Brandeis Center Hosts Capitol Hill Briefing Highlighting the Spread of Anti-Semitism in K-12 Schools

On May 3, 2024, the Brandeis Center hosted a Capitol Hill briefing titled “Fighting Antisemitism in K-12 School.” The panel discussion was moderated by Brandeis Center Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober and featured Senior Education Counsel Marci L. Lerner and Senior Counsel Rabbi Mark Goldfeder.

The Brandeis Center experts discussed the laws governing K-12 education, as well as ongoing legal efforts across the country to protect students from discrimination. Congressional staffers had the opportunity to hear powerful words from the mother of a victim of anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination.

“Some of the anti-Semitism we are seeing in elementary and secondary schools involves traditional and classic manifestations, while some of it resembles what we are seeing in higher education, with middle and high schoolers emulating their older siblings to target Jews on the basis of their shared ancestry connected to Israel,” Katz-Prober explained. “And some aspects of the problem are different – coming from teacher unions or school-generated problems with curriculum.”

The Brandeis Center has filed multiple complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the last year, including against Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and the Community School of Davidson, where a student faced daily abuse, was physically assaulted, and told to “get in a gas chamber” by his classmates. The Brandeis Center is also representing two K-12 public school employees in a complaint against the New York City Department of Education for “failing to protect public school teachers and students from vile and aggressive anti-Semitism.” “With the proliferation of anti-Semitism in K-12 schools, it’s crucial that congressional staffers understand that it’s not just college students who are suffering,” said Brandeis Center Director of Policy Education Emma Enig. “Many of their younger constituents suffer the same bigotry. They are desperate for compassion and guidance from their leaders.”