As veteran public school teachers and longtime members of the National Education Association teachers’ union, we believe deeply in the transformative power of education — to inspire empathy, build bridges and create safer, more inclusive communities.

That’s why we were appalled by the NEA’s recent decision to adopt a measure that would prohibit use of educational materials from the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL’s “No Place for Hate” program, a student-led program aimed at fostering schools free from hate and bias, has been implemented in more than 2,000 schools across the country.

It has made a measurable, positive impact on school climate.

As educators, we often speak about fostering “safe learning environments.”

The ADL is actually providing a framework for teachers, students, and administrators to do that work.

Let’s be clear: The ADL is not merely an organization that combats antisemitism — though that alone would be reason enough to support its work.

It is an organization that stands against all forms of hate: racism, Islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia and more.

The ADL has been a staunch ally in the fight for civil rights for over a century.

It has trained law enforcement to recognize hate crimes, partnered with the NAACP to pass hate crime legislation, and worked to ensure that students from all backgrounds feel safe and respected.

The NEA’s move to cut ties with the ADL doesn’t just reject an organization; it sends a message to Jewish students and teachers across the country that their safety and belonging are somehow less important, or worse, politically inconvenient.

Jewish families are watching this unfold and asking whether their children are still welcome in our public schools.

Many of us — Jewish educators included — are asking whether the organizations that are supposed to represent us still do.

The ADL has long understood something that every teacher sees firsthand: hate may start with Jews, but it never ends there.

When bigotry goes unchecked, it metastasizes.

Today it’s antisemitism.

Tomorrow it’s transphobia.

Next week it’s anti-black racism or Islamophobia.

We don’t get to cherry-pick which forms of hate are politically palatable to denounce.

We fight them all — or we fail our students.

Meanwhile, the most urgent issues facing teachers remain under-addressed: overcrowded classrooms, stagnant wages, inadequate funding and widening equity gaps.

These are the fights our unions should be waging — loudly and relentlessly.

Instead, this decision to boycott a group that has supported educators and students for decades is a distraction that divides us and weakens our collective moral clarity.

We are proud to be union members.

We believe in the power of collective action.

But we also believe that we must hold our institutions accountable when they lose their way.

This moment requires moral courage, not political convenience.

The NEA executive committee should reverse this misguided resolution.

Our students — all our students — deserve better.

Rebecca Kotok and Brenda Green are educators in Montgomery County, Md. and co-leaders of the Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance.