The Department of Education has opened civil rights investigations into two educational institutions accused of failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. The cases involve allegations ranging from Nazi salutes and antisemitic insults to physical violence and a flyer calling for violence against Jews.

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From The Washington Times:

The complaint accuses the San Bernardino County public school system of failing to respond appropriately to a student hitting and choking a Jewish seventh grader, then telling her to “shut [her] stupid Jewish a** up.”

It says other students repeatedly gave the girl — who wore a Star of David while preparing for her bat mitzvah — Nazi salutes in hallways and cracked “Hitler jokes” from 2024 to 2026. It states that another classmate told her, “This wouldn’t be an issue if you weren’t Jewish.”

“When a school receives reports of antisemitism and fails to intervene, it violates federal law and deeply harms the community it is meant to protect,” said Carly Gammill, director of legal policy and litigation at StandWithUs Saidoff Law.

The allegations involving the Etiwanda School District in California were brought to the Department of Education by StandWithUs, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and the Anti-Defamation League. The complaint alleges that the harassment of the Jewish student persisted for years and that school officials failed to adequately address it. Etiwanda Superintendent Laura Rowland has offered a different account of the district’s response, saying officials investigated after learning of the harassment and subsequently provided additional antisemitism training and resources for staff.

A separate complaint involves the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. According to the complaint, a Jewish student found a flyer advocating violence against Jewish people under her dorm-room door in November 2023. The complaint alleges that harassment continued despite her reports to administrators and that she eventually left the school.

Both cases are being investigated under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has explained that Title VI protections can apply when Jewish students experience discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. The opening of an investigation does not itself constitute a finding that either institution violated federal law.

The investigations also come amid a wider dispute over antisemitism in California’s public schools. In February, several parents joined the Brandeis Center and StandWithUs in a lawsuit alleging that California officials have failed to adequately address antisemitism in K-12 schools. That lawsuit names incidents involving multiple school districts, including Etiwanda, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Fremont, Oakland, Santa Clara, and Campbell Union High School District. The allegations in that lawsuit remain subject to litigation.

These reports should concern intercessors regardless of where they occur. Jewish children should be able to walk through their schools without being assaulted, mocked for their heritage, subjected to Nazi gestures, or made to fear openly identifying as Jewish. At the same time, investigations must establish the facts and hold institutions accountable where violations occurred. Let’s pray for the Jewish students and families affected by antisemitism, for truth and justice in these investigations, and for courage among teachers and administrators to confront hatred rather than allow it to take root.

Share your prayers for Jewish students and for the rejection of antisemitism in America’s schools below.

(Excerpt from The Washington Times. Photo Credit: Rubén Rodriguez on Unsplash)