Jewish Groups Sue California, Charging ‘Unchecked Antisemitism’ in State’s Public School System

A lawsuit filed Thursday charges that students in school districts across California have been subjected to “pervasive” antisemitic harassment and discrimination.The Louis D. Brandeis Center and the non-profit StandWithUs filed the lawsuit against the California Department of Education alleging “unchecked antisemitism festering in school districts across the state.”The filing asks a state court to order the monitoring of schools where “antisemitism is a problem” and order the “elimination of antisemitic curriculum and instruction.” It also asks the court to require antisemitism training for teachers and school administrators.“Plaintiffs urgently need this Court’s intervention because Defendants have failed to ensure that the treatment of Jewish students in California’s public schools conforms to the laws of California, rather than the standards of the European Middle Ages or the Soviet Union,” says the lawsuit filed with the state’s Superior Court at Los Angeles.The California Department of Education did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.The lawsuit lists alleged incidents of antisemitism at school districts throughout California, including at Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Berkeley.In the Los Angeles Unified School District, a third-grade Jewish student at Kester Elementary School was allegedly called “racist” by her teacher and then prevented from performing in a talent show. The lawsuit also alleges that a ninth grader in the Berkeley unified district “saw his art teacher display antisemitic artwork, including a Star of David with a fist punching through it.”“The same teacher promoted a walkout filled with chants that included, ‘[Expletive] the Jews.’ When the student’s mother reported the teacher’s conduct, the school’s solution was to segregate the Jewish student in the library and health center,” the complaint says. The complaint accuses teachers of facilitating the spread of antisemitism in classrooms.“A video created by an Oakland Unified School District teacher shows fifth graders reciting what they had learned, with one student looking into the camera and saying, ‘Another major thing that I’ve learned is that the Jews, the people who took over, basically just stole the Palestinians’ land,’” the filing says. The chairman of the Brandeis Center, Kenneth Marcus, said in a statement, “The California education system is teaching the state’s children that Jewish Americans and Israelis are racists, white supremacists, oppressors, and baby-killers who should be shunned.”“Jewish children and children perceived as Jewish are bullied and excluded by their peers and harassed by their teachers, who silence, mock, and even segregate them if they speak out,” he said. The Brandeis Center says that Jewish parents have filed “hundreds” of complaints over alleged incidents of harassment, discrimination, or bullying, but that the system is “not designed to address systemic discrimination, and complaints and appeals have proven ineffective.” It says the investigations that have taken place are “well past the statutory deadline, and, even when completed, provide little or no relief.”It alleges that the California Department of Education is “aware of the anti-Jewish racism infecting California’s K-12 schools” and has “implicitly acknowledged the problem in letters asking school districts to obey state and federal non-discrimination laws.”But, the plaintiffs say, the department has not taken action to force school districts to crack down on antisemitism, and has “deprived [Jewish children] of the educational opportunities to which all students are entitled.”

Jewish Groups Sue California, Charging ‘Unchecked Antisemitism’ in State’s Public School System

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