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NEWS, OP-EDs & ARTICLES BACK TO NEWSROOM Resources News Podcasts Blog Filter by Tags Education Policy Elections Ethnic Studies Incidents Indoctrination Law Suits Legislation Politics Teachers Unions Number of articles found: 77 NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination May 8, 2026 Legal challenge to SFUSD ‘Voices’ hits Mayor Lurie Liz Le Friends of Lowell Foundation (FOLF) formally requested a meeting with Mayor Daniel Lurie and senior City Hall officials, citing alleged violations of the California Brown Act in the San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) adoption of the controversial “Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey” curriculum. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Incidents, Indoctrination, Education Policy May 6, 2026 DC JCRC calls out ‘significantly’ elevated antisemitism in Montgomery County, Maryland schools Haley Cohen ‘Too many Jewish students and educators at too many MCPS schools continue to face too many threats,’ said COO Guila Franklin Siegel Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Law Suits, Indoctrination May 4, 2026 Brandeis Center files Title VII complaint against the National Education Association Haley Cohen The leading Jewish legal group alleges that the country’s largest teachers’ union has repeatedly discriminated against its Jewish members Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy, Indoctrination April 26, 2026 Georgia passes landmark transparency law for foreign funding in universities, K-12 schools Haley Cohen The Georgia Solidarity Network and Reps. Esther Panitch and Houston Gaines spearheaded the effort after a report was released documenting Qatari funding of Georgia’s public schools Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Press Release Incidents, Education Policy April 21, 2026 PeerK12 Statement on Politicized Classroom Video at Torrey Pines High School in the San Dieguito Union High School District PeerK12 Staff District-Approved “Men’s Mental Health” Video Created a Politically Charged, Hostile Environment for Jewish Students Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Press Release Education Policy March 19, 2026 The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), in collaboration with PeerK12, announced on Thursday the launch of the San Diego Jewish American Heritage Month Student Contest. CAM & PeerK12 Staff Submissions Now Open for San Diego Jewish American Heritage Month Student Creative Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Law Suits, Incidents February 26, 2026 French teacher sues UN school in New York after enduring ‘15 months of hell,’ Jew-hatred Aaron Bandler “Although the school didn’t terminate her, it was essentially constructive termination, because the environment had become so hostile that she was unable to work there,” Lauren Israelovitch, of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Law Suits, Incidents, Indoctrination, Education Policy February 26, 2026 EXCLUSIVE: The First Antisemitism Lawsuit Against a U.S. State Maya Sulkin & Frannie Block The filing claims Jewish children across California are bullied by peers, targeted by teachers, and taught curricula that portrays them as oppressors - with the state failing to intervene. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Law Suits, Incidents, Education Policy, Indoctrination, Ethnic Studies February 26, 2026 ‘Jewish Students Are Segregated’: Parents Sue California State Education System in First-of-Its-Kind Complaint Over ‘Anti-Semitic Propaganda’ and Harassment Adam Kredo One parent alleged that a ninth-grade teacher organized a walkout that featured chants of ‘f— the Jews,’ while others said schools punished their children for reporting anti-Semitism Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Indoctrination February 8, 2026 'Israelis steal kidneys': Teacher gets fired in California after sharing antisemitic video Lara Sukster Mosheyof “There’s no chance we would allow such a person to enter classrooms,” a local Israeli told N12. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Law Suits, Incidents February 3, 2026 ZOA Settles Antisemitism Lawsuit With Cherry Hill School District Mia Resnicow In June 2024, the ZOA filed a complaint on behalf of a Jewish student at Cherry Hill High School East and his parents relating to the conduct of the school and the school district in response to alleged harassment, intimidation, bullying and free speech violations of said student. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Education Policy, Indoctrination January 27, 2026 Ethnic studies course will continue to be an option for freshman English in San Dieguito Karen Billing As pilot classes continue, the San Dieguito Union High School District board voted this month to continue offering ethnic studies as an optional ninth grade English course for students in the coming school year. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Teachers Unions January 23, 2026 Opinion: Don’t buy blatant deceptions of San Diego Unified’s teachers union Todd Maddison SDUSD’s total cost of certificated pay and benefits in the current school year is expected to be $806 million. Agreeing to SDEA’s demands would add $64.5 million to that cost. There is not enough money to fund existing programs without cuts, and approving those raises would require even larger cuts. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents January 21, 2026 Education Matters: Final findings of San Dieguito human swastika incident Marsha Sutton PeerK12 co-founders Nicole Bernstein and Tamar Caspi responded to the findings in a statement, writing, “The district’s response is riddled with contradictions that defy logic." Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Education Policy December 31, 2025 MVLA school district approves new graduation requirements Giuseppe Ricapito The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District voted to modify the graduation requirements of the class of 2027 and beyond to reflect its truncated ethnic studies requirement. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination December 8, 2025 CDE Files Lawsuit Against OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) Zara Quiter Department of Education ruled Oct. 20, 2025 that OUSD had created a discriminatory environment for Jewish students and staff. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Incidents, Ethnic Studies, Indoctrination December 8, 2025 Students form human swastika on Calif. high school football field - call for ‘annihilation of Jews’ in Hitler-themed Instagram post Joe Burn Eight San Jose high school students formed a human swastika on their school’s football field in a horrifying display of antisemitism that has sent shockwaves through the Silicon Valley community. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Elections, Education Policy, Politics December 8, 2025 Reading the political tea leaves and acting against dangerous candidates Dillon Hosier & Charles Jacobs You don’t need permission to protect your community. You need documentation, coordination and the willingness to act before Election Day. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Ethnic Studies, Education Policy, Indoctrination, Legislation, Teachers Unions, Incidents November 23, 2025 The Ideological Erosion of College Readiness Tamar Caspi & Sharon Ceresnie Sorkin California’s Ethnic Studies mandate, which took hold over the past five years, coincides with a sharp decline in statewide test scores for grades 3-8 and 11 in English Language Arts and math. While activists spent years crafting curricula that demonize America, Israel, Jews, and the West, students were robbed of the opportunity to master fundamentals. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Elections, Politics, Education Policy November 23, 2025 Qatar's Got Talent Eve Barlow Essentially Hosier is in the business of identifying who the next big thing will be. He is on the hunt for future anti-Israel, anti-America, anti-West political superstars, and he is urging pro-Israel networks to come together to mitigate these rises. If Qatar produced a reality talent contest for upcoming American insurgent politicians, Hosier would be the one spotting the winners. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Law Suits, Incidents November 21, 2025 Lawsuit, letter allege persistent antisemitism at private high school in S.F. Emma Goss A parent who withdrew his daughter from San Francisco University High School after a “documented pattern of antisemitic incidents that created legitimate safety concerns for her well-being” has detailed those problems in a lawsuit filed against the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school sports. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Teachers Unions, Education Policy, Ethnic Studies November 20, 2025 The Union Behind California’s Ethnic Studies Antisemitism Problem Tammi Rossman-Benjamin California’s AB 715 was a well-intentioned effort to curb antisemitism in K–12 classrooms, especially ethnic studies. But the bill passed only after teachers’ unions, including the California Faculty Association (CFA) - a politically powerful union representing faculty on all 23 California State University campuses - pressed for changes that stripped key safeguards. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy, Indoctrination, Teachers Unions November 10, 2025 The Elephant on Bruin Walk: UCLA Can’t Curb Campus Antisemitism While Ignoring Faculty-Led Anti-Zionism Tammi Rossman-Benjamin At UCLA, faculty and departments have moved anti-Zionist activism from the margins into university life, becoming a core engine of campus antisemitism. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination November 8, 2025 States are pushing for more scrutiny of antisemitism in schools Carolyn Thompson & Michael Casey Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war have spilled into schools around the U.S., with advocates reporting a rise in antisemitic harassment since the 2023 surprise attack on Israel. While some argue school leaders have failed to take the threat seriously, others warn criticism of Israel and the military campaign in Gaza are interpreted too often as hate speech. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents October 27, 2025 San Dieguito District sets plan for healing in motion following antisemitic act on SDA campus Karen Billing Lucia Gordon, the mother of the student victim of the antisemitism incident, was critical of the district’s response. Gordon said when the incident was brought to light last month, no one ever reached out to her son or family. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy October 26, 2025 The ADL’s Medicine Is Causing the Disease Joel Finkelstein Frames that divide the world into the oppressors and the oppressed create 15 times more antisemites while reinforcing sectarian division and hate on both the left and the right. The cure is a return to the universalist values on which America was founded. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Teachers Unions, Education Policy, Ethnic Studies October 3, 2025 California Teachers’ Union Ruins an Earnest Effort to Confront Antisemitism Will Swaim And in so doing, has helped demonstrate why California’s schools, once among the best in the nation, are now among its worst. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents September 19, 2025 SDA family says antisemitism incident handled improperly Leo Place The San Dieguito Union High School District is addressing an incident from the end of the previous school year in which students allegedly made the shape of a swastika on a field at San Dieguito Academy, with reports that the school’s principal has been placed on administrative leave. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents September 19, 2025 Swastika incident at SDA goes unreported; principal placed on leave Steve Puterski Eight students allegedly formed a human swastika at San Dieguito Academy in May. The principal is now on leave amid accusations of delayed reporting and policy violations. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy August 29, 2025 Beverly Hills Unified to adopt new flag policy after superintendent overrules Israeli flag display Julie Sharp The new policy aligns with the superintendent's directive, "no flags will be displayed on our campuses other than the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of California." Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Elections, Politics August 12, 2025 The Mamdani Index Dillon Hosier How to spot the next anti-Israel political star before it’s too late. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Law Suits, Indoctrination, Education Policy July 21, 2025 Lawsuit filed against Palo Alto school district over ethnic studies Lisa Moreno Parent Alan Crystal and the Louis D. Brandeis Center, a law firm that works to fight antisemitism, filed a lawsuit against the Palo Alto Unified School District on July 21, alleging that the Board of Education violated the Brown Act by passing an Ethnic Studies graduation requirement. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination June 26, 2025 Jewish student sues Seattle school district, claims failure to stop antisemitism Jackie Kent A Seattle family is suing Washington state's largest school district, claiming the administration failed to stop or respond to rampant antisemitic harassment that ultimately led a student to leave her high school. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy June 25, 2025 Carlsbad Unified approves budget at special meeting with board president absent Kasia Gregorczyk Local parents say Kathy Rallings has been controversial for how she treats other board members during meetings and her suggestion to take more than $3 million out of the district reserve funds. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Ethnic Studies, Education Policy, Incidents, Indoctrination June 24, 2025 Ramona Unified postpones high school ethnic studies course for 2025-26 Julie Gallant Ramona Unified School District high school students will continue to be offered the traditional English II course only while plans to pilot an “English 2/English 2 Honors: Ethnic Perspectives in Literature” course are put on hold. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Incidents, Law Suits June 18, 2025 This California Family Is Fighting Back Against a Mandatory ‘White Privilege’ Curriculum Amy Reichert A shocking revelation from a California high school student about discriminatory material he was forced to read has sparked outrage and concern over the growing mandate of race-based curricula in public education. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Teachers Unions, Indoctrination June 13, 2025 Randi Weingarten’s ‘No Kings’ push shows teachers union is prioritizing activism over education Rikki Schlott Critics say unions taking part are undermining their members by taking an overtly partisan stance. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Education Policy, Incidents June 5, 2025 Ethnic studies course is a disaster in the making in SFUSD Carol Kocivar Should a controversial ethnic studies curriculum be mandated in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) without approval by the board of education? Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy, Ethnic Studies, Law Suits May 26, 2025 Opinion: The California ethnic studies mandate is a train wreck Marsha Sutton AB 101 was ill-conceived from the start: no enforceable guidelines, no state standards, no penalties for ignoring guardrails that prohibit discrimination, not even a real definition of what ethnic studies actually means. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: OpEd Ethnic Studies, Education Policy, Incidents, Indoctrination, Teachers Unions May 20, 2025 To Protect Zionism, We Must Reject Ethnic Studies | Algemeiner Nicole Bernstein When a movement tells you — clearly and proudly — that it opposes everything you stand for, the most self-respecting thing you can do is believe them. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Ethnic Studies, Education Policy May 12, 2025 Parents claim ideological bias in Mesa College course at La Jolla High School Noah Lyons The group focuses particularly on what it considers one-sided discussion of the Israel-Hamas war. Mesa College contends the content is 'protected by academic freedom.' Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Ethnic Studies, Indoctrination May 5, 2025 CAM REVIEW | Ethnic Studies: The Dangerous Ideology Quietly Shaping US Classrooms Combat Antisemitism Movement If you’ve ever wondered why young Americans are embracing increasingly extreme views on race, power, identity, Israel, and Jews, this webinar connects the dots with clarity, historical depth, and urgency. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy, Elections, Ethnic Studies, Incidents, Indoctrination, Teachers Unions, Legislation, Law Suits April 24, 2025 The Ethnic Studies to Antisemitism Pipeline: Pajaro Valley Edition Mika Hackner The ideological lens of Ethnic Studies, with its obsession over systems of power and its binary moral structure, aligns all too easily with antisemitic conspiracism. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Incidents, Ethnic Studies, Indoctrination April 10, 2025 California DOE finds school’s ethnic studies curriculum discriminated against Jewish students Grace Gilson A California school's ethnic studies curriculum that included discussions of Israel as a "settler colonial state" was found to have discriminated against Jewish students. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Incidents, Ethnic Studies, Indoctrination, Law Suits April 10, 2025 Bay Area high school districts cited, must provide anti-bias training to teachers John Fensterwald Following investigations, the California Department of Education has verified incidents of antisemitism in two neighboring San Jose-area school districts. In separate decisions, the department ordered both the Campbell Union High School District and Santa Clara Unified to provide anti-discrimination training, and in the case of Santa Clara Unified, training in students’ rights against retaliation. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: OpEd Ethnic Studies, Education Policy, Legislation March 20, 2025 Anti-Israel ethnic studies unfunded in California - Is the fight over? | JPost Op-Ed Tamar Caspi "As parents, we expect our children’s education to promote truth, critical thinking, and understanding—not to serve as a breeding ground for political activism." Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: OpEd Ethnic Studies, Teachers Unions, Indoctrination, Education Policy March 10, 2025 The Ethnic Studies Battlegrounds: Political Ideology, Teacher Unions, and a Divided Jewish Community Nicole Bernstein Subversion and “othering” have proven to be disturbingly effective, contributing to an increasingly fractured Jewish community. This division has made it difficult for us to unite and recognize the external threats we face. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy, Law Suits March 5, 2025 EXCLUSIVE: DOJ Opens Antisemitism Investigation Into the University of California System Gabe Kaminsky The Department of Justice says one of the largest public university systems in the country may be discriminating ‘against employees who are or are perceived to be Jewish or Israeli.’ Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Education Policy, Indoctrination January 22, 2025 Poll of High Schoolers Shows Many Are Taught That America Is ‘Inherently Racist’ Kevin Mahnken As President Trump renews his pledge to combat unpatriotic education, survey evidence suggests that controversial teachings are alive and well. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination, Education Policy, Ethnic Studies, Incidents, Teachers Unions October 31, 2024 The Kindergarten Intifada Abigail Shrier There is a well-coordinated, national effort between teachers, activist organizations, and administrators to indoctrinate American children against Israel. A Free Press investigation. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination, Education Policy, Incidents October 15, 2024 What are your children being taught? Lindsey Burke Look at schools’ websites, their trainings, mission statements, textbooks, curricula, and yes, even your child’s homework assignments. Corporate America is beginning to turn away from institutional DEI. It’s time schools got back to basics, too. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Ethnic Studies, Education Policy September 14, 2024 Parents want to 'collaborate' over new ethnic studies course Ava Kershner “The room was divided, almost as if you had two opposing sides,” said Nicole Bernstein, a concerned parent and co-founder of PeerK12. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination July 24, 2024 Wikipedia’s Jewish Problem Izabella Tabarovsky The site seems to be intentionally trafficking in disinformation related to Jews, Israel, and Zionism Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Teachers Unions, Indoctrination, Elections July 19, 2024 Anti-Israel resolutions on docket for US teachers union JNS News Desk The American Federation of Teachers will vote on proposals that fuel “discrimination and hatred against Jews,” critics say. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Teachers Unions, Indoctrination July 17, 2024 US teacher union criticized for BDS, ceasefire, campus protest resolutions Michael Starr The coalition of Jewish education groups condemned the resolutions for labeling Israel's war against Gazan terrorist organizations as "genocide." Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Teachers Unions, Indoctrination July 16, 2024 AFT to vote on controversial proposals Carl Campanile Proposals including ending US military aid to Israel, protecting pro-Palestinian protesters Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Teachers Unions, Indoctrination July 16, 2024 US Jewish Groups Condemn Anti-Zionist Resolutions Dion J. Pierre Resolutions Considered by American Federation of Teachers Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Ethnic Studies, Education Policy July 9, 2024 StopHateInSchools: Ethnic studies in K-12 Staff Writer Lessons learned and a roadmap for protecting the rights of Jewish students and teachers Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Indoctrination June 24, 2024 The Child Soldiers of Ethnic Studies Neetu Arnold How American students are radicalized against the West Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Indoctrination, Incidents June 13, 2024 How Public Schools Became Ideological Boot Camps Robert Pondiscio In nearly every public school in the country, children are given curriculum materials that have no official oversight or approval. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Press Release Education Policy, Ethnic Studies, Incidents, Indoctrination April 30, 2024 PeerK-12 Official Statement Expressing Strong Objections at the Politicization of San Diego Unified School District’s Jewish American Heritage Month Proclamation PeerK12 It is deeply concerning that the school district has chosen to politicize Jewish American Heritage Month, just as they did Arab American Heritage Month with the inclusion of Edward Said and Doris Bittar, by endorsing figures who polarize and detract from the celebration of a rich and diverse heritage. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Elections, Politics April 4, 2024 When anti-Israel radicals win local elections Dillon Hosier We must mobilize to counter an insidious movement that threatens democracy itself. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Ethnic Studies, Incidents, Indoctrination, Teachers Unions February 14, 2024 Undercover with Liberated Ethnic Studies Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky WITH parents, teachers, and students coming forward with information on mismanagement in their school districts, I believe it is even more important to reveal what I discovered in my almost two years inside Liberated Ethnic Studies. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents December 15, 2023 A different perspective Destiny Avila Ramirez BVH student meeting marks first steps to ensuring a safe community Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Indoctrination December 11, 2023 In San Diego, controversy surrounds an antisemitic imam and his wife JNS Staff Imam Taha Hassane has justified Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, while Lallia Allali [his wife and San Diego Unified School District consultant] posted an image of a Star of David decapitating babies. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Elections, Indoctrination, Incidents November 18, 2023 The Inside Story of How Palestinians Took Over the World Gary Wexler The brilliant Palestinian plan to capture the pliable minds of American college students was laid out in front of me 25 years ago, during a very sinister business meeting in Israel. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy November 4, 2023 Union-Tribune Community Advisory Board member resigns due to repost on personal Facebook Staff Writer Members volunteer their time and talents, and agree to adhere to guidelines, including a prohibition on hate speech or targeting of other people or communities Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: OpEd Indoctrination, Ethnic Studies, Politics October 19, 2023 Opinion: Don’t Be Fooled - ‘Free Palestine’ Is a Call for Ending Israel Brad Bernstein Don’t just take my word for it. Do your own research: search the internet for sources where “Free Palestine” is used to protest in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian State side-by-side with a Jewish State. Go ahead, I’ll wait… Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: Article Indoctrination September 19, 2023 The Cult of ‘Antizionism’ Izabella Tabarovsky American progressive ideologues have formed a new ideology based on the negation of an all-powerful phantasm they call ‘Zionism.’ To fight them, we need to understand the origins of their beliefs in the Soviet academic propaganda apparatus. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy October 23, 2022 How a photo of Hitler in a 7th-grade classroom sparked a debate over antisemitism and school oversight Kristen Taketa Parents and Jewish community members say a teacher’s inclusion of the photo in a classroom display shows the need for ‘real education’ on antisemitism. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy October 18, 2022 San Dieguito board talks next steps in addressing Hitler photo at Carmel Valley school Karen Billing District will hold community forums, staff training around antisemitism and create a new superintendent committee Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Indoctrination October 3, 2022 Hitler 'had strong leadership qualities' says teacher, photo placed with MLK, JFK Michael Starr Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's photo was placed on a board next to inspirational leaders such as Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy December 18, 2021 BVH experiences hate speech, SUHSD responds with resolution Carina Muniz The anti-Semitic post created by students and directed towards IB Environmental Systems and Societies, and AP Environmental Science teacher Jennifer Ekstein is currently under investigation by BVH administrators. In Principal Roman Del Rosario’s statement addressing the hate speech at BVH, he made clear that, with support from SUHSD, BVH would not stand for hate speech. This photo was one of the two attachments in Del Rosario’s statement. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Education Policy, Incidents November 18, 2021 San Dieguito board passes resolutions denouncing antisemitism, discrimination Karen Billings On Nov. 18, the San Dieguito Union High School District passed a resolution addressing antisemitism and affirming the value of Jewish students, faculty, staff, and families. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy October 28, 2021 San Diego School District Passes Resolution to Include Antisemitism in Ethnic Studies Aaron Bandler The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board of Trustees passed a resolution on October 26 to include the teaching of antisemitism in the ethnic studies curriculum. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy October 27, 2021 San Diego School District Commits to ‘Fighting Antisemitism,’ Citing Rise in Hate Crimes Dion J. Pierre The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) adopted a resolution Tuesday denouncing antisemitism and promoting education about the Holocaust, citing a rise in recent years in anti-Jewish harassment on its campuses. Read More NEWS ITEM CATEGORY: PeerK12 in the News Incidents, Education Policy October 27, 2021 SWC Commends Jewish Community Parents Staff Writer Proposed Resolution Passed by San Diego Unified School District to include Anti-Semitism in its Ethnic Studies Curriculum Read More Article

