Fairfax County Public Schools issued teachers a six-page guide for the 25th anniversary of 9/11 that emphasizes victims, student well-being and preventing anti-Muslim bias while advising educators not to center lessons on the attackers or associate the attacks with Islam or Muslims.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Fairfax County Public Schools in northern Virginia provided teachers with guidance for commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that instructs educators not to associate the attacks with Islam or Muslims and urges them to create supportive environments for Muslim and Middle Eastern students.
The six-page instructional document, titled “25th Anniversary and Commemoration of 9/11,” advises teachers to focus remembrance activities on those killed and those who sacrificed to help others rather than centering discussions on the terrorists who carried out the attacks, according to Fox News.
Under its list of recommendations, the district tells educators not to “associate the 9/11 attacks with Islam or Muslims” and not to “center the extremists or the acts of the extremists.” The guidance also advises against turning a commemorative lesson into an examination of Islam, warning that doing so could convey that Islam or Muslims broadly were responsible for the attacks.
The document includes guidance for responding to racism, hate and bias directed toward Muslim and Middle Eastern students and says the anniversary can intensify anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern rhetoric. Teachers are encouraged to prioritize student safety and wellness and shape instruction around students’ needs and experiences.
The approach has drawn scrutiny because Fairfax County sits only a few miles from the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the building on Sept. 11, 2001.
Fairfax County Public Schools acknowledged that proximity in a statement, saying its community has a “deeply personal connection to September 11 because of our proximity to the Pentagon and the many military-connected families we serve.”
“On the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, we remember the nearly 3,000 people who were killed, including 184 at the Pentagon,” the district said. “We remember the victims, their families, the survivors, and everyone whose lives were forever changed. We honor the first responders whose courage and sacrifice continue to inspire us.”
The district added that it “remains committed to creating an inclusive environment” in which “all students feel welcome and respected.”
FCPS also publicly encouraged students to participate in service activities for the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, saying the anniversary provides an opportunity to recognize “the loss of life, the heroism of our first responders, and the resilience of our country.”
The instructional guide’s emphasis is not on denying that terrorists carried out the attacks but on how teachers frame that history during anniversary commemorations. It describes 9/11 as a coordinated terrorist attack while directing educators to avoid language that could place collective responsibility on Muslims.
Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the attacks, used an extremist interpretation of Islam to justify its violence. The district’s guidance nevertheless distinguishes between discussing the terrorist organization and associating responsibility for the attacks with Islam or Muslims generally.
The guidance comes as schools across the country confront a growing challenge on the 25th anniversary of 9/11: teaching an event to students who were born years after the attacks while deciding how much emphasis to place on the ideology of the perpetrators, the experiences of victims and first responders, and the social consequences that followed.
For Fairfax County, the stated approach places remembrance and student well-being at the center of the anniversary lesson — while explicitly instructing teachers not to associate the Sept. 11 attacks with Islam or Muslims and not to make the terrorists themselves the central focus of commemorative instruction.
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