Rising Antisemitism in K-12 Schools Demands National Attention

As I walked through the US Capitol on May 8th — the day of the Congressional hearings on Antisemitism in K-12 schools — I was imbued with a sense of hope. As the Director of K-12 Educator Outreach for StandWithUs — an international, nonpartisan organization dedicated to combating antisemitism — I had the unique opportunity to attend these hearings in person. It was a moment that many had been waiting for, a chance to bring the harassment and bullying that Jewish students and teachers endure to the forefront of national consciousness.

Since the appalling terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, reports of antisemitism in K-12 public and independent schools across the country have surged to shocking levels. Each week, I engage with teachers, administrators, students, and parents who reach out to StandWithUs for support. They share harrowing stories of discrimination and harassment rooted in their Jewish identity.

Reflecting on my days as a high school teacher and administrator, it’s disheartening to see how the landscape has changed. Disciplinary measures that were once seen as fair are now used selectively to target Jewish students, while their aggressors often face no consequences.

Educational materials, rather than being vetted for accuracy and educational value, are hurriedly pulled from the internet, including platforms like TikTok, which perpetuate misinformation about the October 7, the war against Hamas, and countless other issues.

Numerous teachers’ unions, whose mission is to improve working conditions for educators, have shifted their focus towards taking one-sided positions against Israel, or worse. My former union, the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), has been deeply mired in controversy over antisemitism for months.

The MTA recently held an “anti-racism” panel featuring speakers that Jewish groups decried as boosting “antisemitic and anti-Israel falsehoods.” Two Massachusetts legislators described the event as “two hours of anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda.” Some unions have also promoted curricula that border on or cross the line into indoctrination. This shift is not only damaging to the impartiality expected of educational institutions, but also undermines the professionalism of teachers.

During the Congressional hearings, some lawmakers displayed a deep understanding of the pervasive and enduring nature of antisemitism in educational settings. Representative Kathy Manning (D-NC) gave a strong overview of the problems that are reported to StandWithUs every day. She also raised critical concerns about the corrosive influence of propaganda on social media platforms such as TikTok.

Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) sharply questioned Berkeley School Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel about her district’s contract with the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium (LESMCC), an organization condemned by many, including elected officials, for promoting antisemitic narratives.

He said, “[LESC] grew out of the initial working group to form California’s model ethnic studies curriculum [which] was universally condemned as antisemitic; fourteen members of the legislature, all Democrats, said it is difficult to fathom why the state of California would to actively promote a narrative about Jews that echoes the propaganda of the Nazi regime … so it was revised, but this liberated ethnic studies consortium offers the original version … they split off from the group and said we’re going to stick with the original antisemitic version and that’s the version that you went out and decided to have in your classrooms, is that right?”

Dr. Morthel smiled, thanked him for his question, and told him he was factually incorrect, because they didn’t purchase curriculum from the LESC, they designed it in-house: the money they paid LESC was simply for them to be a “thought partner.” This attempt to sidestep the issue only raises more disturbing questions. Why would any school district pay a group of extremists to be a “thought partner” for anything, let alone ethnic studies courses that are supposed to help fight racism?

However, other members of the committee seemed less prepared. Even worse, Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) tried to actively undermine the fight against hate by giving a representative from the ACLU a platform to promote misinformation about the widely adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. He also seemed to whitewash the long history of systemic discrimination Jews faced across the Middle East, prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.

The hearing was a promising start, yet two hours is scarcely enough to tackle the widespread problem of antisemitism in schools. It is imperative that further investigations are conducted into the many different ways bias and bigotry are finding their way into our schools. Teachers’ unions must be held accountable when they encourage educators to sidestep state curriculum standards and district policies and promote misinformation into the classroom. Congress should increase funding to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to enable it to thoroughly investigate and address violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in publicly funded schools.

The media, too, must play its part by treating antisemitic incidents in schools with the gravity and urgency they deserve. As it stands, Jewish students and teachers are suffering, students are being indoctrinated, and our educational system is woefully unequipped to address these issues. It is time for a systematic effort to ensure that schools remain places of learning and growth, not platforms for indoctrination or institutionalized antisemitism.

David Smokler is the director of K-12 Educator Outreach for StandWithUs, an international nonpartisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism.

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