Federal investigation opened on Berkeley schools over antisemitism

Amy Larson
·2 min read
2

(KRON) — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened a formal investigation Tuesday into a complaint that the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) failed to address “severe” bullying of Jewish students in classrooms, hallways, and school yards since October 7, 2023.

BUSD Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel is being called to testify this week before the U.S. House Committee on Education about what has happened in the school district. This is the committee’s first hearing on antisemitism in K-12 grade schools.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in public schools. About 50,000 students attend Berkeley Unified School District schools.

The Title VI complaint being investigated by the Department of Education was filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League.

The groups claim to have documented dozens of incidents in Berkeley schools, including students shouting “f**k the Jews,” graffiti stating “Kill Jews,” and teachers indoctrinating students with one-sided anti-Israel propaganda disguised as education.

The groups filed the complaint in February and called on the Department of Education to intervene. The complaint also claims that Jewish students had to endure antisemitic rants from their teachers.

The complaint claims one Berkeley teacher taped this poster in his classroom.
The complaint claims one Berkeley teacher taped this poster in his classroom.

Instead of addressing teachers’ antisemitic behavior, BUSD officials allegedly disrupted Jewish students’ learning by moving them into new classes.

“Berkeley would never sit idly by and allow vicious threats, harassment, and intimidation of any other minority group, yet when it comes to Jews, seven months of crickets. Making matters even worse, they are permitting teachers, their employees, to indoctrinate students with lesson plans chock full of anti-Semitic tropes and anti-Israel propaganda,” said Kenneth Marcus, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights for former president Donald Trump.

Jewish parents pen letter to Berkeley school district

“Reprehensible is an understatement here.  It is high time BUSD enforces federal and state law to address the dangerous anti-Semitism snowballing in front of them,” Marcus said.

Brandeis-Center-ADL-ComplaintDownload

Some Jewish students left the district due to bullying.

“We believe there’s a disturbing and clear pattern of anti-Semitic intimidation and harassment in the Berkeley school system, and we are pleased the Office of Civil Rights has opened a formal civil rights investigation,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, Anti-Defamation League CEO.

Greenblatt added, “Jewish grade school students — like all students — deserve the ability to attend school in a climate free of prejudice, threats or bias.”

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