May 4, 2026 Brandeis Center files Title VII complaint against the National Education Association Haley Cohen The leading Jewish legal group alleges that the country’s largest teachers’ union has repeatedly discriminated against its Jewish members Originally Posted In: https://jewishinsider.com/2026/05/brandeis-center-national-education-association-title-vii-complaint/ < Back A leading Jewish legal group has filed a bias complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Education Association, alleging the country’s largest teachers’ union violated civil rights law by discriminating against its Jewish members, Jewish Insider has learned. The complaint, filed Monday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, highlights several incidents in which the NEA - which represents over 3 million educators - allegedly breached Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees, resulting in the spread of antisemitism in K-12 public schools. “Students are arriving to college much of the time already having antisemitic views,” Marci Miller, Brandeis Center’s director of legal investigations, told JI. “We needed to look at the K-12 space to see where this was originating, and we saw that a lot of the false narratives and antisemitic tropes were originating from local teachers’ unions - and in a lot of cases it came from the top, the NEA, which is the umbrella union.” Last summer, the NEA’s Representative Assembly passed a resolution to boycott the Anti-Defamation League’s Holocaust education materials after union delegates complained the ADL’s definition of antisemitism was too strong. While NEA’s board of directors unanimously voted to reject the measure that would’ve ceased relations with the ADL, Jewish educators and parents continue to remain uneasy about rising antisemitism within the union. The 297-page complaint highlights several concerns in the NEA’s 2025 handbook , a 434-page report outlining the organization’s “visionary goals” and “strategic objectives.” Among these examples is official handbook language for International Holocaust Remembrance Day that removed Jews as the primary targeted victims of the Holocaust, reframing the genocide as a generalized tragedy, the Brandeis Center said. The handbook stated that the “NEA shall promote the celebration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 annually on its website and through other appropriate media to recognize the more than 12 million victims of the Holocaust from different faiths, ethnicities, races, political beliefs, genders, and gender identification, abilities/disabilities, and other targeted characteristics. ” Although the language was later revised following public backlash, the NEA did not issue an apology for the erasure of Jewish history from its handbook materials and provided no corrective guidance to members or affiliates. On Oct. 8, 2025, one day after the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, the NEA sent a mass email to its membership celebrating Indigenous lands and distributing a “Native Land Digital” map that erased Israel entirely, labeling the territory solely as Palestine and linking to materials associated with organizations that have expressed support for Hamas’ attacks. After public backlash, the NEA removed the resource and issued a statement that the external resource did not meet its standards, but it did not advise members to stop using the materials or issue an apology to Jewish members. According to the complaint, Jewish members reported facing harassment at the NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly, a convening of the organization’s top leaders from around the country - the same group that voted to censure the ADL. Allegations included Jewish delegates being physically surrounded and shouted at by anti-Israel advocates; delegates laughing after a Jewish delegate referred to the murder of an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor in the Boulder, Colo., antisemitic firebombing attack; and delegates physically intimidating and disrupting the Jewish Affairs Caucus when the executive chair tried to speak. The complaint also alleges that the NEA engages in systematic discrimination by utilizing discriminatory racial quotas and preferences, a practice that harms Jewish members who are excluded from preferred racial groups, denying them equal access to opportunities and full participation in union governance. “NEA is not taking enough steps to make Jewish teachers, Jewish members feel comfortable in the NEA,” said Miller. “They may have taken some minimal steps but haven’t really responded to complaints from members.” The complaint comes as NEA is under investigation by the House Committee on Education and Workforce, as well as the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, following allegations that its policies and materials have fostered an environment conducive to antisemitism in K-12 schools. Previous Next

March 10, 2025 The Ethnic Studies Battlegrounds: Political Ideology, Teacher Unions, and a Divided Jewish Community Nicole Bernstein Subversion and “othering” have proven to be disturbingly effective, contributing to an increasingly fractured Jewish community. This division has made it difficult for us to unite and recognize the external threats we face. Originally Posted In: < Back Education is no longer just about reading, writing, and arithmetic; ideological battles now shape classrooms across the United States. One such battle centers on ethnic studies—originally intended to highlight marginalized voices and foster historical understanding. However, ethnic studies was hijacked right from its inception by political operatives aiming to reshape our nation’s core values. The surge in antisemitism, particularly in K-12 and college settings, underscores the success of these divisive strategies. Subversion and “othering” have proven to be disturbingly effective, contributing to an increasingly fractured Jewish community. This division has made it difficult for us to unite and recognize the external threats we face. The Ethnic Studies Origin Story: Hero or Villain? Ethnic studies began in the late 1960s at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley, with the goal of offering diverse perspectives and reconciling historical truths, though it quickly became a Trojan Horse for radical, anti-American ideology—eroding our nation’s Judeo-Christian, pro-democracy foundations in favor of collectivism, violent revolution, and Marxist totalitarianism. Rather than foster unity, it divides students into categories of oppressors and oppressed, fuels resentment, legitimizes Jew-hatred (including anti-Zionism), and glorifies violent social upheaval. The Data Behind the Concerns Jewish organizations initially dismissed concerns about systemic antisemitism in education, attributing incidents to isolated cases. However, a December 2023 Harvard-Harris Poll revealed disturbing trends: a 900% increase in reported antisemitic incidents in the U.S., with 30% of young Americans under 24 believing Jews caused the Holocaust, 60% believing Hamas was justified in its October 7 attacks on Israel, and 67% viewing Jews as oppressors. These statistics point to a broader educational shift that prioritizes political activism over academic rigor. California’s Ethnic Studies Mandate Controversy Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2025 budget excluded funding for the ethnic studies mandate (AB101), preventing its enforcement as a graduation requirement. While seemingly a victory for opponents, the battle is far from over. Ethnic studies advocates are entrenched among faculty and administrators while school board meeting confrontations confirm a determination to teach ethnic studies regardless of state funding. Moreover, external funding from activist groups and foreign entities shields these programs from financial constraints, allowing them to spread unchecked. Teachers’ Unions: America’s Most Powerful Monopoly Teachers’ unions control nearly every aspect of public education. According to Americans for Fair Treatment, unions allocate twice as much funding to political campaigns as they do to services for members. Teachers’ unions, which dominate oversight mechanisms at the local, county, state, and national levels remain deeply invested in advancing ethnic studies, strategically infiltrating school boards over the past fifty years, and redirecting their focus from teacher advocacy to political activism. At the 2019 National Educators Association (NEA) conference, for example, they rejected a proposal to prioritize “centering student learning” in favor of a resolution mandating Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools. Activist educators have embedded themselves in school systems, promoting antisemitic rhetoric and radical political views. Groups like the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition equate Israel with apartheid and promote figures like Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Leila Khaled, Huey P. Newton, and Angela Davis, while the Marxist-Leninist group Union del Barrio, which calls for the decolonization of Southwestern USA, is influencing school board elections. When Ideologies Become Reality PeerK12 has exposed many incidents which illustrate the extent of the issue locally. The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Equity & Belonging Department has repeatedly distributed anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda as resources to thousands of teachers; they later retracted and apologized but the damage is done. SDUSD was also forced to remove their District English Learner Advisory Committee Chair for sharing violent anti-Israel imagery. Unfortunately, she also served on the district’s Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee, and currently does teacher training for the Liberated Ethnic Studies Consortium. In San Dieguito Union High School District, a middle school teacher proudly displayed a picture of Adolf Hitler as an example of “great leadership skills.” She vehemently refused to remove the photo but was finally forced to after PeerK12’s mobilization efforts. That incident also resulted in the district creating the Superintendent’s Jewish Parent Committee. In Poway Unified School District, a PTA president and DEI VP was removed, and that DEI committee was dismantled, after we exposed her promotion of extreme antisemitic rhetoric while leading diversity efforts across the K-12 district. Another district enacted new policies for “Multicultural Day” after we exposed anti-Israel paraphernalia being distributed under the guise of a Palestinian heritage display. A history teacher at High Tech High International publicly undermined a Jewish student’s presentation on Israel’s 1948 War, replacing it with a pro-“Nakba” narrative while exempting other students from such scrutiny. After many meetings the teacher was forced to publicly apologize for the incident in front of the entire class. At Francis Parker School, a history class provided heavily anti-Israel biased materials with inflated casualty stats. PeerK12 was allowed to audit the history department curriculum, resulting in removal of biased materials and the restoration of factual lesson plans. Groups like ours are fighting back through monitoring curricula for biased content, advocating in school board meetings and parent coalitions, using legal action including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to challenge antisemitic discrimination, and engaging with school board candidates to restore educational integrity. A Fight for the Future of Education The ethnic studies battle extends beyond education—it represents a battle for the ideological future of America’s youth. It is also a crucial issue for the American Jewish community, which faces the risk of further division or, alternatively, the opportunity for unity in the fight against this radicalization. Teachers’ unions and activists have spent decades embedding their agenda in public schools. We must act to undo this damage by reclaiming school boards, holding unions accountable, and advocating for objective, non-politicized curricula. Until this is achieved, education will remain a battleground for the ideological hearts and minds of Americans. Previous Next

October 19, 2023 Opinion: Don’t Be Fooled - ‘Free Palestine’ Is a Call for Ending Israel Brad Bernstein Don’t just take my word for it. Do your own research: search the internet for sources where “Free Palestine” is used to protest in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian State side-by-side with a Jewish State. Go ahead, I’ll wait… Originally Posted In: https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2023/10/19/dont-be-fooled-free-palestine-is-a-call-for-ending-israel/ < Back There has long been a debate if anti-Zionism is the same as antisemitism. This is not a new debate, but recent events prove why it is most certainly the same. The practice of Jew-hatred goes back millennia, and has manifested in many ways, but it has always been the same Jew-hatred our ancestors experienced. The widely accepted definition of antisemitism, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and adopted by more than 40 United Nations member states including the U.S. Government, includes “the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” This definition is important because Jew-haters use the term “Zionism” and “Israel” interchangeably, when in reality they are referring to the Jewish people as a whole . For example: anti-Zionists justify their sentiment as “anti-colonialism,” “anti-oppression,” and “anti-racism.” On the surface, all of those might seem like prudent social justice causes (depending on your nuanced political opinion), however they are all lies rooted in antisemitism and all with one common: hatred. More specifically: Jew-hatred. Each of these baseless claims against Zionism and Israel is a one-to-one copy/paste from ancient antisemitic tropes that have been used generation after generation to justify and legitimize the persecution and murder of Jews. It serves as their proof for why it’s actually necessary to exterminate Israel (ie. Jews) in order to keep the world safe for all non-Jews; and, in fact, these heinous acts of atrocities must not even be questioned by their followers. In 2017, we were collectively appalled when we witnessed neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville where white nationalists chanted, amongst other vile epithets: “The Jews will not replace us.” There was broad condemnation of what happened in Charlottesville as racist and unacceptable, and again in Poway and Pittsburgh , and that same condemnation should be applied to the Free Palestine marches. Through some perverted twist of reality that we’ve unfortunately seen in previous iterations throughout history, Israel is being blamed for the massacre of its own civilians by the pro-Palestinian movement, cloaked under the social justice phrase of “Free Palestine.” At rallies taking place on college campuses and in cities around the world we hear chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free!” This is not a rallying cry for a two-state solution and it is not about freeing an oppressed group to live peacefully in the world order. Otherwise, a more appropriate slogan would be: “Free Palestine from Hamas,” a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization that has profited to the tune of billions of dollars in aid from the US, Europe, and the Gulf States while their citizens live in squalor. No, it’s about a one-state solution that is free of Jews. The chant specifically calls to rid the land of Israel from the Jewish people . The Hamas charter explicitly states to “fight Jews and kill them” and to “obliterate” Israel “in the name of Allah.” Their mission became as clear as ever this past week when terrorists raped women and children, murdered parents in front of their children and murdered children in front of their parents, and burned and decapitated babies. The murder spree was so indiscriminate that they killed Palestinian peace activists, Thai and Filipino workers, and Arabs. The terrorists also kidnapped and took hostage innocent babies and children, young adults at a peace concert, the handicapped, the elderly (including Holocaust survivors), and Israeli soldiers. Don’t just take my word for it. Do your own research: search the internet for sources where “Free Palestine” is used to protest in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian State side-by-side with a Jewish State. Go ahead, I’ll wait… And while you are researching, find one source that will even simply denounce the barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas last week. Again, I’ll wait… So when you hear the chant “Free Palestine” you are hearing people supporting these brutal and inhumane, racist, Jew-hating, murderers who have done some of the most horrific acts ever documented. “Free Palestine” might sound like a simple resistance movement. But to me it’s the same as “the Jews will not replace us.” ---- Brad Bernstein lives in Carmel Valley where he works in the technology sector. He is the son of immigrants who left South Africa during apartheid. He is also a former IDF soldier who lived in Israel for 10 years. Previous Next

October 3, 2025 California Teachers’ Union Ruins an Earnest Effort to Confront Antisemitism Will Swaim And in so doing, has helped demonstrate why California’s schools, once among the best in the nation, are now among its worst. Originally Posted In: https://californiapolicycenter.org/unions-ruin-antisemitism-effort/ < Back California has a problem with antisemitism in its public schools, but the proposed remedy — a massive new regulatory agency outlined in a bill on the governor’s desk — will do approximately nothing to end the madness. But not exactly nothing: If you’re a leader of the state’s powerful teachers’ union, debating “settler colonialism” in Israel, the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, genocide, the virtues of Hamas, and whether American Jews are “white” or “white-adjacent” (and in either case equally “privileged”) is far better than confronting the union’s role in the 40-year decline of public education in California. In February, months before it arrived on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk, Assembly Bill 715 started life as a laser-focused response to the problem of antisemitism in the state’s schools. Approved unanimously in the state assembly, it seemed certain to move through the state senate with a standing ovation, ticker tape falling from the gallery, and a college drumline. Instead, the bill ran into the state’s powerful California Teachers Association (CTA). Lengthy negotiations followed. By the time the state senate approved the bill and moved it to the office of Governor Newsom, AB 715 had become something different and even malign : a blueprint for the creation of a massive new office of civil rights attached loosely to California’s education department — an office charged with policing “violations” of the civil rights of all of the familiar racial, ethnic, and gender-fluid identities favored by the far left . . . plus antisemitism. It’s small comfort that, among its new employees, AB 715 “would also require the Office of Civil Rights to employ the Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate” — all of whom benefit magnificently from CTA political campaign activities. The legislation even helpfully provides a job description for that employee: “to, among other things, develop, consult, and provide antisemitism education to school personnel to identify and proactively prevent antisemitism and to make recommendations, in coordination with the executive director of the state board, to the Legislature on legislation necessary for the prevention of antisemitism in educational settings.” That’s a lot of developing, consulting, and recommending in the proposed law. But there’s little — if any — obvious authority. And that’s one reason to bet that Gavin Newsom will sign the bill: In this fight between his allies in the state legislature’s Jewish Caucus and the California Teachers Association — itself a kind of fourth branch of government — AB 715 is the perfect political solution: a do-nothing law that promises to do everything. But there is a silver lining. In blocking real reform, AB 715, the California Teachers Association has revealed why California’s schools, once among the best in the nation, are now among its worst. * * * In its July letter opposing the assembly measure, the CTA makes it clear that its highest priority isn’t the education of students. It’s about progressive politics. The letter opens with a prefabricated declaration that the union is (of course) “firmly committed to schools that are free of racism, sexism, religious and gender discrimination.” The implied “but” arrives promptly: “We are also concerned with academic freedom and the ability of educators to ensure that instruction include perspectives and materials that reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of all of California’s students.” The union tips its hand immediately, and all of its cards are political. Supporting the assembly version of AB 715, the union says, would offer comfort to the real enemy — “a regime [a regime! ] in Washington D.C. that sows division at all levels of academia and seeks to drive a wedge between communities that should be working together to address hate and discrimination.” To make matters worse, the CTA says, the assembly version “would unfortunately arm some others” — “ill-intentioned people” — with the tools they “seek to weaponize public education.” The CTA knows this will happen because, it says, these “extremists” have already filed “meritless” complaints “meant to disrupt or challenge policies that support LGBTQ+ inclusivity or to target LGBTQ+ students and staff.” But the CTA’s biggest concern about the antisemitism bill is that it might “privilege” Jews over other groups, and that would undo the union’s primary political objective of advancing the rights of some groups above others — not of eliminating “privilege,” in other words, but of granting privilege to the people CTA believes deserve it. The letter allows us to watch as the CTA performs a magic trick in reverse, stuffing a rabbit back into a top hat, turning the problem of antisemitism into merely one problem among many. As approved in the assembly, the CTA asserts, AB 715 would “impose limits and define standards for course instruction regarding Israel, Palestine, Zionism, or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, something that we don’t do for any other active conflict in the world, e.g., conflicts in Ukraine, Rwanda, Congo.” Union “members have expressed concerns about lifting these experiences of inequity above those of other groups,” the letter claims. “Focusing on antisemitism alone might be seen as prioritizing one form of discrimination over others, potentially alienating groups facing other forms of systemic discrimination, such as racism, Islamophobia, or anti-LGBTQ+ bias.” The bill’s key provision, the creation of a state Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator, would “not address any other forms of hate or discrimination, something that is equally needed.” “Equally needed”? Equating the very real problem of antisemitism in public education with other “forms of hate or discrimination” ignores reality. There is, thank God, no pedagogical effort in California schools — no curriculum, no program, no courses, no teacher, no third-party vendors or nonprofits — working to resuscitate the Ku Klux Klan, marginalizing Muslim children, forcing young women into a handmaid’s tale of barefoot early motherhood, or campaigning to vilify gay kids. None of that exists. On the other hand, the CTA and its hundreds of local affiliates — and the thousands of state and local officials, from the governor to every local school board member, whose political campaigns those unions fund — have indeed run a very well-organized campaign to bash Jews. * * * The strange fruit of the teachers’ unions’ formalized antisemitism is evident everywhere in the state’s public schools. Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israelis, the Oakland Unified school board backed Hamas. “We want to make sure Palestinians have the liberation they so rightfully deserve in their own land,” said board member Valarie Bachelor, switching seamlessly between singular and plural first-person pronouns . “I want to make sure we stand on our progressive organizing history and we don’t just sit on it. We stand on it and we say we need to do more and we need to do this now.” Leaders of the city’s teachers’ union, the Oakland Educators Association , amplified the board’s declaration with their own statement calling for the elimination of Israel. More than 30 Jewish families left the district. “I just felt that there wasn’t a path forward for Jewish families because I had reached out to OUSD and asked them to have a conversation about how they were going to keep Jewish families feeling safe and included,” one parent explained . “When there were lesson plans that were being taught that said, ‘Draw the Zionist bully,’ or ‘I for Intifada, J is for Jesus,’ to me, it felt like – honestly – we were being targeted and singled out and alienated.” In February 2024 , the Louis D. Brandeis Center and the Anti-Defamation League filed a federal complaint against nearby Berkeley Unified, alleging “severe and persistent” antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students. The complaint cited students being taunted with such slurs as “You have a big nose because you are a stupid Jew,” asking what their “number is” (an apparent reference to Holocaust tattoos), a teacher posting “messages of anti-hate” targeting the district’s only Jewish teacher, and antisemitic imagery in art classes. Some students have departed the district. Anti-Israel teachers marched students in Berkeley’s middle school and high school out of classes in 2024 protests — in one case to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack. Across the Bay, immediately following the October 7, 2023, attack, the San Francisco Unified School District hired the Arab Resource and Organizing Center to run student and teacher trainings “related to leadership development and cultural empowerment.” AROC describes itself as a group of “abolitionists, feminists, and internationalists who believe that the liberation of SWANA (South West Asian and North African) people is inextricably tied to the liberation of all oppressed people.” Meanwhile, the district’s antisemitism training for teachers ran into organized resistance from teachers’ union activists. By contract, the district could require teachers to attend the training — but not to listen. Members of the American Jewish Committee asked to run that training say that as soon as their training began, a leader of United Educators–San Francisco stood up and described “at great length” his own take on the problem of antisemitism: it’s an exclusively right-wing phenomenon, the union leader asserted. He then led most of the teachers out of the room for a separate conversation. By then, the clock on the formal training had nearly run down. We could go on and never exhaust the catalog of formalized antisemitism. In July 2024, federal officials concluded that Jewish students in the central coast town of Carmel were “subjected to pervasive, antisemitic harassment over a three-year period, exposed to repeated swastika graffiti in bathrooms and on desks, a Hitler reference and a verbal threat targeting Jewish people.” California officials say two ethnic studies teachers in the nearby city of Campbell violated state law by presenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a “one-sided anti-Zionism” lesson. In Los Angeles, teachers at an August 2024 United Teachers of Los Angeles Leadership Conference were caught on video training their colleagues to “advocate and leverage your positionality” in the classroom in order to “globalize the intifada” — that is, to help Los Angeles students understand the putative link between the war in Gaza and their own struggles in California. In April, officials at a meeting of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District upbraided Jewish parents for their objections to an ethnic studies curriculum that singled out Jews for their white privilege. “I’ve been a little bit taken aback by the lack of acknowledgement of the economic power historically held by the Jewish community,” said board member Joy Flynn. “I don’t see you people at protests against immigration,” said board member Gabriel Medina. “I don’t see you at protests when people are being taken away right now. I don’t see you advocating to bring back Abrego Garcia or Mahmoud Khalil. I don’t see you guys doing that. You only show up to meetings when it’s beneficial for you, so you can tell brown people who they are.” Days later, the district’s superintendent offered the usual anodyne explanation that, their Jew-bashing notwithstanding, Pajaro Valley “stands firmly against all forms of racism, antisemitism, and hate.” The most prominent case erupted in Southern California’s Santa Ana Unified, where that district, the eighth largest in the state, settled a lawsuit in February 2025 over its ethnic studies courses. The highlight in that showdown came when district officials offered the defense that they were merely relying on guidance from the California Department of Education. The department’s 2019 draft Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum condemned Israel and otherwise omitted mention of Jewish Americans. The compromise version released a year later still allowed districts to include materials linked to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. * * * It’s much easier to opine on the plight of the Palestinian people and to assert what’s simply not true about Israel than to defend the 40-year decline of public education in California. And what a trajectory: Data emerging from the most recent national student testing shows that all U.S. students continue to fall behind their global counterparts in math, writing, and science . The decline has been especially steep in California. Despite spending more per student than any other state in the union, California consistently ranks among the nation’s worst states for public education . Some California teachers’ union leaders deny they’re running a political campaign with children as their targets. Others admit that’s the plan — and accept any learning loss as a necessary trade-off. Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers of Los Angeles, famously told a reporter , “It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables...They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup .” It was Myart-Cruz who, confronted with a parent rebellion over lousy teacher performance, launched a UTLA “research project” to track the ethnic identity of the union’s public critics. Like most teachers’ union websites in California, the United Teachers of LA website looks like an advertisement for the Democratic Socialists of America: it’s a visual cacophony of demonstrations, bullhorns, protest signs, and clenched fists. To paraphrase the old joke, those who can’t do, teach — and those like Myart-Cruz who can’t teach fall back instead on controversial political ideologies they half-learned as college sophomores in order to lecture California K–12 students about the evils of Israel. It’s time to end that sort of pedagogical sleight-of-hand — to stop bashing Jews. Terminate teachers who, misunderstanding the actual job for which they’ve been hired, prefer to use their classrooms as indoctrination camps. California could follow that with a classic California practice: the burning of sage in every school and government building in the state, after which, having banished all bad spirits, it could return to the teaching of math, English, and science along with the classroom practices that once made a California education the envy of the world. Will Swaim is president of the California Policy Center and co-host with David Bahnsen of National Review’s “Radio Free California” podcast. Previous Next

