and students uncomfortable and signaled political activism inside a New York City public school," Spern said.
The complaint ties the Union Square incident to two earlier episodes that Spern says he already reported to the chancellor. "A year ago I notified you that Ms. Kurzer participated in both protests outside Park East Synagogue on November 19, 2025, and May 2026, at which demonstrators chanted 'intifada revolution,' 'globalize the intifada,' and 'death to the IDF,' and Jewish congregants were obstructed from entering their house of worship," Spern wrote.
Spern argues the sum of the conduct amounts to a pattern of hostility toward Israel and Jewish people, and says the school system should not employ someone who "joins mobs outside synagogues" and then "marks October 7 with a political symbol in the building."
The allegations surfaced as part of a broader round of coverage of the vigil. The New York Post reported Sunday that Kurzer was among the protesters, citing the complaint and separate reporting. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, describing the scene at the vigil, wrote that the memorial turned into "a test of whether the Palestine solidarity movement could make room for Jewish grief," with demonstrators reportedly occupying chairs reserved for participants, including Comptroller Brad Lander and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The complaint itself states that pro-Palestinian demonstrators overran the October 7 vigil organized by Israelis for Peace and drowned out the reading of the victims' names.
Kurzer's participation in anti-Israel protests is not new to public view. In 2024, CNN interviewed her about her involvement in demonstrations at the University of Wisconsin, where she was a student at the time. According to the Post's account, Kurzer described herself as Jewish and said she had attended Hebrew school, information she offered in the context of explaining her protest activity.
The complaint was addressed to Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels and the Department of Education, and its existence was confirmed in the Post's reporting. Spern told the Post that he filed it in the hope that the department would take action, and he framed the issue as one of student and staff protection rather than a matter of one teacher's personal politics. "Jewish students and staff are entitled to a school that does not employ someone who joins mobs outside synagogues and then marks October 7 with a political symbol in the building," he said.
The specific allegation that Kurzer attended the Union Square disruption, wore a keffiyeh to school, and participated in the Park East Synagogue protests has not been independently verified by Next News Network. The complaint is a formal allegation filed with the department, and the identities of the individuals involved in the Union Square incident have been attributed to that complaint and to reporting by the New York Post.
No response from Kurzer or from The Heritage School and the Department of Education was included in the Post's account, and the status of the complaint with the department is not stated in the material available to Next News Network.
Our Take
The reaction to this complaint is really about a simple question: whether a public school teacher who repeatedly joins mobs outside synagogues and chants slogans that cheer on terrorism has any business standing in front of New York City schoolchildren. The complaint lays out a multiyear pattern — Park East in 2025, Park East again in 2026, and now a vigil for the victims of October 7 interrupted by people carrying Hamas and Hezbollah flags. If even half of that is true, the Department of Education has a duty to explain why this teacher is still employed. But the deeper issue is institutional: for too long, school systems have treated anti-Israel activism as a personal matter, even when it plays out in front of Jewish students and staff. Jewish children in New York City schools deserve the same protection as any other group, and a teacher who makes them feel targeted is not exercising free speech — she is abusing a position of trust. The department should investigate promptly and publicly, and if the allegations hold, it should act. Anything less tells Jewish families their grievances are not serious.
