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After helping topple two college presidents, Congress will grill school district leaders from New York City; Berkeley, Calif.; and Montgomery County in Maryland.
By Dana Goldstein and Sarah Mervosh
(May 7, 2024 / NYT) School district officials have faced off with students, parents, school board members and teachers about issues related to the Israel-Hamas war — but until now, not members of Congress.
On Wednesday, leaders from three public school districts — New York City; Berkeley, Calif.; and Montgomery County in Maryland — will be questioned by members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has grilled four college presidents on accusations of campus antisemitism, helping to topple two of them.
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Accusations of Antisemitism
School districts have been accused of failing to respond adequately to a broad array of incidents, such as the scrawling of the phrase “Kill Jews” in a school bathroom and pro-Palestinian student walkouts that disrupted the school day.
Some accusations — such as one levied at a California teacher for wearing a “Free Palestine” sticker — speak to a broader debate, including within the Jewish community, about when criticism of Israel is antisemitic.
The Zionist Organization of America, a conservative group that filed a complaint against Montgomery County, has accused the district of allowing antisemitism to fester and of having a “weak response” to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The group noted that the district put out forceful statements condemning police killings of Black Americans in 2020 and hate crimes against Asian Americans in 2021.
“What I want to see is a stop to this double standard,” said Susan Tuchman, a lawyer for the group. “You have got to treat the harassment and intimidation and bigotry against Jews in the same forceful way, and they are just not doing that.”
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