July 16, 2024 AFT to vote on controversial proposals Carl Campanile Proposals including ending US military aid to Israel, protecting pro-Palestinian protesters Originally Posted In: https://nypost.com/2024/07/16/us-news/aft-to-vote-on-controversial-proposals-including-ending-us-military-aid-to-israel-protecting-pro-palestinian-protesters/ < Back America’s second-largest teacher’s union has drafted a group of resolutions calling for the end of US military aid to Israel — and defending the anti-Israel protests that have rocked campuses across the country. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — which is affiliated with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) that represents most teachers in New York City public schools — will vote on the controversial proposals at its national convention starting in Houston next Monday . One of the resolutions, which calls for a cease-fire between the Jewish State and the terror group Hamas, demands a halt to US military assistance that enables the “violent dispossession” of Palestinians. “American military cannot be used in ways that facilitate the seizure of Palestinian land, the violent dispossession of Palestinian communities and the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory,” the resolution reads. A related eyebrow-raising proposal even goes so far as suggesting the US is “enabling genocide” in Gaza. “[A]s long as Israel continues to block substantive and meaningful aid to Gaza, the AFT calls for the US to halt military aid to Israel,” it says. Another resolution calls for anti-Israel protesters to be protected — even after violent demonstrations have swept college and school campuses since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish State. “[T]he AFT expresses solidarity with those students, faculty and other academic workers across the United States who have faced repressive and violent crackdown of their protests in the war in Gaza,” the resolution reads. “[T]he AFT demands that campus administrators cease their campaign of threats, suspensions and expulsions against peaceful protesters and cease using law enforcement agencies to disrupt and attack them,” it continues. The proposal also defends the demonstrations as “academic freedom” and “free speech.” A coalition of pro-Israel educators swiftly condemned the resolutions as antisemitic. “These resolutions not only marginalize our Jewish students, families, and staff but also contribute to an environment of fear and hostility in our schools,” said Tova Plaut , an instructional coordinator and founder of the New York City Public School Alliance. “By targeting Zionism and falsely equating it with colonialism and racism, these resolutions promote a dangerous narrative that fuels discrimination and hatred against Jews.” Amy Leserman, chairwoman of the Los Angeles-based Educators Caucus for Israel also denounced the proposals as “blatantly bigoted.” “It is astounding that AFT leadership has allowed this, and so many other, blatantly bigoted resolutions to move forward, when they are clearly motivated by values contrary to the purpose of the AFT,” she said. Even AFT’s maligned president, Randi Weingarten — a Jew who self-identifies herself as a “progressive zionist” and whose spouse is a rabbi — has opposed resolutions supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. She co-wrote an op-ed column in April for USA Today with Karen Marder, the pro-Israel New York teacher who was forced to hide in a locked office as an angry mob tried to push its way into her classroom at Hillside High School in Jamaica in November. Many students became enraged to learn she was photographed at a vigil for the victims killed two days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attac k on Israel. In a statement on Tuesday, Weingarten singled out only one resolution for support — calling for “an end to the war in Gaza and lasting peace, security and self-determination for Israel and Palestine.” Her silence on the anti-Israel resolutions signals that they will likely be defeated. “As we head into our annual convention, here’s a reminder that the AFT is a democracy where locals can submit resolutions. And they do. Plenty of them. Proposals are simply proposals unless they are considered and passed at our delegated, democratic convention,” Weingarten said in a statement on X. “I support Resolution #30 that opposes anti-Semitism and hate of any kind, and that reflects our Executive Council resolution unanimously passed in January,” she continued. “I have been clear throughout this difficult time — hate of all kinds is antithetical to the values we promote as a union and as professionals in our schools. We are a movement driven by love, not fear.” Still, pro-Israel educators slammed that resolution as well, for trying to prevent Israel from defending itself after being attacked by Hamas in a declaration of war. Resolution 30 declares that there is “no military solution to this conflict” and blames “far-right” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “prolonging” the war. “Netanyahu has an interest in prolonging the war to escape the public scrutiny of his colossal failure to protest Israel’s citizens and his own pending criminal prosecution,” the resolution reads. “While Israel’s initial case of war — self-defense against the criminal acts of Oct. 7 — was just, the ways in which the Netanyahu government has prosecuted it — its sanctioning of indiscriminate and disproportionate violence, resulting in a massive civilian death toll — has made it unjust.” The coalition of pro-Israel educators labeled the resolution as “offensive.” “It is offensive for a union based in the United States to tell a sovereign nation how to conduct its defense and equate a democratically elected government with Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization designated as such by the US Department of State,” the group said. 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May 6, 2026 DC JCRC calls out ‘significantly’ elevated antisemitism in Montgomery County, Maryland schools Haley Cohen ‘Too many Jewish students and educators at too many MCPS schools continue to face too many threats,’ said COO Guila Franklin Siegel Originally Posted In: https://jewishinsider.com/2026/05/montgomery-county-public-schools-d-c-jcrc-antisemitism/ < Back The leading Jewish advocacy group representing the Washington, D.C., area is raising the alarm on a uniquely high rate of antisemitic incidents in Maryland’s Montgomery County public school system. Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said Tuesday that the JCRC is receiving “significantly higher” reports of antisemitism out of MCPS, located just outside of Washington, than others in the region. Montgomery County’s public school system is the largest school district in the state and hosts a sizable Jewish student population. The statement comes amid a new report from the Anti-Defamation League showing that Maryland ranked ninth in total antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2025, two-thirds of which occurred in Montgomery County. Among the top ten states with total incidents, Maryland ranked first in the percentage of incidents occurring at K-12 schools, at 34%. “While the details vary, these incidents reveal a harsh truth: too many Jewish students and educators at too many MCPS schools continue to face too many threats,” said Franklin Siegel, whose statement came the day after JCRC leadership met with MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor and his senior management team. Incidents in recent months include anti-Jewish and anti-Israel graffiti on school walls, most recently at Greenwood Elementary School last weekend; inflammatory anti-Israel messaging at Olney Elementary School’s recent cultural night; “Heil Hitler” gestures and speech occurring at middle school events; and, according to JCRC, “physical threats and harassment directed toward Jewish students at multiple schools.” Franklin Siegel said MCPS and JCRC leadership discussed “progress on the steps MCPS needs to take to protect Jewish students, educators, and staff.” “Our messages were simple: MCPS must establish a zero-tolerance policy on antisemitism and other forms of hatred and bias; train and empower administrators and teachers to correctly identify and respond to antisemitism; and rigorously enforce disciplinary codes, making it clear that anyone who engages in antisemitic or other hateful behavior will face meaningful consequences,” Franklin Siegel said. MCPS said it “will be in compliance with recently adopted state law requiring anti-bias training for school educators and staff” starting in August, according to Franklin Siegel. The school district also committed “to improv[ing] school participation rates in JCRC’s gold-standard Student to Student and Holocaust speakers’ programs” and to “drafting specific guidelines for culture and international nights. The district must ensure these events are safe and educational for all students and families, not political battlefields,” she added. But Franklin Siegel called on the school district to go further in protecting Jewish students. “MCPS should follow the lead of other schools in our area by incorporating specific antisemitism training as well,” she said. “More lessons about Jewish history beyond antisemitism and the Holocaust should be included in its curricula. And given that bias incidents are so often connected to the proliferation of hate speech online, MCPS also needs to discipline students who harass and bully Jewish students on social media accounts, even when those accounts are not formally affiliated with schools. The district has that authority, and principals must enforce it.” MCPS, which serves over 156,000 students, did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider . Previous Next

June 25, 2025 Carlsbad Unified approves budget at special meeting with board president absent Kasia Gregorczyk Local parents say Kathy Rallings has been controversial for how she treats other board members during meetings and her suggestion to take more than $3 million out of the district reserve funds. Originally Posted In: https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/north-county/carlsbad-unified-approves-budget-at-special-meeting-with-board-president-absent/ < Back CARLSBAD, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — The Carlsbad Unified school board held a special meeting Wednesday to approve the district budget, but the board president was absent. Local parents say Kathy Rallings has been controversial for how she treats other board members during meetings and her suggestion to take more than $3 million out of the district reserve funds. Ahead of that special meeting, a rally was held calling for accountability and for Rallings to be removed as board president. “I was shocked at the tone of the meetings, the bullying, the incivility in those meetings by the board president ,” said Teressa Wallace. “Everybody can disagree, but the decorum needs to matter. This is a professional setting,” said Jeff Adams. Beyond behavior, concerns have been raised about Rallings’ suggestion to move more than $3 million out of the district’s reserve funds with no specific way to spend the money. Members of the public and the board disagreed, citing uncertainty at the state and federal level for education funding. “Staff has recommended that we keep the reserves in place until we know what the budget is going to look like and that’s one of the main issues why we don’t want this $3 million transferred out of the reserves. We want to keep that to make sure we can keep our teachers and maybe hire a couple more if we have the room to do that,” explained Scott Davison, Executive Director for the Carlsbad Education Alliance . With disagreement over the budget, the special meeting was scheduled, but Rallings did not show up. She did provide a statement that reads in part: “I have consistently advocated for these dollars to be invested in our students and classrooms, rather than sitting unused in an account for over a decade. It is difficult to justify the existence of a $3.1 million reserve when we are telling parents and teachers, they need to buy basic classroom materials like tissue paper and glue sticks, or when the district staff claims, they can’t afford to reduce class sizes or counselor caseloads.” Ultimately all four board members present voted unanimously to pass the budget without withdrawing the money Rallings requested. Previous Next

July 17, 2024 US teacher union criticized for BDS, ceasefire, campus protest resolutions Michael Starr The coalition of Jewish education groups condemned the resolutions for labeling Israel's war against Gazan terrorist organizations as "genocide." Originally Posted In: https://www.jpost.com/bds-threat/article-810692 < Back The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is set to vote on seven proposed resolutions touching on divestment from Israel, an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire, and anti-Israel campus protests at its July 22-25 Houston national convention, drawing ire and criticism from US Jewish and pro-Israel groups. The resolutions were condemned on Monday by the New York City Public School (NYCPS) Alliance, Educators Caucus for Israel, Partners for Equality and Educational Responsibility in K-12 (PeerK12) , and StandWithUs as antisemitic. AFT President Randi Weingarten said on social media on Tuesday that the union was a democracy in which many proposals were submitted, but until adopted should only be considered as proposals. Weingarten only issued support for a ceasefire in Gaza. The 88th AFT National Convention will discuss a resolution submitted by the Berkeley Federation of Teachers proposing that the second largest teacher’s union call on teachers’ pension funds to divest from companies that it claimed facilitated Israeli “human rights violations and violations of international law as part of prolonged military occupations, apartheid, and genocide.” The proposal for the AFT International Relations Committee listed Boeing, General Dynamics, Caterpillar, Palantir Technologies, and Valero Energy as examples of companies that the Berkeley teachers believed should be boycotted. The same Berkeley group submitted a resolution calling on the US government to immediately end all military aid to Israel as long as Israel blocked “substantive and meaningful aid to Gaza.” Two other divestment resolutions called for the sale of AFT’s sole foreign state bond, an Israeli bond valued at $150,000. An AFT Oregon proposal resolved not to purchase further bonds from Israel, while the resolution submitted by American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Advocacy, University of Illinois Chicago Graduate Employees, and University of Vermont Medical Center Support Staff United would position AFT against the purchase of bonds from any foreign governments. The latter proposal explained that the divestment should be pursued because of the IDF’s supposed “scholasticide” of Gazan education facilities and alleged killing of healthcare workers and destruction of medical centers. The Jewish groups lambasted the two resolutions for singling out Israel as discrimination, and accused the proposal proponents as seeking “to support the ongoing effort to eliminate Israel as the democratic state of the Jewish people.” Jewish groups say singling out Israel is "discrimination" The coalition also attacked a resolution proposal for solidarity with campus anti-Israel protesters, arguing that it sought to endorse activists who engaged in protests that disregarded the rights and safety of Jewish and Israeli students and staff. The Chicago Teachers Union had proposed that the AFT demand that academic administrators cease suspensions, expulsions, and use of law enforcement agencies to respond to the protests, which since mid-April have included the occupation of campus buildings and grounds with encampments. The proposal claimed the protests sought humanitarian aid passage, a ceasefire, and the release of hostages, and that administrators were engaging in “state-sanctioned violence” against the exercise of free speech. A resolution calling for an immediate bilateral ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian aid, and release of hostages held by Hamas was also submitted for the convention. The United Faculty of Miami Dade College proposal condemned the October 7 massacre and loss of Palestinian life in the subsequent Israeli operation, arguing that there was no military solution to the conflict. Hamas was criticized for sacrificing Gazans to achieve its political ends and was charged with not being a credible partner for peace, but also condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his “far-right government” as an obstacle to lasting peace and a two-state solution. NYCPS, ECI, PeerK12, and SWU contended that an American workers union should tell another state how to defend itself and slammed any equivocation between Hamas and the democratically elected Israeli government. A seventh resolution submitted to the AFT’s Human Rights Committee by AAUP Advocacy opposed the May Antisemitism Awareness Act and its Senate companion piece, arguing that the legislation, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition for antisemitism and similar definitions censored political speech. The proposal described such measures as the “weaponization of antisemitism” to censor Palestinians and dissenting views on the Israel-Hamas war. The Jewish groups alleged that the resolution would allow AFT members to exhibit antisemitic behavior without consequences. “This motion claims that Jews should not define Jew-hatred, thereby undermining our right to protect ourselves from discrimination and violence,” said the groups. PeerK12 co-founder Nicole Bernstein said in a statement that “Each one of these anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and anti-Jewish resolutions is based on propaganda and politically subversive and ideologically driven lies; exposing yet again the deeply unsettling and obvious lack of merit, or even the slightest desire of the AFT to adhere to the indisputable facts and historical accuracy that one might expect from a national association.“ The coalition called on educators, policymakers, and community members to condemn the resolutions and for the AFT to withdraw them from the conference agenda. Previous Next

April 4, 2024 When anti-Israel radicals win local elections Dillon Hosier We must mobilize to counter an insidious movement that threatens democracy itself. Originally Posted In: https://www.jns.org/when-anti-israel-radicals-win-local-elections/ < Back In the shadow of Oct. 7 and the subsequent discord on campuses and in the streets, an alarming question has emerged: What happens when activists from anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) move on from student government to real government? This is no longer a hypothetical scenario. It happened in the last local election in West Hollywood, Calif., which has historically been strongly pro-Israel. The ascent of Chelsea Lee Byers—an SJP activist and chapter founder—to the office of vice mayor should be a wake-up call. It highlights the need for proactive political engagement as antisemitism spreads into local, state and federal government. Byers’s ability to successfully conceal her extremist agenda behind her innocent-seeming nonprofit organization Beautiful Trouble is a warning sign of a significant threat to the Jewish and pro-Israel communities, as well as the integrity of local government. Her story is a cautionary tale. You would never guess that Byers is the voice of a violently antisemitic and anti-Israel movement. At first glance, she appears no different from any first-time local elected official. This is not a coincidence. Byers rose from radical activism to real political power in the course of a decade. In 2012, she tweeted, “I am the President of Northern Arizona University’s SJP—let’s make this day of action huge!” In 2022, she ran in her first election. Mere weeks after Oct. 7, she was sworn in as vice mayor. Throughout her activism, Byers engaged in regular anti-Israel defamation. She called for boycotts, an end to foreign aid and war crimes trials of Israeli officials. In 2011, she protested an appearance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In what was likely a deliberate lie, she falsely accused the hosting organization of sexual assault. In fact, she simply had to be physically removed from the event due to her deplorable behavior. In 2018, Byers led a protest at the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles at which the crowd chanted the genocidal slogans “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” What may be most dangerous about Byers, however, is the insidious nature of her tactics. In 2021, when it was clear she was going to run for public office, she tried to erase her digital footprint and hide her anti-Israel incitement. This strategic rebranding was only the beginning. Byers uses her nonprofit organization Beautiful Trouble to conceal her commitment to virulent anti-Israel ideologies. Though it claims to advocate for social justice, Beautiful Trouble regularly crosses the line into outright anti-Israel hate and incitement. Its social media platforms and public rhetoric are rife with demonization, distortions and racist stereotypes against the Jewish state. Multiple sources prove Byers’s involvement with Beautiful Trouble. Indeed, her official biography on the City of West Hollywood’s website identifies her as a “core team member” of the organization. Before the 2022 election, Beautiful Trouble’s website directed donations to Byers’s home address, showing her direct financial association with the organization. A more complete bio at Women’s Voices Now states, “Chelsea is part of the Beautiful Trouble collective, where she facilitates resources development and content creation for an online toolbox that supports organizers and activists around the globe.” Byers’s idea of activism is insidious and deceptive. Beautiful Trouble, for example, advises : “Don’t dress like a protester. … Dress like a Republican so you can talk like an anarchist.” This manipulation of public perception enables more overt expressions of Byers’s agenda. As an example of the latter, Beautiful Trouble’s website features a quote that attempts to rationalize Hamas’s terrorism: ”Hamas explains itself. It is a demonstration in both senses of the word: a protest and an exposition of the reasons for that protest.” This clearly attempts to legitimize a U.S.-designated terrorist group and downplays its atrocities. It further advances the agenda of demonizing Israel and Jews with the rhetoric of social activism. Byers was elected vice mayor by a slim margin of 54 votes. But she did not abandon her divisive anti-Israel agenda. She simply changed tactics. From her election victory to Oct. 6, she maintained a low profile with little overt activism. This changed dramatically following the horrific atrocities of Oct. 7. In the wake of the atrocities, Byers has more or less openly supported the monstrous pro-Hamas “protest” movement that has taken to America’s campuses and streets. For example, she posted, “Keep showing up in the streets to #shutitdown4palestine.” A sitting vice-mayor clearly should not be inciting mob events. It is not just reckless but a blatant dereliction of her official duties. Then there is Beautiful Trouble’s “Get Up, Rise Up Direct Action Fund. ” This initiative is a cornerstone of the organization’s anti-Israel efforts. It funds “creative, provocative actions” ostensibly to advocate a ceasefire in Gaza, which is little more than an attempt to rescue Hamas from destruction. Byers’s involvement in this effort raises serious questions. In particular, about the potential funneling of public resources—whether funds, permits or official endorsements—towards initiatives aligned with Beautiful Trouble. This would constitute a very disturbing conflict of interest. In a recent post on Instagram, Beautiful Trouble shared an image that manipulated a well-known fast-food brand’s logo with the words “Genocide You Can Taste” and “Since 1948”— the year of Israel’s establishment. Beneath the altered logo is the defamatory phrase “IS-RA-HELL.” Byers’s decision to platform such content in the context of rising antisemitism is profoundly disturbing given her office. It irresponsibly fuels antisemitism, compromising the safety and security of the Jewish and Israeli communities in West Hollywood she has sworn to serve. The rise of Chelsea Lee Byers should serve as a stark warning to the Jewish and pro-Israel communities. It raises the question of whether, as a radical anti-Israel activist who continues to support a radical anti-Israel organization, she can truly represent all the citizens of West Hollywood. Byers’s journey also exemplifies how radical campus environments are serving as incubators for the next generation of anti-Israel and antisemitic political leaders. These leaders will leverage their disreputable skills and tactics to win elections, starting with local city councils and school boards. Extremism and antisemitism are threats to democracy itself. Complacency is not an option. We must mobilize at the local level to counter this insidious movement. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that our governments at all levels are not hijacked by those who threaten not just Jews and Israelis, but all Americans. Dillon Hosier is CEO of the Israeli-American Civic Action Network. Previous Next

