Investigation launched into Florida's Bay County School District for alleged antisemitic discrimination

BAY COUNTY, Fla. 

“The school has taken action aggressively to the students as well as to the employee. We’re also in partnership with the state in terms with what’s going to take place with the future of the particular faculty member involved,” said BDS Superintendent Mark McQueen. “So I think we’ve done exactly the right thing, I think we’re in full compliance with the law, and we’ve done everything that anyone would reasonably expected regards to the investigation and the appropriate actions taken subsequently.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the allegations involve an 11th-grade student who was subjected to “antisemitic bullying, harassment and discrimination on a regular basis while enrolled at the A. Crawford Mosley High School in the Florida panhandle, part of a sustained and recurring pattern that had continued against the boy since elementary and middle school through 2025.”

The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into alleged antisemitic discrimination in the Bay County, Florida, School District.

The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said it is opening a complaint to investigate claims the district failed to respond to what it called particularly egregious antisemitic harassment of students.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, OCR will determine whether the District violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) by allowing or failing to meaningfully respond to antisemitic harassment.

In press release from the U.S. Department of Education the claim is described below:

“The District was allegedly aware of antisemitic bullying, including repeated stereotypical comments, conspiracy theories about Jews, and swastikas being drawn in textbooks and on various locations across school campuses. In one instance, a group of students performed Nazi salutes, mockingly wore yarmulkes, and showed highly offensive antisemitic imagery during an in-class presentation. The District allegedly failed to take reasonable and effective responsive action to stop the harassment and prevent its recurrence.”