The Andover School Committee is looking into the actions and behavior of a high school physics teacher and his possible role in coaching student’s political views against Israel.

This action comes four months after Andover High School teacher Ron Francis posted an article on the Somerville Divestment Project Web site defending Hamas from media bias. Francis’ alleged actions have prompted phone calls and e-mails to the school from parents concerned about how he may have recruited and coached four students in an after-school club and paid them to collect signatures on behalf of the Somerville Divestment Project last fall.

“We really need to find out all the information we can before we take any position at all,” said Andover School Committee member David Samuels, who along with the other members was only recently made aware of the four AHS students who participated in the signature drive. “We’re all elected public officials and it’s our job to know what’s going on before we jump to any conclusions.”...

...According to a number of Somerville residents, including Tom Champion, communications director for the city, one of the signature collectors engaged him in a heated debate when he refused to sign the divestment petition last year.

“I think it would be accurate to say that the mention of [Francis’] name still evokes a strong negative reaction from everyday employees at City Hall who were there during the height of this controversy,” Champion said.

While Francis maintains that his positions are backed by a large number of people in the world and there is no reason to hide his views, Champion suggests that “his methods are not how you make friends and influence people.”...

...Francis insists, as he is quoted in the May 25 Andover Townsman: “There’s a difference between criticizing the policy of the Israeli government and being anti-Jewish.”

Yet witnesses at pro-Israel rallies, where Francis has protested, suggest a different line of thinking. According to a member of the Andover community who wished to remain anonymous, “He’s a fanatic and comes from a point of hate. I don’t feel a love or concern for the Palestinians in his actions and writing but a hatred of Israel.”...

...Francis, a Somerville resident and a coordinator of last year’s Somerville Divestment Project, is an informal advisor to an unofficial after-school club called Students for Middle East Justice, a student-led group. While Francis told the Advocate that students who participate in this group are influenced by many sources – in other words, he does not “coach” them, he said – one of those sources is undoubtedly him. After all, four teens from this club participated in a petition drive last year to prompt the city of Somerville to divest from the state of Israel, an effort that Francis vociferously led. The attempt failed and angered many Somerville residents when Francis similarly turned his back on the American flag during a number of city alderman meetings...

...Would you want a teacher educating your kids who protests at an Israel rally by chanting, “Long live the Intifada?” Even though Francis is alleged to have chanted those words outside of a school setting, the allegations have wound their way into Francis’ physics classroom. That’s more than distracting. That’s wrong.