August 29, 2025 Beverly Hills Unified to adopt new flag policy after superintendent overrules Israeli flag display Julie Sharp The new policy aligns with the superintendent's directive, "no flags will be displayed on our campuses other than the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of California." Originally Posted In: https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/beverly-hills-unified-school-board-to-adopt-new-flag-policy-after-superintendent-overrules-israeli-flag-display/ < Back After the Beverly Hills Unified school board reversed its decision to display Israeli flags on campuses during Jewish American Heritage Month. It adopted a permanent district-wide policy to display only U.S. and California flags. The new policy aligns with the superintendent's directive, "no flags will be displayed on our campuses other than the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of California." "Given the volume of public attention, international media coverage, and ongoing threats against district staff and students, it is both urgent and prudent for the Board to adopt a clear, permanent policy defining what flags may be flown or displayed on district property," as written in the BHUSD special board meeting agenda. In a written Aug. 28 message to the BHUSD community, Superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss cited Board Policy 2210 to reverse the board's vote, doing so out of "heightened safety concerns around the displaying of flags on our campuses." He said he decided to take immediate action for the safety and security of the students. At Tuesday's board meeting, the resolution to showcase the Israeli flag passed 3-2, with supporters saying it's needed in a time of rising antisemitism. "This should be a no-brainer for a school district that represents one of the only Jewish-majority communities outside of Israel," said Beverly Hills Vice Mayor John Mirisch during the Aug. 26 meeting. BHUSD Board Member Russell Stewart said at Tuesday's meeting that the resolution was in support of the district's Jewish students and the Jewish community. There was opposition at the board meeting, with some people speaking out against flying the flag of any foreign nation, while others pointed out that other groups of people face hate as well. "Jewish communities have suffered sharp increases in hate crimes, but other groups are not immune to these attacks either," said Gay Abrams, in opposition to the proposal. Previous Next

January 23, 2026 Opinion: Don’t buy blatant deceptions of San Diego Unified’s teachers union Todd Maddison SDUSD’s total cost of certificated pay and benefits in the current school year is expected to be $806 million. Agreeing to SDEA’s demands would add $64.5 million to that cost. There is not enough money to fund existing programs without cuts, and approving those raises would require even larger cuts. Originally Posted In: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/01/23/opinion-dont-buy-blatant-deceptions-of-san-diego-unifieds-teachers-union/?share=outisiutisrr1bispcbn&fbclid=IwY2xjawPnZjRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe0EjFdrs5oEh-CpGH6_EBokfO9fwkwsB3l9umQTpJzZpU1m07e7uw0aqfC5Q_aem_aX_XCOC09WMRnUjOJ8dtng < Back Teachers unions around the state are attempting to negotiate for higher compensation, many coordinated by the California Teachers Association as part of its “We Can’t Wait ” initiative. At the same time, school districts around the state are in dire financial condition, with four on the verge of requiring state and county intervention and 20 more being watched closely for signs they will not be able to pay their bills. San Diego Unified’s union, the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) is one of those asking for higher pay and benefits. SDUSD is not on the list of financially endangered districts, but is heading that way. Projections in the district’s 2025-26 first interim financial report predict it will need to use money from its reserves to avoid insolvency. According to these projections, SDUSD will need to pull $29.7 million from reserves this year to pay its bills, and make cuts of $47.7 million in 2026-27 and another $113.1 million in 2027-28. With 90% of the district’s budget going to employee compensation, there is no way to make such cuts without impacting programs and services that help educate kids. Meanwhile, the SDEA is proposing a new contract that would raise its members’ pay and benefits by 8% . In 2024, full-time certificated employees in the district made a median total compensation of $156,482 , according to public pay records obtained from the district and published by Transparent California . An 8% raise would increase this to about $169,000. SDUSD’s total cost of certificated pay and benefits in the current school year is expected to be $806 million . Agreeing to SDEA’s demands would add $64.5 million to that cost. There is not enough money to fund existing programs without cuts, and approving those raises would require even larger cuts. The SDEA has now scheduled a strike for Feb. 26. Union officials say this is related to violations of their contract on special education staffing. SDEA Union President Kyle Weinberg is quoted as saying they want the district to “prioritize staffing that directly supports students.” Improving services for special education is certainly a worthy goal, but is that really the union’s priority? Its words are contradicted by the actual numbers, which clearly prioritize higher pay and benefits for adults. And those numbers define the money needed to educate kids. The SDEA bargaining updates page claims if this raise is not approved teachers will get “no raise this year.” That ignores the fact that the salary schedule — still in place — gives most educators a raise every year. This makes both statements blatant deceptions. These are not disagreements over facts, because both the cost of their demands and the normal raises in their salary schedule are black-and-white numbers. Isn’t deceiving the community and parents to take money away from funding for the education of their kids and giving it to yourself particularly bad? To paraphrase the SDEA’s December bargaining update , it’s pretty clear their negotiating positions actually “reflect priorities that are deeply out of touch.” Out of touch with what parents want for their kids, and out of touch with what kids need from their school. State testing shows barely 56% of SDUSD’s kids are proficient in English, and slightly over 45% are meeting standards in math. Improving special education should be done, but perhaps instead of forcing the district to make even deeper cuts in education to improve the bank accounts of well-compensated adults, the San Diego Unified board should consider improving funding for programs and services that actually improve education for kids. The common talking point in these negotiations is that teachers deserve “fair pay.” Teachers are essential and work hard. Whether $156,000 is “fair” for this is in the eye of the beholder, but damaging the education of kids by striking for more money for adults is certainly not fair to them. Maddison, an Oceanside resident, is a founder of both the San Diego Schools and Parent Association advocacy groups as well as the director of research at Transparent California . Previous Next

Since 2021, PeerK12 has been on the front lines protecting K–12 education from Jew-hatred and extremist agendas. With expertise in ethnic studies, school district politics, and Jewish Civil Rights advocacy —we are unapologetic in our work to expose and remove antisemitism in elementary, middle, and high schools at the root. PARTNERS FOR EQUALITY & EDUCATIONAL RESPONBILITY JEWISH CIVIL RIGHTS IN K-12 FIGHTING FOR unapologetically GET HELP NOW Since 2021, we've been working alongside parents nationwide to address institutionalized Jew-hatred in their school districts. We're parents ourselves - so we know what it's like to try and navigate the K-12 system and the frustrations of having your concerns trivialized or even ignored. The system is complicated, confusing, and cumbersome. Purposefully so. But we're here to help. We act like first responders and protect the victims when it matters most; and then we go after the root cause to make sure it never happens again. PeerK12 Incident Response: DONATE TODAY TO HELP US PROTECT JEWISH CIVIL RIGHTS IN K-12 DONATE NOW! When Jew-hatred and intolerance go unchallenged, PeerK12 steps in as a proactive and relentless force for accountability and change. Report an Incident Our expertise extends beyond incidents management - we also handle discrimination related to ethnic studies, curriculum issues, school district politics, and violations of Jewish Civil Rights at the state board of education level. Resources PARENT TESTIMONIAL It was only after we reached out to PeerK12 that the hate incident against our child was escalated and the district FINALLY did anything. If it hadn't been for PeerK12, the District would have just swept this under the rug & gotten away with it! Read Our Latest Updates Read Now Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month with PeerK12 & $30,000 in scholarships Learn More

June 18, 2025 This California Family Is Fighting Back Against a Mandatory ‘White Privilege’ Curriculum Amy Reichert A shocking revelation from a California high school student about discriminatory material he was forced to read has sparked outrage and concern over the growing mandate of race-based curricula in public education. Originally Posted In: https://www.iwfeatures.com/reports/this-california-family-is-fighting-back-against-a-mandatory-white-privilege-curriculum/ < Back A high school student in the San Diego Unified School District has come forward with explosive claims that the district is forcing students to take a controversial “Ethnic Studies” class that focuses heavily on lessons about “white privilege” and “whiteness” — with no option for opting out. The student, Jordan*, told IW Features that the Ethnic Studies class, which covers topics such as “unconscious white privilege” and “whiteness,” is mandatory for all students. In fact, when Jordan tried to change classes, he was informed that the course was required for graduation. “When I asked my counselor to change classes, I was told I could change, but I am required to complete the class for graduation. So, if I opted out now, I would still be required to take it later,” he said. Jordan, who comes from a mixed-race background, said he felt personally targeted by the content, which focuses heavily on race and privilege. “The whole unit focuses on ‘white privilege,’” he said, adding that the material made him feel discriminated against because it singled out white students. “I felt like I was being targeted as a person of lesser value than other people. I felt discriminated [against] and singled out.” Jordan’s mom shares her son’s concerns about the class. ”When my son came to me about concerns he was having with the material in class for the past two weeks, I thought it was a joke,” she told IW Features. “I was in disbelief that this was really being taught in school until my child showed me several examples of the lessons. How is this something my high school student is being forced into as a high school graduation requirement?” The issue raises questions about the power of school districts to impose controversial educational content on students without providing an opportunity for parents and students to opt out. As Jordan’s mom put it, “My son asked to be taken out of this class and was told it is a San Diego Unified School District requirement to graduate.” Ethnic Studies and the Controversy Behind It The district’s “white privilege” curriculum is part of a broader push for ethnic studies programs that, by 2030, all high school students in California will be required to complete in order to graduate. The requirement stems from state legislation, Assembly Bill No. 101, signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, that says all public high schools must offer at least one ethnic studies course starting in the 2025-26 school year, and that all public high school students must complete at least one of these semester-long courses to graduate. San Diego Unified rolled out its own Ethnic Studies curriculum well before this requirement was set to go into effect. The curriculum, which is used in more than 10 Ethnic Studies courses designed to help students meet this graduation requirement, includes a wide range of topics related to race, identity, and social justice. Unsurprisingly, many of these courses promote a very one-sided view of these issues—a view that critics, including Jordan’s family, say amounts to ideological indoctrination. In response to these developments, Julie Hamill, a California attorney specializing in educational law, particularly related to civil rights violations in schools, reviewed San Diego Unified School District’s curriculum material and believes that they may violate federal law under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. Hamill also has offered to assist students and parents who feel their rights have been infringed upon by helping them file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Is This the Future of Education? This situation highlights the increasing politicization of education in California, where state mandates are pushing controversial, leftist ideologies onto students. As the debate heats up, the question remains: Should students be forced to take courses that focus heavily on race and privilege as a requirement for graduation? And more importantly, do parents and students have the right to challenge these mandates when they believe they conflict with their values and beliefs? The answer, according to California families such as Jordan’s, is obvious. But it might just take a lawsuit to force state officials to agree. *A pseudonym has been assigned to protect the storyteller’s privacy. Previous Next

August 12, 2025 The Mamdani Index Dillon Hosier How to spot the next anti-Israel political star before it’s too late. Originally Posted In: https://www.jns.org/the-mamdani-index/ < Back The victory of New York state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral primary surprised many observers. He was outspent and lacked the traditional power brokers. He still won. A well-organized and politically extreme movement is beginning to reshape national politics, fostering anti-Israel positions early in the careers of state and local officials. For the pro-Israel community, the mission is urgent and clear: Build nimble and effective state and local pro-Israel networks. And do it now. That work is beginning through a collaboration that pairs Israeli-American Civic Action Network’s (ICAN) state and local monitoring and research with the Jewish Leadership Project’s network of activists. Guided by ICAN’s analysis, this network can focus on emerging threats and begin responding in key communities, laying the groundwork for coordinated and effective action before anti-Israel figures get too entrenched. Mamdani’s record did not appear overnight. We at ICAN first took notice of Mamdani in July 2023, when he introduced the “Not on Our Dime ” Act as a state legislator, targeting pro-Israel nonprofits while promoting rhetoric and alliances that signaled extreme radicalism. Unfortunately, in that pre-Oct. 7 summer, our warnings never had the chance to be acted upon. For several years, our organization has been building a framework for state and local political research to monitor and report on the public affairs activities of elected officials. Mamdani’s candidacy underscores the need for such a system. It operates as a political threat index—focusing on state and local officials - and identifies, tracks and scores anti-Israel positions before they mature into national influence. State and local politics are often a game of musical chairs, where political careers are made. Today’s city council member becomes a state legislator. Today’s state legislator becomes a member of Congress or the mayor of a major city. We can now track these officials, assessing the direction, pace and substance of their political trajectory in real time. The scale is significant, but quantifiable. At the state level, there are 7,383 legislators, and at the local level, a little more than 19,000 city councils, 16,000 school boards and 3,000 county governments. Anti-Israel coalitions understand this math and have targeted these offices for years. Our index distills years of research and analysis into five areas: First, substance: what officials say about Israel, Gaza, the BDS movement and antisemitism in speeches, interviews and written statements. Second, volume: how often anti-Israel messaging appears and whether it spikes around crises. Third, policy: votes, sponsorships and amendments that target Israel or Israeli-American civil society. Fourth, coalitions: links to groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SPJ), as well as participation in related events. Fifth, patterns: how positions escalate over time and how networks reinforce those shifts. This index goes beyond a scorecard. We examine the whole official, including social-media activity and engagement patterns; constituent newsletters and press releases; event attendance; and endorsements, given and received. The aim is to identify leading indicators that voting records alone will hide. Just two weeks after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in Richmond, Calif., after hours of public testimony, Mayor Eduardo Martinez advanced a resolution accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment and urging a ceasefire. Richmond became the first city in the United States to adopt a ceasefire resolution - a symbolic yet influential move that was repeated by dozens of municipalities in the weeks that followed. Earlier this year in Massachusetts, State Representative Erika Uyterhoeven filed H.2984 to direct the state pension fund to divest from companies supplying military equipment to Israel unless those firms pledge to stop. The measure singles out Israel in statute and gives advocates a nationwide test case in a mainstream legislature. In Maryland, State Delegate Gabriel Acevero introduced the “Not on Our Dime ” Act. The bills would expose Maryland-registered nonprofits that support Israel to civil suits and penalties, including loss of charitable status. These are names you’ve likely never heard before, and these three officials are just the beginning. There are many more like them around the country. Officials build an Israel-centered brand, align with national advocacy networks and replicate a familiar package of policies and phrases. By the time the wider public notices, the infrastructure is in place. These are the proof points used to tune the model. Early detection allows engagement where education is still possible and organized opposition where it is not. Previous Next

October 15, 2024 What are your children being taught? Lindsey Burke Look at schools’ websites, their trainings, mission statements, textbooks, curricula, and yes, even your child’s homework assignments. Corporate America is beginning to turn away from institutional DEI. It’s time schools got back to basics, too. Originally Posted In: https://www.stripes.com/opinion/2024-10-17/what-are-children-being-taught-crt-15538356.html < Back In the 1984 horror film “Children of the Corn,” a mysterious entity lures children to turn against their parents to guarantee an abundant corn harvest. Fast-forward 40 years, and a mysterious entity in Montgomery County, Md., is enticing children to turn against the Western world. Nestled just north of Washington, D.C., Montgomery County is among the nation’s wealthiest. Parents tend to earn a living as lawyers and lobbyists, as doctors and defense analysts. They are think-tankers and journalists, and of course, many are bureaucrats entrenched in high places in federal agencies. It’s as “inside the beltway” as you can get. Their progeny are the Children of the Swamp. It matters what this next generation is taught. It matters what children from anywhere in America are taught, of course, but what this next potential crop of federal workers and business and industry leaders learns in school could have an outsized effect on our nation’s future. That may help explain why Montgomery County Public Schools went out of its way to caveat its promotion of the toxic ideology of critical race theory. The district — the 14th largest in the country with more than 160,000 students — put out a statement on CRT in which, as the kids would say, the words “established legal theoretical framework” are doing all the work. The statement reads in part: “While Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) does not teach students the established legal theoretical framework known as Critical Race Theory, our school system does not shy away from its longstanding commitment to providing students with the tools to explore the evolution of our nation … ” Clever. Because while the district may not offer a pre-law class on CRT or critical legal studies, the destructive ideology of CRT has made its way into core subjects in the district’s catalog. Take the honors English course at one MCPS school. While the course description reads like a standard English honors class — students read drama and epic poetry, historical literature, imaginative literature, etc. — class assignments seem to have gone off the critical theory rails. In a lesson on “Literary Theory and Criticism” we obtained, students are provided with six lenses through which to examine books they’ve read: Marxist; gender studies & queer theory; critical race theory; psychoanalytical; feminist; and historical/biographical. Other frameworks like formalism, structuralism and reader-response are deemphasized in favor of the more radical flavors of literary criticism. Why are 10th-graders being encouraged to analyze “Catcher in the Rye” through a Marxist lens? Andy why are honors English students learning Marx rather than Milton? The Montgomery County example is but one in the entrenched CRT infrastructure built into many K-12 schools today. Whether it’s CRT itself or newer vintages like California’s ethnic studies graduation requirement , critical theory has permeated the ivy walls of academia and firmly cemented itself in elementary and secondary education. Colleges of education have played a huge role in its dissemination. Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” is among the most assigned texts in colleges of education. As the American Enterprise Institute’s Rick Hess and I found, up to one-third of education school faculty who study race do so through a critical theory lens . In colleges today, there are, on average, 3.4 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees for every 100 tenured faculty. And K-12 districts nationwide are replicating this bureaucracy. Nearly 80% of the country’s largest K-12 school districts employ chief diversity officers, mirroring the trend in higher education, according to research by my Heritage Foundation colleague Jay Greene. Parents should feel confident voicing their opinions about the content being taught in their children’s school. When they have concerns that an honors English class, for example, is emphasizing critical theory and Marxist analysis, they should not hesitate to speak up to their school principal or at school board meetings. Public schools are taxpayer-funded entities, and as such, parents should not shy away from expressing their opinions about what these institutions are teaching the next generation of Americans. Are they teaching that America is a force for good in the world, or that it is systemically racist and must be dismantled? Are they teaching that all men are created equal, or that children are born as either an oppressor or oppressed? Are schools teaching that truth is relative or that it is knowable and worth pursuing? Look at schools’ websites, their trainings, mission statements, textbooks, curricula, and yes, even your child’s homework assignments. Corporate America is beginning to turn away from institutional DEI. It’s time schools got back to basics, too. Previous Next

