School district leaders refute accusations of being soft on discipline for antisemitism

House Republicans looking to turn public attention about antisemitism onto blue-state school administrators ended up ducking a few counterpunches from the leader of New York City schools.

School officials from California, Maryland and New York were summoned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify before lawmakers about student protests and harassment allegations during the Israel-Hamas war that have reached K-12 schools. Republicans grilled officials on discipline policies for teachers and students and lodged sharp questions about curriculum and hate speech during an often tense proceeding.

But the forceful performance of New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks against members of the state’s Republican congressional delegation emerged as a stark contrast to the more cautious messaging education leaders have wielded so far in response to conservative pressure targeting higher education institutions.

“The ultimate answer for antisemitism is to teach,” Banks told lawmakers. “This convening, for too many people across America in education, feels like the ultimate ‘gotcha’ moment. It doesn’t sound like people who are actually trying to solve for something that I believe we should be doing everything we can to solve for.”

During one heated exchange, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik blasted Banks and the school system for continuing to employ the former principal of Hillcrest High School in Queens — the chancellor’s alma mater — where there was a riot against a Jewish educator who expressed support for Israel.

She also pressed the school leader on whether disciplinary action was taken against students who stormed the hallways of a Brooklyn high school shouting antisemitic slogans.

"You understand our concern, though, as policymakers when we have witnesses testify — whether it's Columbia University, Penn, Harvard, or [the] New York City chancellor — when there's a lack of enforcement and accountability, that there is a set of rules but that individuals who violate those rules are not held accountable," Stefanik said.

“We’ve held a lot of people accountable,” Banks shot back.

When Stefanik insisted that Banks told another lawmaker the Hillcrest principal was fired, he immediately dismissed that version of events:

"I never said I fired the principal of Hillcrest. You check the record. I never said that,” he said, to which Stefanik replied, “I will check the record.”

The chancellor also squared off with Rep. Brandon Williams, another New York Republican, who assailed Banks for continuing to employ the former principal.

“How can Jewish students feel safe at New York City public schools when you can't even manage to terminate the principal of 'open season on Jews high school' or even endorse suspension of student harassments?” Williams charged. “How can Jewish students go to school knowing that he is still on your payroll?”

Banks, who noted employees have due process rights, retorted: "I know whose payroll it is, sir, and it's not 'open season on Jews school'. It's called Hillcrest High School … and at that school, we considered his leadership not strong enough to be the leader in that school.”

Banks is no stranger to controversy. He’s a longtime friend and ally of his boss, Mayor Eric Adams. He’s tangled with unions, elected officials and parent groups alike. He’s had to navigate fallout from City Hall’s cuts to a popular city preschool program, plus an unprecedented influx of asylum-seeking students into the school system and a costly state law that mandates lower class sizes.

“The complexity of New York City prepares you for moments like this,” the chancellor told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing. “And I think maybe some of the university presidents did not have the benefit of this kind of inspection, if you will.”

Like the many colleges working to quell campus unrest, the country’s elementary and high schools have also grappled with how to handle antisemitism and other forms of discrimination in their communities. The federal Education Department says it has opened roughly three dozen civil rights investigations in public school districts since the Hamas attacks against Israel.

In addition to Banks, Enikia Ford Morthel, the superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District in California; Karla Silvestre, president of Maryland’s Montgomery County Board of Education; and Emerson Sykes, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, were also witnesses.

In New York, the nation's largest school system has seen a number of incidents stemming from the conflict, including a riot against a Jewish teacher at a Queens high school and a high school student walkout to demand a cease-fire in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation League and the Brandeis Center said this week that the Education Department has opened a formal investigation into the Berkeley, Calif., school district following what the groups characterized as unchecked antisemitism by students and teachers. The Zionist Organization of America has further demanded federal officials take on a renewed probe of alleged antisemitic incidents in the Montgomery County Public Schools system near Washington.

“The very need for this hearing is a travesty,” Florida Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, a member of the House education committee who led Wednesday’s hearing, told administrators. “The aftermath of Oct. 7 has revealed some of the ugliest, most depraved ideas once marginalized from polite society, and our education system has failed to stop it.”

Administrators, in response, sought to emphasize the delicate and important role schools play to not only root out antisemitism but teach students to respect each other, address bullying and confront difficult ideas — all while disciplining offending students and workers. They also resisted the notion that they have stood by when antisemitic incidents have happened.

“We are mindful that all kids make mistakes. We know that our staff are not immune to missteps either, and we don’t ignore them when they occur,” Ford Morthel said. “However, antisemitism is not pervasive in the Berkeley Unified School District.”

Silvestre added: “We do not shy away from imposing consequences for hate-based behavior, including antisemitism.”