Leaders from three public school districts will testify before Congress Wednesday as the House shifts its focus from antisemitism on college campuses to K-12 schools nationwide.
School leaders from three public school districts, Berkeley, California, Montgomery County, Maryland, and New York City, will answer questions from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The committee has previously questioned leaders at colleges and universities about antisemitism on campus.
“The Education and the Workforce Committee will address antisemitism in K-12 schools,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said. “These schools must be held accountable. House Republicans will use every tool available to end this scourge of antisemitism that is destroying American education.”
David Banks, chancellor of New York City Schools; Enikia Ford Morthel, superintendent of Berkeley schools; and Karla Silvestre, the school board president in Montgomery County, will testify before Congress on behalf of their districts. Questions will likely center on free speech and if certain criticisms of Israel can be perceived as antisemitic.
These three school districts are in left-leaning areas and have strong ties to the Jewish community. In recent months, they have all had some controversies, making them targets for Republicans on the committee.
A New York City elementary school used a map of the “Arab World” with the country of Israel labeled as “Palestine.” In Berkeley, some teachers have called Israel’s war against Hamas “apartheid” against Palestinians. One Montgomery County teacher included the phrase, which some have condemned as antisemitic, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” in her email signature.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed in relation to antisemitism and Islamophobia in these school districts. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a lawsuit that argued Montgomery County violated the First Amendment by suspending the three teachers who vocally supported the Palestinian cause.
The Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a federal complaint against Berkeley public schools for Jewish discrimination.
One teacher named in the complaint, Becky Villagran, wears a “Free Palestine” pin to work and was cited in the suit for biased teaching for asking her students to answer the question, “To what extent should Israel be considered an apartheid state?”
“I’m Jewish, my mom is Jewish, I grew up Jewish,” Villagran said. “I’m not antisemitic. That makes no sense.”
“But we had just been studying apartheid for three months,” she continued. “The timing was just right.”
She also showed her students a movie that critiqued Israel in order to spark debate, later giving her students articles that countered that notion.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“What I want to see is a stop to this double standard,” said Susan Tuchman, a lawyer for the Zionist Organization of America, a conservative group that also filed a complaint against Montgomery County schools. “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.”
The Department of Education is also investigating increased antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attacks.