October 31, 2024 The Kindergarten Intifada Abigail Shrier There is a well-coordinated, national effort between teachers, activist organizations, and administrators to indoctrinate American children against Israel. A Free Press investigation. Originally Posted In: https://www.thefp.com/p/abigail-shrier-the-kinderfada-revolution < Back In August, the second largest teachers union chapter in the country—there are more than 35,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles —met at the Bonaventure Hotel in L.A. to discuss, among other things, how to turn their K-12 students against Israel. In front of a PowerPoint that read, “How to be a teacher & an organizer. . . and NOT get fired,” history teacher Ron Gochez elaborated on stealth methods for indoctrinating students. But how to transport busloads of kids to an anti-Israel rally, during the school day, without arousing suspicion? “A lot of us that have been to those [protest] actions have brought our students. Now I don’t take the students in my personal car,” Gochez told the crowd. Then, referring to the Los Angeles Unified School District, he explained: “I have members of our organization who are not LAUSD employees. They take those students and I just happen to be at the same place and the same time with them.” Gochez was just getting warmed up. “It’s like tomorrow I go to church and some of my students are at the church. ‘Oh, wow! Hey, how you doing?’ We just happen to be at the same place at the same time, and look! We just happen to be at a pro-Palestine action, same place, same time.” The crowd burst into approving laughter. Seated at a keffiyeh-draped table, Gochez said, “Some of the things that we can do as teachers is to organize. We just have to be really intelligent on how we do that. We have to know that we’re under the microscope. We have to know that Zionists and others are going to try to catch us in any way that they can to get us into trouble.” He continued: “If you organize students, it’s at your own risk, but I think it’s something that’s necessary we have to do.” He told the audience of educators that he once caught a “Zionist teacher” looking through his files. Gochez warned the crowd to be wary of “admin trying to be all chummy with you. You got to be very careful with that, even sometimes our own students.” John Adams Middle School teacher and panelist William Shattuc agreed, a keffiyeh around his neck. “We know that good history education is political education. And when we are coming up against political movements, like the movement for Zionism, that we disagree with, that we’re in conflict with—they [Zionists] have their own form of political education and they employ their own tools of censorship.” What are the “tools of censorship” employed by Zionists? Apparently, they include accusing teachers who rail against Israel in the classroom of antisemitism. "They try to say antisemitism, which is really ridiculous, right ?” said Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona, ethnic studies teacher at Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in Los Angeles. Cardona recently received a National Education Association Foundation Award for excellence in teaching . “What they do is they conflate. Part of that is by putting the star on their flag ,” Cardona said, referring to the Jewish Star of David. “Religion has nothing to do with it.” But, she insists, that the course she teaches, and whose curriculum she helped develop—ethnic studies—is fundamentally incompatible with supporting Israel. “Are you pro-Israel—are you for genocide?’ And if anybody were to say, ‘Okay, sure,’ that’s really not ethnic studies.” (Gochez, Shattuc, and Cardona did not return requests for comment.) It’s tempting to dismiss this as one more bull session among radical teachers leading a far-left public-sector union. If only. Four years ago, I was among the first journalists to expose the widespread incursion of gender ideology into our schools. Once-fringe beliefs about gender swiftly took over large swaths of society partly thanks to their inclusion in school curricula and lessons. Today, extensive interviews with parents, teachers, and non-profit organizations that monitor the radicalism and indoctrination in schools convinced me that demonization of Israel in American primary and secondary schools is no passing fad. Nor is it confined to elite private schools serving hyper-progressive families. As one Catholic parent who exposes radicalism in schools nationwide on the Substack Undercover Mother said to me: “They’ve moved on from BLM to gender unicorn to the new thing: anti-Israel activism. Anti-Israel activism is the new gender ideology in the schools.” Parents who watched in alarm as gender theory swept through schools will recognize the sudden, almost religious conversion to this newest ideology. And very few educators are standing against it. Much of the anti-Israel vituperation slides into classrooms through a subject called ethnic studies. In 2021, California became the first state to adopt it as a requirement for receiving a high school diploma. Legislatures of more than a dozen states have already followed suit, incorporating ethnic studies into K–12 curricula. In principle, these laws require schools to teach the histories and cultures of African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Latinos, and Native Americans. In practice, they grant teachers license to incorporate lessons that often divide civilization into “oppressed” and “oppressor.” A primary fixation of ethnic studies is demonizing Israel . Activist-led organizations readily supply instructional materials. Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC ), Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA ; creators of the Teach Palestine Project ), Teaching While Muslim , Jewish Voice for Peace , Unión del Barrio , and the Zinn Education Project regularly furnish distorted histories with eliminationist rhetoric against Israel. Especially in the year since the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023, the anti-Israel materials have become pervasive. It’s not surprising that they are found in world history and current events lessons. But demonization of Israel is now taught in art, English, math, physics, and social-emotional learning classes. Anti-Israel activism spreads through online curricula that are password protected, eluding parental oversight. It is pushed by teachers unions, furnished by activist organizations, and communicated to children through deception. (“We just happen to be at the same place at the same time.”) Anti-Israel radicals willingly stake their jobs for their cause. “So how do we do all this without getting fired?” Gochez asked his assembled audience of public school teachers. “That’s the million-dollar question. And I don’t know how in the hell we have not been fired yet because I know for sure they have tried, but we have to organize. That’s the bottom line. If they come after one of us, the district has to know that it will be a bigger headache for them to try to touch one of us than it would be to just leave us alone.” All for the sake of indoctrinating other people’s children. Jewish Students Fend for Themselves Last year, Ella Hassner was a senior at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California. In the weeks and months after October 7, she says, her school erupted with anti-Israel propaganda. To combat the anti-Israel posters that appeared in classrooms and hallways, the school’s Jewish club received approval from the principal to put up posters of the hostages. Within thirty minutes, the posters were torn down, Ella, who has U.S.-Israeli citizenship and is now 18 years old, told me. Another Jewish student I spoke to, “Benny,” confirmed this, adding that he and his friends had witnessed one teacher tearing the posters down. Teachers regularly pushed the idea to students—in class and on social media, where they were followed by their students—that “Zionists” were committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. A large majority of American Jews, 85 percent , support the State of Israel. Zionism refers to the movement that established a modern Jewish state in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland. Given the quantity of anti-Israel propaganda flooding American K–12 schools, it’s perhaps unsurprising that children would turn against their Jewish classmates. This past year saw a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in K–12 schools. Students verbally attacked Jewish classmates in terms that echoed the very charges laid by their teachers against the State of Israel. “Baby killer” and “Violent Zionist” became popular epithets. Two girls in Ella’s class began to harass her, she told me. A subsequent school district investigation report, obtained by The Free Press , confirms her account. The girls said to her: “Your people are terrorists.” The girls created posts on social media that claimed “Israeli babies are not real humans,” and attacked Ella’s family, tagging Ella’s younger brother. Ella filed a “bullying report” with the school in February. Although the principal had personally witnessed some of the behavior, he and the associate superintendent consulted the school district’s legal counsel and decided “that the complaint would not be investigated by the district,” according to the investigation report. In February, the school hosted the annual district-wide vocal talent show. Several students sang songs celebrating their ethnic heritage. Ella and a female friend sang their approved song, “Someone Like You” by Adele, and then added another: a Hebrew pop anthem, “Yesh Bi Ahava,” which translates to “There’s Love Inside Me.” They announced the song was “dedicated to their families in Israel.” Ella says the associate superintendent pulled the duo aside after the performance and said the staff and other students were greatly upset and offended by the Hebrew song and the dedication. According to the district investigation report, the associate superintendent also informed the girls that “she would be following up with the principal the following week to discuss the matter.” The investigation found that the district did not take disciplinary action against Ella. (In response to request for comment, a spokeswoman from the district stated that the district could not discuss specific cases. She also wrote that staff was “made aware of several allegations of antisemitism. We took each complaint seriously and responded with great care to make sure our community of students, staff and families felt safe.”) In March of 2024, Ella stood at a town hall with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and recounted many of these incidents to get them on record. (Khanna said there should be “zero tolerance” for what Ella described and offered to help if the district did not respond to her complaints.) Ella ended her town hall speech with the advice that she gives her younger siblings: If anyone mistreats them for being Jewish, “they should come to me, not to the school.” Conversations with seventeen Jewish parents whose children attend public school in Northern California suggest that that is an understandable reaction. Since October 7 of last year, hundreds of incidents involving the harassment of Jewish K–12 students have been reported to Act Now K12, a grassroots effort to catalog and combat antisemitism in Northern California schools. Ilana Pearlman of Berkeley, Viviane Safrin of San Francisco, and Maya Bronicki of Santa Clara County—all mothers of Jewish children in public schools—helped spearhead the effort to track the escalating antisemitism tearing through school districts in Northern California. Bronicki says two hundred incidents were reported last school year in Santa Clara County alone. Jewish families reported incidents like this one: An Israeli American girl walked into her first period French class at Cupertino High School to find that many of the other students and the teacher were wearing a Palestinian flag or keffiyeh in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, on the occasion of the Middle Eastern club’s pro-Palestine day. The club handed out a map of Israel labeled only as “Palestine.” In another incident, a 12-year-old middle school student at a charter school in San Jose arrived visibly upset on the first school day following the October 7 Hamas massacre. According to a complaint against the school district later filed by her parents in federal district court, the girl had close family members in Israel whose whereabouts were unknown. The girl asked her world history teacher if she could go to the bathroom to collect herself. The history classroom “was decorated with maps of the modern Middle East in which Israel was erased.” The history teacher knew the girl was Israeli American because she had identified herself as such at the start of the year during an icebreaker exercise. He told her she could not go “until she read aloud to the entire class a passage he had selected to the effect that in the past, Palestinians and Jews had gotten along,” according to the complaint. “The requirement to publicly espouse a position that was at odds with present reality was overwhelmingly oppressive and humiliating.” She read the passage aloud, as directed. The next day at lunch, two female classmates wearing hijabs approached her, according to the complaint, “and demanded ‘What do your people think about the conflict?’ ” When the girl tried to answer, they screamed, “You’re lying—Jews are terrorists.” One demanded: “Do you know that your family in Israel is living on stolen land?” A few days later, two boys chased her around the school yelling, “We want you to die.” Kids began to refer to her as “Jew.” They would say, “Hi, Jew” or “Hey Jew.” If she protested, they said they thought it was funny. The rest of the kids isolated and ignored her when they weren’t whispering about her, the complaint alleges. She lost all but one friend. Her parents met several times with school faculty; according to the complaint, they did nothing to ensure her safety or improve the girl’s situation. A Jewish ninth grader, “Sam,” attends a Bay Area high school where, after October 7 of last year, posters declaring, “Ceasefire Now!” and “Free Palestine” began appearing on the walls. Because Sam’s family considers itself very progressive, Sam was not bothered by the posters. Then one of Sam’s friends sent him a long diatribe that read in part (spelling from the original), “I would just like to say that u are an ignorant ass white ass privileged boy u are so privileged to not b one of those children being killed rn in Gaza…solidarity and indigenous solidarity is something you could never understand as you have grown up your whole life with no culture and money and you been brainwashed by isreali and western media the world stands with Palestine and frankly it’s embarrassing to be anything different, when mostly all people of color stand with Palestine and you stand with ISREAL, that’s how yk ur in the wrong bud oppressed people stand with oppressed people in solidarity SOMETHING YOU COULDD NEVER UNDERSTAND.” T he text concluded: “FREE PALESTINE TILL ITS BACKWARDS BITCH !!!!” I spoke to Sam’s mother, and her perception was that the message didn’t sound like her son’s friend. The jargon and gist appeared to come from adults. Only the self-righteous fury and the message’s abusive conclusion belonged to the boy. I also spoke to the mother of “Dana,” a sixth-grade girl at a Bay Area elementary school. In a social studies unit on ancient civilizations last year, the teacher encouraged students to share their “feelings” about “Israel and Palestine.” Students shouted: “Fuck Israel !” and “Israel sucks! ” Dana was the only Jewish child in the class . When Dana told her mother what had happened, her mother drove back to the school and asked the teacher, who admitted that the classroom exchange had occurred. Dana’s mother asked the teacher what “Israel and Palestine” had to do with the sixth-grade curriculum. The teacher claimed she couldn’t teach ancient civilizations without talking about the Palestinians. Dana’s mother knew the lesson offered neither historical nor archaeological evidence to tie the modern Palestinian national identity back to antiquity. But teachers today often consume and regurgitate anachronistic propaganda uncritically. I spoke to a San Francisco middle schooler, “Zoe,” who told me her ethnic studies teacher so relentlessly preached anti-Israel sentiment, and the school was so engulfed in anti-Israel propaganda, that it changed how students treated her. Zoe told me one classmate came up to her and said: “A Zionist is someone who wants Palestinians dead .” Zoe replied, “That is actually not what it means at all. ” Ilana Pearlman of Berkeley is a midwife who has three Jewish children. Her son “Danny,” who was a student at Berkeley High School, told her that after October 7, a teacher used the school’s printing press to make “Free Palestine” T-shirts that were then distributed to students. One of Danny’s teachers posted a running tally, in the front of the classroom, of the number of Palestinians allegedly killed by the IDF. She says, “So every day, when my son came into class, it would say how many people Israel has killed today.” (The Free Press has confirmed this with photographic evidence.) Danny, who is black, said to her, “If there was an image of a noose, we would not hear the end of it. There would be protests, people would be going crazy. But it’s always okay if it’s anything anti-Jewish.” One mother reported to grassroots organizers that her seven-year-old daughter came home from elementary school in Marin County last year and asked: “Mommy, if someone asks me if I’m Jewish, do I have to tell them?” Learning to Hate Israel Los Angeles Unified School District is failing its students . In the 2023–24 school year, fewer than half the students met reading proficiency standards, and less than 33 percent were proficient in math. But instead of a laser focus on how to educate kids, teachers are coming up with ever more ways to attack the existence of Israel. It’s hard to imagine what U.S. arms sales to Israel has to do with the district’s core educational goals, but recently, the L.A. teachers union voted in opposition to it. They spend considerable union time and resources on organizing opposition to Israel. In the union’s recent Motions Report from October 10 of this year, half the measures put to a vote related to Israel. One motion, which passed unanimously, endorsed a discussion about “how to organize your workplace to support the Palestine Liberation Movement” and against “the ongoing genocide in Palestine.” The First Amendment protects teachers’ political advocacy in union meetings. But public school teachers have no First Amendment right to express their political viewpoints in the classroom. “When it comes to K–12 education, the precedents are pretty clear that the school district or legislature or the principal or whoever the political process leaves in charge can set the curriculum and can require the teachers to go along with it,” Eugene Volokh, First Amendment scholar and distinguished professor of law at UCLA, told me. But while the school board or legislature sets the agenda for what must be taught in schools, it can also choose not to police teachers who skirt those rules or even brazenly violate them. Curriculum decisions, Volokh said, are “subject to the political process and not the legal process ,” generally speaking. If the school district doesn’t object to teacher speech—or in fact encourages it—parents’ only recourse is through the political process: voting out state legislators or school board members. Dillon Hosier, Chief Executive Officer of the Israeli-American Civic Action Network, explained that for generations, the Jewish community has poured its resources into nonprofits, which are not legally permitted to lobby. “Our opponents,” he said, referring to organizations like Council on American-Islamic Relations, “are putting people in public office and getting bills passed.” That strategy has paid off. School boards and state legislators are reluctant to confront the growing problem in their schools. In Brooklyn, teachers led third graders at PS 705 in Prospect Heights in a chorus of “The Wheels on the Tank,” which encouraged them to despise Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, according to the New York Post : “The wheels on the tanks go round and round, all through the town. The people in the town they hold their ground, and never back down .” The rhyme continued: “Free Palestine till the wheels on the tanks fall off .” The book was illustrated with Palestinian kids hurling rocks at Israeli tanks. In Portland, pre-K lesson plans included the story of Handala, a fictional Palestinian cartoon character who symbolizes the resistance. “When I was only ten years old, I had to flee my home in Palestine,” the boy tells readers. “A group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land so they stole it by force and hurt many people, ” it continues, according to a piece in City Journal . At a Fort Lee, New Jersey, high school, world history teachers confiscated students’ cell phones before giving a lesson that presented Hamas as a “resistance movement” rather than an internationally designated terrorist organization. Teachers also showed a map of Israel that falsely presented Palestinians as the sole indigenous natives of Israel. (The Free Press has obtained a copy of the presentation. Click here to see it .) The Black Lives Matter Week of Action is a standard program at thousands of schools across the country. It now routinely shifts from a focus on white racism against black Americans to the “other brown people” allegedly subjected to apartheid in the West Bank at the hands of the “white” settler colonialist Israelis, according to several grassroots organizers I spoke to who track radicalism in America’s public schools. (A majority of Israeli Jews are from non-white, non-European heritage.) Three years ago, Nicole Neily founded Parents Defending Education , a nonprofit that exposes radicalism in schools, largely in response to the race and gender ideologies she saw coursing through public schools. This year, when her organization reached out to school districts to inquire whether they planned to include the war in Gaza in their BLM Week of Action instruction, the president of a school board in Rochester, New York, wrote back to confirm that they did. The school board president added, “I would ask that you study the history of the Jewish nation and their involvement in slavery–financing the slave ships to bring Africans into the Americas and the Carribbeans,” referring to a spurious canard associated with Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan. Last spring, millions of Americans watched in disbelief as university students, particularly at our most elite schools, vandalized buildings, set up illegal encampments, and cheered for Hamas. But there was far less attention paid to the parallel dramas unfolding at K–12 schools across the country. Aware of their ability to shape young minds, teachers encouraged schoolchildren to join “Walkouts” for Palestine, don keffiyehs, chant the eliminationist slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and tell their Jewish classmates, “It is excellent what Hamas did to Israel,” according to a complaint filed to the U.S. Department of Education by the Brandeis Center and the Anti-Defamation League on behalf of Jewish students. “We had been tracking a lot of antisemitic incidents in school even prior to October 7. Obviously, in the wake of October 7, we saw things explode,” Neily told me. “This had sort of been simmering below the surface for a long time. You look at everything that happened on college campuses, and it’s not that kids turn 18, go to college campus, and think, ‘I’m going to underage drink and hate the Jews.’ So much of this was baked into the curriculum before.” Neily, who is Catholic, has now become a national leader in the grassroots effort to expose antisemitism in schools. Her team regularly submits hundreds of FOIA requests, wrangling with schools that hide behind copyright law to avoid disclosing materials taught to American school children. And what she has found is that radical anti-Israel NGOs are training teachers and supplying materials used in thousands of American classrooms.“This stuff is really going viral, coast to coast,” Neily said. Federal law gives parents the right to inspect their children’s educational materials. But schools routinely decline to turn over lessons on the grounds of copyright law. “So long as a parent isn’t asking for the material to duplicate it and sell it, there is no copyright violation in providing that material to parents,” Lori Lowenthal Marcus told me. Marcus is the legal director at The Deborah Project , which protects the civil rights of Jews in education. She added, “It is a bullshit excuse that takes advantage of parents who aren’t lawyers.” Online textbooks are easily supplemented with material from Al Jazeera or other radical sources. Smartboards allow teachers to display fraudulent histories of Israel and outright propaganda. This video , shown to tenth to twelfth graders in the Sequoia Union school district in Northern California as part of the mandatory ethnic studies curriculum, was produced by the virulently anti-Israel Turkish News site, TRT World . It ignores 3,000 years of Jewish history in Israel and instead frames Jewish connection to Israel as illegitimate or what is often called “settler colonialism.” The video omits mention of Jews’ historic connection to the West Bank—called Judea and Samaria in the Hebrew Bible—and ignores the fact that the State of Israel accepted several peace proposals throughout its 76-year history that would have created a Palestinian state. It also omits that the Second Intifada and its 138 Palestinian suicide bombings of primarily civilian Israeli targets was the impetus for Israel erecting a security barrier. An Undercover, Front-Row Seat Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky, director of education and community engagement at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values , first noticed an uptick in antisemitic K–12 materials in 2018, when she was getting her PhD in education. “What I saw was what seemed to be a very well-coordinated effort between activist teachers, activist organizations, and administrators that were trying to do a lot of kowtowing to progressive social ideology through programming and bringing that programming into their schools ,” she said. “ There is just this insidious idea that it is okay to hate Jews or attack Jews if they feel any connection to the Jewish homeland—to Israel; if there’s any expression of Jewish pride, especially when that pride is Zionism ,” she said. “I think that antisemitism, like the Jew hatred, isn’t the end goal. I think it’s the symptom of a bigger anti-Western illiberalism that has taken over a lot of our institutions ,” Shufutinsky told me. Curious to learn more about the goals of these anti-Israel educators, Shufutinsky began hanging out in their virtual meetings. As a grad student at the University of San Francisco, she spent almost two years, she says, “undercover” in chat rooms where educators were developing a new curriculum: “Liberated Ethnic Studies.” This would eventually become the mandatory California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. In discussions about the need for ethnic studies, educators were uniquely fixated on promoting an anti-Israel agenda. “The whole goal for pushing ethnic studies, making it a requirement, was so that they could teach Palestine, ” she said. When in 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a requirement that schools make completion of ethnic studies a condition of graduation, he effectively made antisemitism a formal feature of California schooling. The original curriculum, “Liberated Ethnic Studies,” was so outrageously antisemitic , it was officially abandoned. In The Free Press , Shufutinsky called it “a Trojan horse to institutionalize antisemitism in California schools.” But even the successor course—implemented by many of the same educators who had proposed the Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum in California—has provided a vehicle for anti-Israel indoctrination of American schoolchildren. Shufutinsky told me that the reformed curriculum teaches that “ Israel is something that it isn’t. That it’s the ultimate evil. That it is apartheid. That it is a settler colonial state that deserves to be dismantled. That Zionism is racism .” Elina Kaplan, a former manager in Northern California’s tech sector and self-described “lifelong Democrat,” was quick to recognize the problems posed by ethnic studies in the classroom. A childhood spent as a Jew in the former Soviet Union taught her to recognize state-sponsored antisemitic propaganda. She formed a nonprofit to organize against the inclusion of politicized ethnic studies in California schools and maintains an archive of the antisemitic materials promulgated in American classrooms. While her organization helped defeat the worst excesses of the original curriculum, the broader effort to keep antisemitism out of the schools failed. Since 2021, she has seen the antisemitism once confined to ethnic studies sprout in virtually every subject. Kaplan says, “In math class, they can be studying charts and are told, ‘Look at this pie chart of the number of Palestinians murdered. This slice shows the number of Israelis that were killed .’ ” That example was actually presented to elementary school students in New Haven Unified School District, California. The chart is labeled “People Killed Since September 29, 2000” divided into Palestinians and Israelis and asks: “What information is this pie graph showing us? ” The obvious answer: Far more Palestinians have been killed than Israelis. Another mother sent me an example of an assignment used in a physics class at Cupertino High School, which asked students to consider the “Effect of Israel’s Bombing of Gaza” on climate change. At schools where anti-Israel propaganda is promulgated, schoolchildren are turning against their Jewish classmates. Dozens of interviews with parents, teachers, and people at nonprofits revealed that discussions of Israel quickly become personal, and American Jews—even children—are the inevitable targets. “Tammy” is a Jewish substitute teacher in Oakland who asked not to be identified. She said in the past year, she’s been astonished by the sheer volume of anti-Israel messaging to school kids across Oakland. She says only the Jewish families object. Where there are no Jewish students, the material goes entirely unopposed. “We’re raising a generation of antisemites,” she told me. “I have a necklace that says my name in Hebrew. And I wear it every day and I don’t take it off. It’s pretty small,” Tammy told me. One day last year, when she was substitute teaching in middle school, a boy saw her necklace and said, “Oh, I’m Jewish too.” The boy went and got his backpack and pulled from it a necklace with a Star of David pendant. She remembers thinking, “Why is it in your backpack? Why aren’t you wearing it?” Previous Next

Join PeerK12’s campaign to denounce the NEA-RA decision - learn how the NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly vote to ban Jewish-affiliated organizations from union programs threatens Jewish voices in K–12 education, and discover tools, templates, and coaching to help your community fight back and protect civil rights in your local schools. Local District Union Representatives of the NEA Voted to Silence Jewish Voices in K-12 Now It’s Up to All of Us to Stop It From Also Happening in Our Local Schools. Join PeerK12’s National Action Campaign & Push Back on the Teacher Union's Anti-American Bigotry, Discrimination & Abuse of Civil Rights We built a full rapid-response action plan to help YOU stop this dangerous discrimination from spreading into your local schools. Coaching & training Access to our full action toolkit Connect with peers in other districts Ongoing coaching & strategic support Follow & share our campaign WHATS GOING ON? On July 7, 2025, the Representatives Assembly of the National Education Association (NEA) voted to ban Jewish-affiliated organizations from its programs—openly and shamelessly targeting Jewish voices in education spaces. The Executive Leadership of the NEA overruled that decision. FOR NOW. But that doesn't solve the core issue: The thousands of local teacher union representatives who voted to eliminate Jewish voices from K-12 are now back home - emboldened by their national "success" and angry at the NEA Board for "capitulating to the Israel lobby " - are organizing locally to replicate their discriminatory boycott in YOUR school district — unless we act quickly. WHAT WE'RE DOING ABOUT IT Jewish students and teachers are being targeted by national unions and excluded from “equity” programs. Union-driven hate can easily infiltrate local schools through policies, trainings, and board actions. This isn’t hypothetical. It’s already happening. If parents, students, teachers, and community members don’t push back, it will become the norm in districts across the country. WHAT you'll get by joining our campaign Step-by-Step Action Plan Clear instructions on how to work with your school board including: strategy guidance, process training sessions, talking points, editable templates & coaching to help you through the process. Official Letter to District Present your case to the school board using our editable templates and then use our Community Petition template to rally support from other parents in your area. School Board Resolution We have created an editable resolution template denouncing the NEA’s unconstitutional discrimination against Jews in K-12, along with dedicated support to localize it & ensure it passes. Access to Expert Coaching PeerK12 has extensive experience passing school board resolutions - we'll guide you through the entire process, coach you to avoid common roadblocks & support you every step of the way. coalition of organizations for this campaigN:

November 18, 2023 The Inside Story of How Palestinians Took Over the World Gary Wexler The brilliant Palestinian plan to capture the pliable minds of American college students was laid out in front of me 25 years ago, during a very sinister business meeting in Israel. Originally Posted In: https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/365220/the-inside-story-of-how-palestinians-took-over-the-world/ < Back The brilliant Palestinian plan to capture the pliable minds of American college students was laid out in front of me 25 years ago, during a very sinister business meeting in Israel. It was around the time of the Oslo Accords. I had been hired by the Ford Foundation to create a marketing institute for their grantees in the country. Ford was funding the operations of both Jewish and Arab organizations within the Israeli green line, in an effort to help build a vibrant liberal civil society. Ford put me in partnership with a young Israeli woman, Debra London. (Debra, now one of my closest friends, has just been selected to head up fundraising for the rebuilding of Kibbutz Be’eri.) She and I drew up a plan to interview each of the grantees, as well as Israeli ad agencies and media firms. While we wanted to learn about the grantees, we also planned to secure free marketing work and media to be an essential part of the institute. When we interviewed the Jewish organizations, the atmosphere was almost giddy with hope, possibility and belief in Shimon Peres’s new Middle East. Each organization we interviewed talked excitedly about peace and co-existence, a flourishing economy among both the Jews and the Palestinians, collaborative projects and interchanges. But when we interviewed the Arab organizations, the word “peace” never passed their lips. They spoke of independence, dignity, self-rule, a state. One person even told me she would never use the word “du-kiyum ” (co-existence). “There is no such thing as co-existence,” she stressed. “We are just the tenants living on the property that the Jews now own. That’s not a balanced co-existence.” I tried to explain to my fellow Jewish liberals that we — the Jews and the Arabs — were having two very separate conversations. We were talking “peace.” They were talking “independence.” But as the weeks of interviews progressed, I found the Arab organizations were talking about a whole lot more. I asked hard questions of both the Jews and Arabs in the interviewing process. With the Arab organizations, when I brought up any sensitive, and not-so-sensitive, issues—like terrorism, cooperation and even budget—the interviewee would slam on the brakes. And then from each organization, the same words were spoken: “When you are in Haifa meeting with Itijaa, you can ask that question to Ameer Makhoul.” Itijaa was an Arab civil rights organization. Ameer Makhoul was its executive director. It became clear to me that Ameer Makhoul had some type of control over all the Arab NGOs I was speaking to. Finally, Debra and I arrived at the offices of Itijaa. Skinny, bespectacled, young Ameer Makhoul emerged from his office, took a look at me and said, “So this is the Gary Wexler who has been asking all the questions.” And then he ticked off every question I had asked along with the name of each person I had posed the question to. He brought us into his office and began pacing. “So, Gary Wexler, let me answer your questions in the following way. One: Gary Wexler, who is sitting in front of me now, went to Los Angeles City College for two years where you were an Israel activist and editor of the school newspaper. You wrote a lot about Israel. And continued to do so at California State University, Northridge. You spent five summers as a volunteer on Kibbutz Ayelet Hashachar. Through your marketing agency, Passion Marketing, you service the following clients of the Jewish world and in Israel.” He named every one. I knew this guy was trouble. “And now, Gary Wexler,” he sat down, “let me give you more direct answers.” He looked me straight in the eye. “Just like you were a Zionist campus activist, we will create, over the next years, Palestinian campus activists in America and all over the world. Bigger and better than any Zionist activists. Just like you spent your summers on the kibbutz, we will bring college students to spend their summers in refugee camps and work with our people. Just like you have been part of creating global pro-Israel organizations, we will create global pro-Palestinian organizations. Just like you today help create PR campaigns and events for Israel, so will we, but we will get more coverage than you ever have.” He stood again this time, right over me. “You wonder how we will make this happen, how we will pay for this? Not with the money from your liberal Jewish organizations who are now funding us. But from the European Union, Arab and Muslim governments, wealthy Arab people and their organizations. Eventually, we will not take another dollar from the Jews.” Then he approached real close. “What do you think of this?” I took a breath. I remained professional. “Nothing. I’m here on behalf of the Ford Foundation collecting information for a planned marketing institute.” He came even closer. “I am asking what does Gary Wexler think of what I just said. You, Gary Wexler.” I repeated my answer. He came even closer. “I ask again. What does Gary Wexler think of what I just said.” Debra and I got up. I took my writing pad. “I feel that you are threatening me and we are leaving.” The next morning I received a call from the program officer at the Ford Foundation. “Gary, we have a problem. We received a call from Ameer Makhoul and we understand you spewed out all sorts of Zionist propaganda and he felt very threatened by you.” I told him it was a lie. The program officer continued to press me as to what I had said. I related the conversation word for word. He repeated what Ameer Makhoul had said. I told him to call Debra London who was with me through the entire interview, and verify it with her. I also told him that they better check their funding to these Arab organizations, because Ameer Makhoul appeared to be controlling all of them with some very hateful behaviors. He backed down. Debra and I wrote up our recommendations for how they needed to build the marketing institute, including a recommendation for using the pro bono work, worth nearly 1 million shekels, that we had secured from the ad agencies. The program officer, a former academic focused on the nonprofit sector, couldn’t understand the value of businesses being involved and rejected it out of hand. A few weeks later, he told Debra and me that he had hired an NGO consulting team to finish the work. They would be giving several hours of consultation to each organization. Several years later, I learned Ameer Makhoul had been arrested by the Israelis as a spy for Syria. As the years went on, I began to see what Ameer Makhoul had laid out to me taking shape. The PR coverage was first: The Muhammad al-Durrah incident in Gaza, when a 12-year-old boy was shot to death on the second day of the Second Intifada, capturing global headlines. The Mavi Marmara, the Turkish Flotilla to Gaza that the Israelis stormed, killing several Palestinian activists, grabbing global headlines. I knew the Mavi Marmara was manufactured for the exposure it would gain. Then the campuses: The creation of Apartheid Week worldwide. The growth of BDS. The student volunteers who began by the thousands to work in the Palestinian territories and its refugee camps. The shocking creation of anti-Zionist Jewish student groups. As an award-winning copywriter and creative director in ad agencies and a professor of Communication at USC, I have developed an intuitive antenna to detect similarities between writing styles, idea styles and conceptual creation. In the early years of this pro-Palestinian campaign, I could see the commonalities of excellence, style and manipulation across all their platforms. Teaching on a university campus gave me a front-row seat at this theater of darkening skies. People of color, particularly antisemitic Black groups like BLM, were organizing to identify with the Palestinians. Many organizations representing people seen as oppressed were moved to identify with the Palestinians. Students of every variety were swayed. People of color, particularly antisemitic Black groups like BLM, were organizing to identify with the Palestinians. Many organizations representing people seen as oppressed were moved to identify with the Palestinians. Students of every variety were swayed. I could see the commonalities of language creation and transfer — my field — being applied to the Jews. Many of them were old antisemitic tropes into which new life was being breathed: Israel and Jews are colonialists just like other white oppressors around the world. Israel is an apartheid society, the same as South Africa was. Jews have white privileg e, even though more than 50% of Jews are dark-skinned people from the Arab world, Iran and Africa. Jews hold power in media and banking, making them the enemy. Jews center themselves as capitalists and donors. Jews don’t hold space for anyone but themselves. Jews need to be held accountable for the pain they are causing. If you challenged any of this you were a racist, the worst thing you could possibly be accused of. (Except if you are racist against Jews. Then you prove you are a true ally of the oppressed.) Our enemies have had a real success. They have formed a winning international communication army with trained troops everywhere. Israeli writer, producer and former antisemitism envoy Noa Tishby recently said that students, particularly Jewish ones who are protesting against Israel, have been “played,” but I don’t know if even she understands the background and extent of it. They haven’t just been played, they’ve been turned. Many of them are alumni of Jewish day schools and camps. Those students believe they have joined the other side because they were the victims of a propagandized Zionist education and have now seen the light. No, they are the victims of a propagandized, slow, well-crafted plan, laid out to me by Ameer Makhoul. And what has been the Jewish world’s response to all of this? Funders are now putting up pro-Jewish and pro-Israel billboards in American cities. As if a clever one-line message can combat all these brilliant, strategized organizing efforts on behalf of our enemies. Others are organizing TikTok and Twitter troops. But that work is in response to the playing field that has been established and won by the enemies of the Jewish people. We show ourselves in a defensive mode. We are playing on the field they have drawn. We need to draw our own, in a very big way. There are many good organizations being funded and working on our behalf, but their work, alone, is not the answer. It is imperative we have overall strategizing and coordinating. Right now, it is every organization for itself. It’s an uncoordinated battlefield where each squadron is moving in its own direction, rather than toward the same hill—the only way for victory. It is imperative that we create big, brilliant, creative ideas of engagement. We must view this as a pervasive Jewish community organizing effort for communication purposes, in collaboration with the Israelis. American Jews are sending cans of food and socks to Israel while the Palestinians are conceptualizing bigger and better worldwide actions. We’re still fighting and demonizing one another. Many organizations have not yet woken up that it is no longer business as usual. In the last three weeks I have received no fewer than 200 solicitations for 200 separate efforts. American Jews are sending cans of food and socks to Israel while the Palestinians are conceptualizing bigger and better worldwide actions. We’re still fighting and demonizing one another. Many organizations have not yet woken up that it is no longer business as usual. I’m on the board of one that I’ve had to rattle, saying, “No, we cannot position what we are doing just as we always have. Everything now has to be repositioned against the background of this war on Israel and the Jewish people.” In the propaganda war, we could be learning a lot from our enemies, who have learned a lot from us. Maybe we need our own Ameer Makhoul and all his buddies? Is any leadership team, that we can all get behind, going to step forward? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Wexler was recently honored by the National Library of Israel with the creation of The Gary Wexler Archive, a 20 year history of Jewish life told through the advertising campaigns he created for Jewish organizations in the US, Canada and Israel. Previous Next

Report antisemitic incidents in your school to help make sure that administrators and decision makers know what's happening under their watch. It's the only way to ensure they're held accountable. TRACKING INCIDENTS IS THE FIRST STEP TO ENSURING they NEVER HAPPEn AGAIN Incident Tracking: PeerK12 in Collaboration with StopHateInSchools.org The only way we can keep the decision makers and administrators accountable for ensuring antisemitism and Jew-hatred are kept OUT of K-12 is to have accurate data and information about the incidents happening under their watch. Please submit an incident report - even if you think what happened "wasn't that big of a deal" - all incidents show the patterns of institutionalized and normalized Jew-hatred. 100% confidentiality guaranteed Antisemitism and anti-Jewish bias are widespread in schools. And that's hurting our students. Be part of the solution. Join the many parents, educators and community leaders standing up to hate and discrimination. View Incidents by State

May 12, 2025 Parents claim ideological bias in Mesa College course at La Jolla High School Noah Lyons The group focuses particularly on what it considers one-sided discussion of the Israel-Hamas war. Mesa College contends the content is 'protected by academic freedom.' Originally Posted In: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/05/12/parents-claim-ideological-bias-in-mesa-college-course-at-la-jolla-high-school/ < Back A group of parents at La Jolla High School is criticizing a college preparation course at the school over what the parents perceive as ideological imbalance and “political indoctrination.” School leaders say the San Diego Mesa College professor who teaches the course is within her rights. The course, “Introduction to Political Science,” analyzes civic and global affairs, among other topics, and is part of an “ongoing commitment to provide college- and career-ready opportunities to our students in preparation for their future,” according to James Canning, spokesman for the San Diego Unified School District. However, parents Wyatt Collin, Karen Hobbs and David Herrera sent an email to the La Jolla Light detailing their discontent with the course, saying they were writing on behalf of 20 families, most of whom requested anonymity. They said they also complained to La Jolla High and Mesa College, to no avail. La Jolla High Principal Chuck Podhorsky declined to comment to the Light and referred questions to Canning. Mesa College said in a statement to the Light that “ we have concluded the content of the course is protected by academic freedom and does not violate the law or SDCCD [San Diego Community College District] policies. Our findings are framed by legal standards and precedent and do not diminish the personal experiences of any member of our community .” The parents’ concerns center on parts of the course related to the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian organization that governs the Gaza Strip. Specifically, they pointed to class readings “A Deadly Apathy ” by David Shulman and “Infinite License: The World After Gaza ” by Omer Bartov, as well as a video-recorded panel discussion titled “Teach-In on Israel/Palestine ,” as evidence of ideological bias and replacing analysis with activism. They claim the course, taught by professor Yvonne Gastelum, is “defined by ideological messaging, racial essentialism and an astonishing lack of intellectual balance,” with assignments that lack context, counterpoint or critical examination. “Infinite License,” an essay written for The New York Review of Books, states that “the memory of the Holocaust has, pervasively, been enlisted to justify both the eradication of Gaza and the extraordinary silence with which that violence has been met.” Later in the essay, Bartov — a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University and the author of “Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis” — characterizes Israel’s actions in the war as repeating historical patterns of genocide. “Teaching political science without offering multiple perspectives is malpractice,” according to the parents’ email. “Teaching it with a singular narrative that casts one group as heroes and another as monsters isn’t higher education — it’s dogma.” The parents also contended the class “veered into lectures on the ‘levels of Whiteness’ among Jewish populations, dividing students into racial categories based on ancestry, tone or cultural heritage. These are not ‘teachable moments.’ They’re racially charged distractions with no academic merit and no place in a high school classroom.” Sharon Amsalem, a parent at La Jolla High, said her son is enrolled in the course and was assigned to read “Infinite License” but felt uncomfortable with the subject matter. After getting up and leaving class, he was offered an alternate assignment, Amsalem said. “I was really mad,” she said. “I right away called the school and talked to one of the advisers there. She told me they could not do anything … because it’s from Mesa College and it’s not part of La Jolla High School.” “It’s really, really giving one side of the situation,” she added. “And yes, Israel is doing bad things; they’re [all] doing bad things. … I’m not saying who’s wrong and who’s right. But if you give the situation, give the whole picture.” Amsalem said her son never felt “targeted” by the professor and that he remains in the class. Jose Oldak’s child is not enrolled in the course, but he has joined other La Jolla High families in opposition to it. He learned of other parents’ concerns after joining an online group formed by Jewish families at La Jolla High in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Oldak said he moved his son to La Jolla High in hopes of avoiding classwork that he believed was intended to “get the students to take sides.” “For me, it’s really important that this kind of thing does not become a constant in every single California school,” Oldak said. “There seems to be a group of ideologically minded people that instead of teaching children, they just want to indoctrinate them. “If it was presenting two sides of the same issue, OK, fine. There is a broader exposure to ideas. There is an exploration. But in this case, this is not what’s happening.” Oldak said he contacted La Jolla High and Mesa College and received “dismissive” responses from both. Canning told the Light that students in the class, along with their families, were aware of the course they signed up for. “We passed along the concerns we received from families to the college and we encouraged the families/students to directly speak with the professor of the class,” Canning said. The parents blasted that suggestion, saying “Mesa and La Jolla High washed their hands of the matter and left the burden on teenagers to challenge a college professor who grades them.” Gastelum could not be reached for comment for this story. The American Federation of Teachers’ collective bargaining agreement with the San Diego Community College District states in Section 12.1.6 that “academic freedom and freedom of expression afford the faculty the right to speak freely, pursue research and write without unreasonable restrictions or prejudices.” Mesa College stated that it and other higher-education institutions are “vital spaces for academic inquiry and exploration of events occurring throughout the world.” “Those events, such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, are often deeply personal and bring a variety of perspectives which may be conflicting,” according to the college’s statement. “We continue to work to expand our cultural humility and awareness to better create environments where all members of our community may engage in academic discussions on complex and sometimes divisive topics with mutual respect and a sense of belonging.” This isn’t the first time that controversy over the Gaza conflict has reached La Jolla. UC San Diego was the site of one of the largest demonstrations in campus history on March 6, 2024, when about 2,500 pro-Palestinian protesters marched across campus demanding an end to the war and pushing the university to drop its relationships with businesses perceived as hostile toward Palestinians. The unrest came to a head two months later when police raided a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus after UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla declared that the encampment “violated campus policy and the law and grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.” Some 65 students were arrested, most on suspicion of unlawful assembly. Previous Next

December 11, 2023 In San Diego, controversy surrounds an antisemitic imam and his wife JNS Staff Imam Taha Hassane has justified Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, while Lallia Allali [his wife and San Diego Unified School District consultant] posted an image of a Star of David decapitating babies. Originally Posted In: https://www.jns.org/in-san-diego-controversy-surrounds-an-antisemitic-imam-and-his-wife/ < Back (Dec. 11, 2023 / JNS) On Dec. 8, the Palestine, Arab and Muslim Caucus of the California Faculty Association hosted an event—listed with the California State University, San Bernardino logo—titled “Endangered Education: Teaching Palestine in Liberated K-12 Ethnic Studies.” Among the speakers at the event, for which the Council on American-Islamic Relations was listed as a co-sponsor, was Lallia Allali, whom the group listed as a doctoral candidate at the University of San Diego. Last month, Allali quit a University of San Diego position and the community advisory board of The San Diego Union-Tribune after the revelation that he had posted an image on her Facebook account of a Star of David decapitating five babies. A caption read: “The devil is killing.” The Union-Tribune, which referred to it as “a graphic and deplorable antisemitic image,” stated that “Once we had the opportunity to confirm that Allali had reposted it, we accepted her resignation and removed her from the list of board members and contributors on our website.” “This is a double blood libel, 40 Israeli babies were mass murdered, 30 Israeli children are being held hostage, and many others were murdered in southern Israel,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, stated at the time. “This blood libel against the Jewish people would bring tears of joy to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels,” he added. The university said in a statement that “while individuals have the right to express their views on their personal accounts, they do not reflect the views of USD’s leadership nor any official position of the university.” “In the interest of safety, Allali has decided to step away from teaching the course,” it added. “The safety of our community is the university’s top priority.” Allali is married to Imam Taha Hassane, of the Islamic Center of San Diego, “a mosque best known as the home to two 9/11 hijackers,” The Waashington Free Beacon reported. The San Diego mosque received $150,000 in federal funding on Aug. 15, the paper reported. “When people are occupied, then the resistance is justified,” Hassane said in a sermon on Oct. 20 , justifying Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack. “We cannot accuse somebody who is fighting for his life to be a terrorist. The terrorist is the one who started the occupation, not the one who is defending himself.” Previous Next

December 8, 2025 CDE Files Lawsuit Against OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) Zara Quiter Department of Education ruled Oct. 20, 2025 that OUSD had created a discriminatory environment for Jewish students and staff. Originally Posted In: https://tphnews.com/23152/news/cde-files-lawsuit-against-ousd/ < Back Over the last two years, Piedmont Unified School District has seen an influx of Jewish students transferring from Oakland Unified School District citing anti-semitism, with over 30 families transferring to PUSD after the first semester of the 2023-24 school year. The California Department of Education ruled Oct. 20, 2025 that OUSD had created a discriminatory environment for Jewish students and staff. A Bay Area attorney Marleen Sacks submitted the complaint on May 6, 2024, according to the CDE’s decision. Sacks is also suing OUSD for anti-semitism. The complaint to the CDE focuses on district material for Arab-American History Month which had maps that did not include Israel. The lawsuit, filed by the Oakland Jewish Alliance (OJA) and Sacks, focuses on OUSD not fully investigating anti-semitic incidents in the 60 days after they were reported, as mandated by California law. “[Sacks] is a lawyer who’s been stepping up to kind of aggregate all of the different complaints and put it into one larger document. It shows the extent of what’s happening with this discrimination,” said an anonymous OUSD employee and mother of two OUSD students. OJA is an organization founded after Oct. 7, 2023, a time when there was an increase in Jewish hate in Oakland, and around the country, according to OJA member JT Mates-Muchin, who works on issues of anti-semitism within schools. “There were two main incidents that are large factors in the lawsuit,” Mates-Muchin said. “One was that they were flying a Palestinian flag at Fremont High School and another one was in Nov. or Dec. of 2023, when the union called a teach-in, which is essentially taking class time to divert the lesson to teach about Palestine, in a way that is completely one-sided and did not consider Israel at all.” OJA originally started at the Beth-Jacob Congregation in Oakland, but has grown to include members from various local synagogues and members of the Jewish community to advocate for Israel’s right to exist and to fight against anti-semitism. “[The flag and the teach-in] are the big pieces of the lawsuit. The school district should have been investigating and finding out who did this and why they did this, and then doing things to make sure that that kind of thing does not continue to happen in the school,” Mates-Muchin said. Some families felt that these incidents were not being treated seriously by the district, and submitted inter-district transfer (IDT) forms to be released from OUSD, including PHS freshman Naomi Levy’s family. “I left Edna Brewer at the end of my seventh grade year because the school district had been making a lot of claims and putting out a lot of things that were pretty anti-semitic,” Levy said. “Say one of the teachers at your school is somebody who has their own biases around Jewish people or is anti-semitic, agrees with the things that the district is saying, and teaches that in their lesson. It can be scary.” Levy left at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Approximately 30 families left OUSD earlier, in Jan. 2024, because of anti-semitism in the district, according to Mates-Muchin. Families are still considering leaving OUSD because of anti-semitism. “I think [people leaving OUSD] has to do with teachers wearing keffiyehs to showcase their support for the Palestinians, and taking it so far that it becomes anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. There is a way to be pro-Palestinian people and pro-Israeli people and pro peace, instead of pro the destruction of Israel,” said PMS math teacher and OJA member Karen Bloom. “The destruction of Israel, which is the only homeland for the Jewish people, means the destruction of the Jewish people.” PHS alumnus Dahlia Saffouri said that wearing keffiyehs had become a symbol of solidarity for Palestine, which is where her grandfather immigrated from. “I think there needs to be a distinction: someone being pro-Palestine does not mean they’re being antisemitic or anti-Israel,” Saffouri said. “I think that being Palestinian does not make you antisemitic.” Bloom said that a significant number of students are experiencing anti-semitism in ethnic studies courses in OUSD schools. “Students are experiencing anti-zionism in Liberated Ethnic Studies specifically, where they’re talking about a bunch of different libels or false statements about Israel, and turning it into a worldview,” Bloom said. “That anti-zionism turns into anti-semitism because it delegitimizes Israel and it delegitimizes every Jew who is connected to Israel.” PHS does not use the Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum, or Constructive Ethnic Studies, which is another curriculum that Bloom said does not follow an anti-semitic and anti-zionist narrative. “I left Montera because of an [English] teacher who put up anti-semitic posters,” said freshman Aodhan Brubaker, who transferred after seventh grade into PUSD schools. “It took forever for the school to actually do anything about it, and I had to be in the office during my English period. I didn’t feel welcomed.” The teacher Brubaker mentioned was no longer working at Montera Middle School as of Dec. 6, 2023. The posters put up by that teacher was the type of action that the OEA would have protected, according to their Nov. 6, 2023 resolution, which said that OEA leadership will support teachers that are “reprimanded for teaching about Palestinian liberation in their classrooms.” It also resolved to publicize educational materials for teachers, like the resource Teach Palestine. “Major incidents such as the “teach in” and hard-copy materials that were shared with teachers, were done by the Oakland Education Association without authorization by the District, and in fact, they were expressly disallowed by the District,” OUSD Director of Communications John Sasaki said. According to its website, the mission of Teach Palestine is to support educators bringing in curriculum about Palestine into the classroom. The OEA (teacher’s union) continues to promote an anti-Israel narrative, which trickles down to the classroom. Teachers and administrators are resistant to really unpack their role in cultivating an environment that’s leading to Jewish families feeling unwelcome and unsafe,” said Pamela Schwartz, a mother of two OUSD students. The anonymous employee said both she and her children feel unsafe in OUSD. “I think there’s been a lot of systemic anti-semitism in OUSD. It’s been blatantly obvious since Hamas’s attack on Israel how a lot of teachers feel about Israel, and then how that translates to how they feel about Jewish students,” the anonymous employee said. “I felt like it was so unfair to have to go to work somewhere where your identity was put on trial every single day.” Both Levy and Schwartz said that they were concerned about OUSD teachers that were a part of OEA promoting their own bias. “I think a lot of people in the teachers union just had their own biases against people,” Levy said. “At the time, and even now, I feel like it was trending to kind of say that you supported Free Palestine, but nobody knows what that means. A lot of people that were uneducated think that means Jewish people are bad because they think Israel’s bad, even though there’s no correlation.” Both Levy and Brubaker said that their transfer to PUSD was positive. “We’re really happy that we’re considered a district that our Jewish families feel safe to bring their students to, and we want to continue to hold that,” said PUSD Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Jean Takazawa. “The families and the students [that have transferred] that I talk to have been having positive experiences. Saffouri said that supporting Palestine and not the Israeli government does not have to be anti-semitic. “We need to remember that Hamas and the Israeli government are separate from the people, and the people are not in charge of what the governments do,” Saffouri said. “There are definitely people that support those political organizations, but that is not the whole of people who are Jewish, or people who are Arab or Palestinian.” According to Mates-Muchin, anti-semitism in OUSD has often gone unnoticed by people who are not connected with Israel or Palestine. “For the non Jewish people and people who don’t understand or don’t have a relationship to either Israel or Palestine, I feel like they can go through without being affected [by anti-semitism] at all,” Mates-Muchin said. Despite the CDE complaint and lawsuit, parents of students in OUSD are not optimistic about change happening in OUSD. “I have been deeply questioning whether OUSD is a place where we belong and the rise of antisemitism is just one part of it,” Schwartz said. In a statement shared by Sasaki, OUSD has said it will begin training in Dec. to respond to anti-semitism. Previous Next

February 26, 2026 ‘Jewish Students Are Segregated’: Parents Sue California State Education System in First-of-Its-Kind Complaint Over ‘Anti-Semitic Propaganda’ and Harassment Adam Kredo One parent alleged that a ninth-grade teacher organized a walkout that featured chants of ‘f— the Jews,’ while others said schools punished their children for reporting anti-Semitism Originally Posted In: https://freebeacon.com/california/jewish-students-are-segregated-parents-sue-california-state-education-system-in-first-of-its-kind-complaint-over-anti-semitic-propaganda-and-harassment/ < Back A group of Jewish parents sued the California state education system on Thursday, alleging that the state’s public schools have become antisemitic cesspools in which "Jewish students are segregated and pulled out of classes so that teachers can spew anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda without pushback," according to a copy of the first-of-its-kind lawsuit shared with the Washington Free Beacon . The California State Board of Education, the California Department of Education, and state superintendent Tony Thurmond fostered a hostile environment throughout all of California, ignoring numerous reports from parents whose children had been targeted solely for being Jewish, according to the complaint. In one case, a teacher punished a 12-year-old student "because he was a Jew who dared to wear Jewish and Israeli symbols." In another, a ninth-grade art teacher organized a walkout "in support of Palestine" that featured chants of "f— the Jews." When one parent spoke up about the issue during a school board meeting, faculty members mocked her and called her a "Zionist Nazi bitch." State officials responsible for protecting students from discrimination allowed "California’s schools to indoctrinate children, from the earliest ages, to believe that Jewish Americans and Israelis - including Jewish and Israeli classmates - are racists, white supremacists, and oppressors who should be shunned," the lawsuit states. The case documents numerous anti-Semitic incidents across the state, according to the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which is handling the lawsuit alongside the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs. It marks the first time legal advocates have sued an entire statewide system over pervasive anti-Semitic harassment and could set a precedent for those in other states to follow suit. Antisemitism in California schools, though, has been particularly prevalent since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel. The San Francisco teachers’ union, for instance, endorsed a curriculum that claimed many allegations of antisemitism are "fabricated" and used to silence pro-Palestinian activists. The public school system in Berkeley received a federal complaint in 2024 over its alleged failure to stem an escalating series of anti-Semitic incidents that culminated in hallway chants of "kill the Jews." Even before Oct. 7, the state’s proposed ethnic studies curriculum included a lesson that described Jews as having "experienced conditional whiteness and privilege." The California State Legislature passed a bill in late 2025 acknowledging "well documented" cases that "Jewish and Israeli American pupils across California are facing a widespread surge in antisemitic discrimination, harassment, and bullying." Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.), though, was silent on a coordinated bomb plot that a radical anti-Israel group had planned before federal law enforcement foiled the operation, and is facing a lawsuit from a former California National Guard commander who says Newsom "facilitated" an antisemitic campaign that resulted in the former commander’s wrongful termination. The Brandeis lawsuit implicates at least one individual vying to replace Newsom in this year’s gubernatorial election: Thurmond, the state superintendent, declared his candidacy back in September 2023, though polling averages have him with 2 percent of the primary vote. The Jewish families who collectively filed "hundreds of formal" complaints with their respective schools and the California Department of Education maintain that state school administrators were aware of antisemitic harassment but either recommended segregating Jewish students from the rest of the class or swept the reports under the rug. The alleged behavior violates California’s constitution, which provides protection for minority groups, as well as federal and state civil rights laws, according to the lawsuit. Plaintiff Melissa Alexander, for instance, said a teacher repeatedly punished her 12-year-old son solely because he wore clothing that could identify him as Jewish and a Star of David necklace. The teacher, whose name is not included in the filing, "openly proclaimed that Zionists are the enemy" and "had a public social media account filled with virulently antisemitic and anti-Israel content." When Alexander presented this evidence to school administrators and reported that the teacher had mistreated her child, the officials "actively chose to ignore it." Instead, the school put the student "into new classes in the middle of the school year." A similar incident occurred in the weeks after Oct. 7 at Berkeley High School, where plaintiff Ilana Pearlman’s ninth-grade son endured anti-Israel diatribes from an art teacher who "boasted to the class about his latest artwork: an image of barbed wire fences in the shape of a Star of David with a giant fist punching through it," according to the complaint. The same instructor allegedly used his classroom to promote a walkout "‘in support of Palestine,’ spending time and resources to advertise the demonstration." The event that followed "was filled with chants that included, ‘Fuck the Jews.’" When Pearlman reported this behavior to school administrators, those officials allegedly pulled her son from the class and sent him to learn separately in the school’s library and student health center. "The school’s decision to punish the targets of antisemitism rather than the perpetrators made a lasting impression on" Pearlman’s son, who now hides his Jewish identity in fear, the filing states. At Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Los Angeles - named after a Jewish journalist slaughtered by Islamists in 2002 - a teacher repeatedly subjected a student to alleged pro-Hamas activism inside the classroom. Plaintiffs Dawn and Michael Rosenthal said that their son’s honors chemistry teacher littered the classroom with anti-Israel propaganda. The Rosenthals reported the conduct to Los Angeles Unified School District, which responded with a statement that "the teacher was refusing to remove" anti-Israel posters, according to the complaint. By Oct. 7, 2025 - the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks - the chemistry teacher allegedly wrote on the blackboard, "‘Oy vey, it’s free’ with an arrow pointing to ‘FREE PALESTINE.’" As in other cases, the school pulled Rosenthal’s son from the class and ordered him to take a "remote online chemistry course," as well as "additional academic burdens to accommodate his chemistry teacher’s antisemitism." The teacher in question was only removed from the classroom after stapling a student’s arm in an unrelated incident that carried felony charges. The lawsuit also included examples of anti-Israel teaching materials used in California classrooms. A curriculum for kindergarten through third grade, for instance, includes links to a read-aloud book called "P Is for Palestine." It states that "I is for Intifada ," defining it merely as "rising up for what is right, if you are a kid or a grownup ." Teachers in Oakland, meanwhile, used an unauthorized December 2023 "teach-in" to have students draw "The Zionist leaders of Israel receiv[ing] money and support to conduct [a] two-tiered (unfair) system where Palestinians are mistreated and attacked." Neither the California Department of Education nor the California State Board of Education responded to requests for comment. Previous Next

April 26, 2026 Georgia passes landmark transparency law for foreign funding in universities, K-12 schools Haley Cohen The Georgia Solidarity Network and Reps. Esther Panitch and Houston Gaines spearheaded the effort after a report was released documenting Qatari funding of Georgia’s public schools Originally Posted In: https://jewishinsider.com/2026/04/georgia-landmark-law-foreign-funding-universities-k-12-public-schools/ < Back Following a report spotlighting Qatari funding in Georgia public schools, the state’s General Assembly became the first in the country to pass legislation requiring the disclosure of foreign government funding in statewide K-12 schools. The Foreign Funding Transparency and Accountability Act, HB 1379 , requires public school districts, public universities and technical colleges to report funding of $10,000 or more from foreign countries or entities, naming specifically Qatar and Saudi Arabia — the two largest foreign funders of American universities. The bill — which passed both chambers of the Assembly earlier this month and now awaits Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature — was spearheaded by Democratic state Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of the Georgia Statehouse, as well as Rep. Houston Gaines and the pro-Israel Georgia Solidarity Network. In January, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies published a report showing that the Qatari royal family’s U.S. philanthropy arm, Qatar Foundation International, had spent at least $281,000 on education in Georgia — including K-12 teacher trainings, Arabic textbooks for young students and student trips to Qatar. Panitch told Jewish Insider she tweeted the findings, only to be surprised by a direct and hostile response from the Qatari ambassador to the U.S. and his deputy chief of mission on X, who allegedly told her she was spreading misinformation “like you people always do.” “Why did they care what a legislator from Georgia thinks? It was weird. I started engaging back and this went on for days,” said Panitch. The back and forth eventually resulted in her involving the FBI. “The moment he responded to me was the moment I knew FDD was on to something right,” she said. “We were all caught off guard after [the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks]. I think Qatar had a lot to do with the responses on college campuses. Parents had no idea that some of their kids were being radicalized. I hope we get more answers, but this will definitely help,” continued Panitch. The Georgia Solidarity Network , a two-year-old bipartisan political action committee supporting pro-Jewish and pro-Israel causes, proposed legislation crafted by co-founder Alli Medof, which Panitch filed a couple weeks after the report’s release. “We didn’t want to make it loud and attract the attention of people who might object,” Panitch told JI. “I didn’t want Qatar to come in and hire a lobbyist. We went to committees and didn’t get much pushback.” There was, however, some pushback from colleges and schools “in an operational sense, asking how they are supposed to carry this out,” said Panitch. The bill also faced scrutiny in the state Senate, according to Panitch, who said some lawmakers “didn’t seem to care that Qatari money had seemingly resulted in teachers saying that [late Hamas leader] Yayha Sinwar was to be commended or that suicide bombing is okay.” Ultimately, the bill passed the Senate 31-20 and the House 139-16 . Kemp has 40 days to sign the bill into state law. If he doesn’t veto it, it goes into law automatically. “I wouldn’t presume anything” in terms of whether the governor will sign the bill, said Panitch, adding she has not heard anything that implies he would veto it. A second bill establishing a K-12 statewide Title VI coordinator, also crafted by the Georgia Solidarity Network, simultaneously passed. The bill authorizes the withholding of state funding from institutions that fail to correct violations within 30 days — an enforcement mechanism absent from comparable laws in Tennessee, Oklahoma and California. The legislative session also secured $3 million in state security funding for the rest of 2026 for nonprofit organizations at elevated risk of attack, with an additional $5 million budgeted for Fiscal Year 2027. “The Title VI bill was kind of similar because we were also dealing with schools and universities,” Panitch told JI. “There was a part that mentioned antisemitism that we ended up taking out. The preamble still mentions antisemitism but we didn’t want anyone to think this was only for the Jews. It was the Jewish community that brought it forward because we’ve been dealing with this, but essentially it’s a civil rights bill for kids and everyone wants to protect their kids, so it passed, not difficultly.” Six months ago, foreign funding transparency was “not on the roadmap or priority list” of many Georgia legislators, GSN co-founder David Zalik said. There was already evidence of foreign funding in university systems, he said, but “when we went back to the legislators and showed them documentation [regarding the same for K-12], they were stunned and surprised.” Following the legislative session, Zalik sees the bill as “a model” for adoption beyond the Peach State. “Other leaders in other communities reached out,” he told JI. “We crafted new language that other states want to emulate. Georgia is a state that clearly takes this very seriously.” Medof added, “We’re incredibly proud of the impact this is going to make, and not just on the Jewish community. I think every one of these measures are going to improve the quality of life of students and Georgians. Foreign funding impacts curriculum, ideology, faculty and research [for all students]. It’s not just anti-Jewish or anti-Israel, it’s anti-American ideology that’s coming in. The more we can do to shine a line on that, the better it is for all Georgia students.” Previous Next

December 8, 2025 Reading the political tea leaves and acting against dangerous candidates Dillon Hosier & Charles Jacobs You don’t need permission to protect your community. You need documentation, coordination and the willingness to act before Election Day. Originally Posted In: https://www.jns.org/reading-the-political-tea-leaves-and-acting-against-dangerous-candidates/ < Back We have spent years documenting the systematic infiltration of anti-Israel activists into state and local government. We’ve published an analysis of the pipeline that moves candidates from campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine to city councils and state legislatures. We’ve built the Mamdani Index to track and score officials nationwide. We have warned that while traditional pro-Israel organizations focus on Congress, a parallel political infrastructure is being constructed beneath them—one school board, one city council, one state legislature seat at a time. This article is the field guide. Whether you’ve noticed something concerning about a candidate in your community, identified a troubling score on the Mamdani Index or simply want to understand what warning signs to watch for, this guide explains how to recognize these candidates, what tactics they use, and, most importantly, what you can do to stop them before Election Day. Perhaps you’ve already raised concerns with local Jewish organizations, and they’ve told you not to worry, that you’re overreacting, that the candidate has moderated, that engaging would be divisive. Do not listen to them. These organizations do not have the experience or expertise to operate in advocacy, plus they are organized as 501(c)(3) organizations that are prohibited from engaging in electioneering. That exact pattern, concerned community members raising alarms, establishment organizations dismissing them and problematic candidates winning as a result, has repeated across the country. In 2022, it happened in West Hollywood, Calif., with Chelsea Byers. In 2025, it happened in New York City with Zohran Mamdani. In both cases, the warning signs were visible. In both cases, the candidates won. If you’re reading this because you suspect a Mamdani-type candidate is emerging in your community, trust your instincts. These candidates deny, minimize and reframe. Organizing boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns becomes “advocating for human rights.” Leading anti-Israel protests become “standing up for free speech.” The language shifts; the record remains. Do not accept reframing at face value. If a candidate claims they were merely supporting “free speech” or “human rights,” ask them directly: Do you support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state? Have you ever participated in chants calling for Israel’s elimination? What is your position on BDS? Document their answers. Many of these candidates are genuinely likable. They present extreme positions calmly and reasonably. They use humor to deflect criticism. They emphasize identity markers like LGBTQ+ status, immigrant background and youth that make attacks feel uncomfortable. Mamdani’s campaign included a rap video and regular displays of wit. When confronted about “Globalize the intifada,” he didn’t become defensive; he softly reframed it while appearing reasonable, making his critics seem shrill by comparison. Do not let personal charm distract from documented positions. Evaluate candidates on their organizational affiliations and public statements, not their campaign persona. These candidates build broad progressive coalitions that lend legitimacy without scrutinizing their Israel-related positions since those positions are most often unrelated. Union endorsements, environmental groups, LGBTQ+ organizations and housing advocates lend credibility while steering attention toward domestic issues. Mamdani’s mayoral campaign benefited from DSA infrastructure, Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour’s fundraising and even international support from Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the British Labour Party, despite his documented antisemitism controversies. The coalition provides cover, but the toxic ideology remains. ‘This is a losing trade’ Perhaps the most effective shield is endorsement or defense from Jewish organizations themselves. Mamdani-type candidates actively cultivate relationships with progressive Jewish groups and individual Jewish leaders who can vouch for them when concerns arise. When Chelsea Byers faced scrutiny during her 2022 West Hollywood campaign, a letter signed by leaders from Democrats for Israel chapters, Progressive Zionists of California, the California Young Democrats Jewish Caucus and other Jewish organizations declared that she “is not antisemitic” and that “her views have evolved.” The letter urged voters to focus on local issues, arguing that “this race should be about West Hollywood, not the West Bank.” This is the playbook. Jewish organizational cover allows candidates to dismiss criticism as bad-faith attacks while pointing to Jewish endorsers as evidence of their moderation. The signatories may be well-meaning, but their intervention provides exactly the legitimacy these candidates need to neutralize opposition. When evaluating such endorsements, consider whether the endorsers actually reviewed the candidate’s full record or simply accepted their current self-presentation. Ask whether they have the political experience and ongoing leverage to hold the candidate accountable after the election, or whether they are primarily focused on social services, interfaith work or other communal priorities that leave them poorly equipped to vet political candidates. Jewish cover is the most valuable currency a Mamdani-type candidate can acquire. Once obtained, it becomes extremely difficult to raise concerns without appearing to attack the Jewish community itself. Here is the difficult truth: Legacy Jewish organizations will often tell you not to engage. They will insist that the concern is exaggerated. They will warn that raising the issue publicly will be divisive or counterproductive. They will counsel patience and quiet diplomacy. This approach has failed repeatedly. In 2022, when community members raised concerns about Byers in West Hollywood, several establishment figures insisted she was harmless. Some attacked those who raised alarms as divisive. The result: Byers won by 54 votes. Understanding why these organizations fail requires recognizing what they are and what they are not. Most local Jewish community infrastructure, such as Federations, Jewish Community Relations Councils and regional offices of the Anti-Defamation League, exists primarily to provide social services, facilitate interfaith dialogue and respond to incidents of Jew-hatred after they occur. They’re not built for political engagement. They lack the expertise, appetite, and, often, legal structure to intervene in electoral campaigns. When a Mamdani-type candidate emerges, these organizations default to their institutional comfort zone: convening conversations, issuing measured statements and hoping the problem resolves itself. Direct political confrontation is outside their operational DNA. Many mainstream Jewish organizations are led by professionals and board members who identify strongly with progressive movements. They see Jewish communal priorities, social justice, immigrant rights and LGBTQ+ inclusion as naturally aligned with the broader progressive coalition. This creates a structural blind spot. When a candidate emerges from progressive networks with troubling positions related to Israel, organizational leaders may view criticism as an attack on the coalition, rather than a defense of Jewish interests. They may choose to prioritize maintaining relationships with progressive allies over confronting a candidate who threatens the Jewish community specifically. The result is rationalization: the candidate’s views are “evolving,” the concerns are “exaggerated,” and engaging would be “divisive.” These organizations choose coalition comfort over communal protection. Some Jewish organizations believe that building relationships with problematic candidates will moderate their behavior once in office. They offer endorsements or refrain from criticism in exchange for promised “dialogue” or “access.” This is a losing trade. Mamdani-type candidates benefit from Jewish organizational cover during the campaign—the one moment when they are vulnerable—and face no accountability for policy development and implementation afterward. ‘Do not be silent’ Before raising public concerns, build a comprehensive record. Archive social-media posts, especially anything that may be deleted as a campaign approaches. Collect student newspaper articles, organizational newsletters and event announcements from the candidate’s campus years. Obtain disclosure forms via public records requests and cross-reference them against public statements. Screenshot LinkedIn profiles, organizational bios and conference speaker listings. Record public statements at candidate forums and community events. Documentation transforms suspicion into evidence. Without it, concerns are easily dismissed. The window for effective intervention is narrow. By the time concerns reach mainstream awareness, early voting may have begun. Raise issues publicly as soon as a candidate announces, not during the final weeks of a campaign. If a candidate lies about their history, say so with evidence. If they deny affiliations that appear on disclosure forms, publish the discrepancy. If institutions provide cover, name them and explain why their assurances should not be trusted. Silence creates the false impression that there is nothing to be concerned about. Do not be silent. Mamdani-type candidates do not rise alone. They benefit from endorsements, appointments and political cover provided by other officials. These enablers must face consequences for their role in advancing anti-Israel candidates. When a sitting official endorses a Mamdani-type candidate, they are lending their credibility to legitimize that candidate’s record. Track these endorsements. Make clear that endorsing candidates with anti-Israel, antisemitic backgrounds will be remembered and will affect future support, donations and endorsements in their own races. Silence is also a choice. When a Mamdani-type candidate emerges and elected officials who should know better refuse to speak up, they are prioritizing their own political comfort over their community’s well-being. Document which officials remained silent when it mattered. Their silence should be a factor in future electoral support. Some officials will acknowledge a candidate’s troubling background but urge voters to overlook it, arguing that the candidate has “evolved,” that the concerns are “overblown,” or that other issues are more important. This minimization is as damaging as outright endorsement. It provides cover while maintaining plausible deniability. The goal is to create a political cost for enabling Mamdani-type candidates. If officials know that endorsing, appointing, excusing, or staying silent about anti-Israel candidates will affect their own standing with pro-Israel voters and donors, they will calculate differently. Accountability must extend beyond the candidates themselves to the network that elevates them. If you are reading this article, you likely already suspect that something is wrong. A candidate in your community has a troubling background. You’ve raised concerns and been told to stand down. You’re uncertain whether to trust your instincts or defer to organizations with more experience and resources. Trust your instincts. The tactics documented here are not theoretical. They have succeeded in communities across the country. They succeed because concerned individuals are talked out of acting by institutions that prioritize comfort over confrontation. You do not need permission from legacy organizations to protect your community. You need documentation, coordination and the willingness to act before Election Day, not after. The warning signs are visible. The tactics are documented. The counter-strategies are clear. The next election is mere months away. The question is whether our communities will be ready. Previous Next

November 20, 2025 The Union Behind California’s Ethnic Studies Antisemitism Problem Tammi Rossman-Benjamin California’s AB 715 was a well-intentioned effort to curb antisemitism in K–12 classrooms, especially ethnic studies. But the bill passed only after teachers’ unions, including the California Faculty Association (CFA) - a politically powerful union representing faculty on all 23 California State University campuses - pressed for changes that stripped key safeguards. Originally Posted In: https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/385098/the-union-behind-californias-ethnic-studies-antisemitism-problem/ < Back California’s AB 715 was a well-intentioned effort to curb antisemitism in K–12 classrooms, especially ethnic studies. But the bill passed only after teachers’ unions, including the California Faculty Association (CFA) — a politically powerful union representing faculty on all 23 California State University campuses — pressed for changes that stripped key safeguards, reducing it to one broad standard: that instruction be “factually accurate…rather than advocacy, personal opinion, bias, or partisanship”. An early sign that AB 715 would face serious obstacles came just days after the governor signed it. That’s when the CFA sent politicians a questionnaire asking whether they had received donations or endorsements from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) or the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC), insinuating these groups “harm working people” and that the union would not support any candidate who had accepted their backing. Framed as a way to “get to the bottom” of whether politicians supported AB 715 — and to punish those who did — the CFA’s questionnaire not only echoed familiar antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and influence, it revealed something even more telling: a strategy for using the union’s political muscle to promote a “liberated” ethnic studies hostile to Israel and its Jewish supporters, and to block any effort to restrain it. That strategy is being driven by three CSU ethnic-studies faculty who sit atop the CFA’s most consequential levers and the state’s ethnic-studies infrastructure. They also lead influential movements that center anti-Zionism and can supply the grassroots mobilization needed to keep “liberated” ethnic studies in California classrooms. A closer look at who they are and how they operate underscores the significant challenges awaiting AB 715. Start with Melina Abdullah, professor of Pan-African Studies at CSU Los Angeles and chair of CFA’s Political Action & Legislative Affairs committee, which sets the union’s legislative agenda and was responsible for circulating the controversial questionnaire. In a September class , Abdullah called AB 715 a “terrible” and “racist” bill and its supporters “antisemites.” She falsely accused JPAC of heavily funding the bill’s “Zionist” authors and buying legislators’ votes in its favor, and she directed students to sign a “veto AB 715” petition. Abdullah is also co-founder of Black Lives Matter and leader of its LA chapter, which mounted an aligned campaign opposing AB 715. Then there is Theresa Montaño, professor of Chicano Studies at CSU Northridge, former CFA executive board member and a leader of CFA’s Teacher Education Caucus, key advocates within the union for an activist-oriented approach to K-12 teaching, particularly in ethnic studies. Her “commitment to union activism” in opposing AB 715 was recently commended by the CFA. Montaño co-founded the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium after the State Board of Education rejected the model curriculum she helped draft, which was considered antisemitic by state legislators and the governor. Her group has produced curricular materials that smear Israel, vilify Jewish organizations and mobilize K–12 educators to fight “Zionist backlash.” It also spawned a national movement – the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies – that launched its own campaign in opposition to AB 715. Finally, consider Rabab Abdulhadi, founding director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas program at San Francisco State’s College of Ethnic Studies. She heads the union’s Palestine, Arab and Muslim Caucus, which drives the union’s anti-Israel positions, including its adoption of an academic boycott of Israel, and actively opposed AB 715. Abdulhadi’s university program runs a steady stream of classes and events that promote anti-Israel activism and platform individuals tied to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations. Abdulhadi is also a co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a branch of the international BDS movement that aims to delegitimize Israel and its supporters on American campuses. It is the intersection of union influence, university authority, and grassroots political organizing that has made CFA a driving force behind every major piece of ethnic studies legislation in the state, including the development of a model curriculum, the establishment of high school and college graduation requirements, and setting teacher certification standards. Though presented as critical for students, these legislative campaigns have been undeniably self-serving — preserving and expanding ethnic-studies departments and jobs by building a guaranteed K-12 pipeline for coursework, teacher training, and professional development. In the face of CFA’s entrenched campaign to institutionalize “liberated” ethnic studies and resist all efforts to curb the antisemitism it engenders, the real issue isn’t the strength of AB 715’s safeguards; it’s the state-mandated high school graduation requirement, AB 101, that made such safeguards necessary in the first place. That law was enacted in 2021 without any state standards or clear definition of the subject, and without any reliable evidence of academic benefit. Most legislators couldn’t say what the course was or why it should be required. Passing a costly, polarizing mandate under those conditions wasn’t just irresponsible. It handed control to the same union activists that now train teachers, develop curricula, and shape how ethnic studies is taught in K-12 classrooms. California still has choices. Districts can offer ethnic-studies electives that families select and communities evaluate on their merits. What the state cannot do is maintain a mandate with no standards or clear definition and entrust its implementation to a union–department–movement alliance committed to a “liberated” ethnic studies. AB 101 is currently unfunded and inoperative. It should remain that way — and be repealed as soon as possible. Rossman-Benjamin is the executive director of AMCHA Initiative, a non-profit organization that combats antisemitism on college campuses across North America. She was also faculty at the University of California for nearly two decades. Previous Next

Explore NCRI Reports on PeerK12 — in-depth research and white papers from Network Contagion Research Institute that examine antisemitism, radical influences, ideological bias, and foreign-funded curricula in K-12 education. Understand how extremist groups and disinformation networks impact schools and student safety, and empower yourself with data-driven insights to advocate for accountability and informed policy. ncri reports The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) provides pioneering technology, research, and analysis to identify and forecast cyber-social threats targeting individuals, organizations, and communities. The NCRI is committed to empowering partners to become proactive in protecting themselves against false narratives that create rifts of distrust that impact institutions, capital markets, public health, and safety. november 25 2024 INSTRUCTING ANIMOSITY: How DEI Pedagogy Produces the Hostile Attribution Bias READ REPORT JULY 12 2024 NEWSWEEK ARTICLE | NCRI positions modern antisemitism as a national security threat, influenced by global political dynamics. What is driving the massive surge of antisemitism we have seen since last October’s campaign of terror by Palestinian terror group Hamas and Israel’s ensuing offensive in the Gaza Strip? At least part of the answer is Iran. READ ARTICLE MAY 13 2024 Contagious Disruption: How CCP Influence and Radical Ideologies Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Campuses Across the United States READ REPORT DECEMBER 21 2023 A Tik-Tok-ing Timebomb: How TikTok’s Global Platform Anomalies Align with the Chinese Communist Party’s Geostrategic Objectives READ REPORT DECEMBER 5 2023 The Anti-Transparency Portal A Financial-Analytic, Data Driven Review of Obscurities, Inconsistencies and Failures of Compliance Facing Section 117 Reporting of Foreign Gifts and Donations Received by American Colleges and Universities. Recent implementations by Department of Education 117 reporting after September 2020 make vast amounts of data impossible to fully and accurately resolve. READ REPORT july 27 2023 7/27/23 – Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Polarization Pendulum The belief that Jews have a right to self-determination in the land of Israel has invited objection since before Israel’s founding in 1948. Often couched in familiar antisemitic accusations of Jewish supremacy, bloodlust, and covert dominance, a narrative of heroic resistance to these antisemitic themes paints anti Zionism with hues of social justice and solidarity.... READ REPORT may 11 2023 The “Synagogue of Satan”:Uniting Extremist Groups in the Revival of an Antisemitic Libel Online Mentions of “synagogue” on Twitter have doubled on average since October 2022, with surges in negative sentiment for comments containing the term during the same period. The “Synagogue of Satan” is an antisemitic libel, accounting lately for nearly 20% of all comments mentioning the term “synagogue” on Twitter and is often accompanied by calls for… READ REPORT January 17 2023 Memes, Misses, and Mobilizations: An Analysis of the 2021 Hamas/Israel Conflict In this report, we juxtapose the delivery of hashtag campaigns with the delivery of missiles and real-world protests in a single ecosystem of reactivity. The aim of this report is to examine the relationship of outbursts of Middle East. conflict, rises in antisemitic and anti-zionist rhetoric, social justice outrage, anti-Israel protests and real-world antisemitic incidents. READ REPORT DECEMBER 15 2020 Antisemitic Disinformation: A Study of the Online Dissemination of Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theories The disinformation by which Jews have been presented throughout history as the scourge of humanity, antisemitic disinformation, has been expressed in terms of threats to religion, science, power, dominant ethnic groups, nation-states, and in more modern iterations, as threats to human rights and racial justice. READ REPORT Email* Subscribe I want to subscribe to your mailing list. *

May 8, 2026 Legal challenge to SFUSD ‘Voices’ hits Mayor Lurie Liz Le Friends of Lowell Foundation (FOLF) formally requested a meeting with Mayor Daniel Lurie and senior City Hall officials, citing alleged violations of the California Brown Act in the San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) adoption of the controversial “Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey” curriculum. Originally Posted In: https://thevoicesf.org/legal-challenge-to-sfusd-voices-hits-mayor-lurie/ < Back Friends of Lowell Foundation (FOLF) formally requested a meeting with Mayor Daniel Lurie and senior City Hall officials, citing alleged violations of the California Brown Act in the San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) adoption of the controversial “Voices : An Ethnic Studies Survey” curriculum. The legal letter , which included 53 pages of legal attachments, asserts there is “a pattern of deliberate lawbreaking at SFUSD, and it is no longer reasonably in dispute.” It seeks a discussion with the mayor, education, and policy staff, and representatives from the district attorney’s and city attorney’s offices. The request follows an earlier demand letter to the district and Board of Education, which preceded the abrupt departure of SFUSD’s legal director. FOLF board member Alisa Farenzena reiterates,“The city government sends roughly a quarter of a billion dollars per year to the SFUSD, which in return gives us ongoing budget deficits, declining enrollment, and repeated violations of California’s Brown Act. We’re asking the mayor to engage now — because, if these failures continue, the imminent public scrutiny and consequences for our students will be significant.” Although the Board of Education and Superintendent Maria Su do not report to the mayor, City Hall controls significant taxpayer funding to the school district. Friends of Lowell is urging City Hall intervention on SFUSD transparency, independent evaluation, budget stewardship, and students’ civil rights. On April 28, 2026, the Board of Education voted 6-1 to approve a roughly $7 million, five-year contract making Voices the district’s standardized, permanent high school ethnic studies curriculum. The full textbook remains unavailable, and only a hard copy is reviewable at SFUSD headquarters. Requests for on-site reviews remain restricted to short intervals during limited business hours. SFUSD paid $147,000 to the Los Angeles-based Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) to oversee community input sessions over two Saturdays in March. The two moderators, Andrea and Ebony, introduced themselves from an organization called Social Studies Accelerator , where Andrea is also founder and entrepreneur-in-residence at EdLoC. The review committee consisted of 16 ethnic studies teachers, 15 other SFUSD educators and staff, and eight San Francisco parents. Each parent was assigned roughly to a table of four, with the other three members of the table being SFUSD employees (for example, principals, vice principals, and others). There was always an ethnic studies teacher assigned to every table. It’s unclear how the SFUSD educators were selected, but an overwhelming majority seemed familiar with the ethnic studies curriculum and were mostly in favor of it. Individual scores, from 0 to 3, were averaged out per table. Thus, a parent’s score of zero was almost always diluted when the table’s composite average was submitted. Parents were granted roughly one Sunday and five weekdays to review the Voices curriculum. It was the first time that parents had seen the full Voices textbook. Working parents faced even tighter constraints in conducting a meaningful examination. Moderators made clear from the outset that Voices was the only curriculum under consideration and that none of its content would be subject to evaluation or revision. They instructed the room to holler “content” if any feedback veered off-topic, addressed the material itself, or failed to align with the scoring criteria of a narrow, detailed four-point rubric. In the textbook’s introductory section, ninth graders are introduced to a “Power Wheel” diagram, adapted from Sylvia Duckworth’s Wheels of Power and Privilege . The wheel prompts students to identify where they stand across overlapping categories of identity, including race, sex, gender, religion, income, immigration status, and more. It explicitly frames characteristics such as White, European, cis-male, Christian, Settler, high-income, and citizen as conferring greater power and privilege, while positioning other identities as marginalized. Parents have strongly criticized the framework for presenting contested critical race theory concepts as undisputed fact, especially to incoming freshmen who have yet to complete foundational courses in U.S. history, civics, or economics. There appear to be plenty of examples of oppression in the Voices textbook, and when pressed, why there are no success stories, the counter-story response is that privileged powers permitted it as needed, high-level control remained with the powerful few. Ethnic studies is meant to foster critical thinking, but the curriculum itself presents only one side with few examples of minority success stories for analytical comparison. The review committee made clear that the Voices course embodies “liberated” ethnic studies, explicitly designed to create social justice activists, rather than conventional multicultural studies intended to expand knowledge. This orientation is consistent with comments made by an SFUSD ethnic studies teacher during the Aug. 26, 2025, Board of Education meeting, where he told a packed audience that the class aims to “create warriors,” while wearing a keffiyeh scarf. Liz Le is an entrepreneur, research strategist, 20-year San Francisco resident, poli-sci/econ maverick, and parent of two teens. Previous Next