State government finds Auckland Unified created ‘discriminatory environment’ for Jewish students
In three separate rulings, the California Department of Education determined that the Oakland Unified School District created a “discriminatory environment” for Jewish students and staff, contradicting the district’s findings.
In a ruling issued in late October, the Department of Education also criticized the district for taking more than a year, beyond the allowed 60 days, to respond to a Jewish family’s complaint of anti-Semitism and for violating state law by refusing to turn over an investigative report that might shed light on the district’s conclusions.
Additional unresolved anti-Semitic complaints have been filed by Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks, who represents Jewish families in the area. She filed the complaint as a concerned member of the community.
“Anti-Israel discussions, rallies, pro-Palestinian posters and maps were hung in teacher classrooms, district hallways, school hallways and administrative offices,” she said. “Some schools are filled with pro-Palestinian propaganda, which is inappropriate. The region is a hostile environment for Jews and Israelis.”
In its first response to the complaints released Wednesday, Oakland Unified said that in light of the Department of Education’s findings, “we will begin additional training in December specifically on anti-Semitism and address hate more broadly.”
“We are implementing the corrective actions identified by OUSD and CDE in an intentional and effective manner so that both affected and non-affected OUSD staff receive the necessary training to educate and educate about anti-Semitism, bias, and the impact of providing only one perspective in our classrooms and campuses,” the statement said.
Oakland Unified’s initial complaint covered events that occurred weeks later on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 others. Initial reprisals by Israeli forces two years later have resulted in the deaths of nearly 70,000 civilians and combatants, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Education Department’s decision reflects the pressure faced by Jewish families and students in the 34,000-student school district, who say they face pressure amid activism by pro-Palestinian teachers and students.
In mid-October 2023, a complaint was filed against the display of the Palestinian flag on the flagpole at Fremont High School. The district found that the principal reported no student or parent objections and that the school had flown other flags in the past, including a transgender pride flag and a Latino flag. However, the state investigation said the region failed to examine whether flying only the Palestinian flag during that tense moment could be seen as endorsing a point of view. The state concluded that this created a discriminatory environment against Jewish students.
Another complaint described unauthorized education on Palestine issues led by a dozen teachers as biased “indoctrination” that excluded an Israeli perspective on the conflict. The district’s investigation noted that the school took “reasonable steps” to address the issues at the teach-in, including urging employees to present unbiased viewpoints and stating in the communication that “under no circumstances should any student or staff member feel uncomfortable or isolated because of who they are and how the conflict affected them.”
But the district also acknowledged that some materials produced by outside groups violated the district’s policy on teaching controversial topics and cast Palestinians as victims and Israelis as oppressors.
The state investigation found that, as with the flagpole incident, the district’s investigation did not directly address the complaint’s allegations that the teach-in constituted discrimination or intimidation against Jewish students and staff. The state’s investigation noted that the teach-in excluded an Israeli perspective on the Palestinian conflict, supporting that claim.
Separately, in October, the Department of Education released findings in an appeal of a third complaint filed in 2024, saying the district discriminated against Jews when it sent back a map of the Middle East in a packet celebrating Arab American Heritage Month that replaced the state of Israel with Palestine in three of the past four years.
More complaints are brewing
Sacks filed all three complaints, with more to come. She has filed a total of 25 charges against the district, citing “Free Palestine” posters in classrooms, extra instruction, May Day strikes and “disruptive behavior” during anti-Semitism training sessions. The complaints are in various stages of review, and some have been submitted to the state Department of Education for appeal.
Sachs said at least two dozen Jewish parents have moved their children to other districts or sent their children to private schools because of the anti-Semitic environment in Oakland Unified.
Other students and faculty “were hiding their Jewish identity,” Sachs said. “They don’t mention that their parents are Israeli, and they’re told, ‘How could you support genocide?’ So it basically silences discussion. It silences dissent, and it’s intimidating.”
But pro-Palestinian groups such as the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in San Francisco, which provided some of the material for the teach-in, criticized the complainants for trying to stifle dissent by conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
“Palestinian students and their supporters have long faced attacks and accusations of being called anti-Semitic simply for expressing support for Palestinian freedom,” said Mohamed Shehk, director of the Arab Center organization. “Honestly, speaking out on behalf of a people or even the Palestinian flag can be seen as anti-Semitic, it’s racist because it shows that Palestinians promoting their identity is seen as a threat to certain people who don’t want Palestinians to have dignity or rights.”
Will state remedies work?
After finding that the district allowed biased instruction in instruction, the state ordered the district to hire a non-district trainer for high school social studies teachers and site administrators in the next few months to discuss how to comply with the Education Act’s ban on instruction and activities that promote discrimination — in this case, focusing on conflicts in the Middle East. The state also requires training to comply with a 60-day deadline for responding to complaints.
Sachs doubts that will make a difference. She said the district tried to portray the complaints as isolated incidents, but anti-Semitism is a district-wide phenomenon. If the district wanted to end the situation, she said, it would monitor classrooms during teach-ins, discipline those who impose their beliefs and interview some Jewish families seeking interdistrict transfers.
Another Palestinian advocacy group, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, filed a lawsuit this month making the same arguments as Shehk’s, seeking an injunction to block Assembly Bill 715, a controversial law that took effect in January and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month. Its purpose is to protect all students, especially Jewish students, from discrimination. Plaintiffs also include Los Angeles Educators for Palestine Justice, who say the law would violate the First Amendment because it would chillingly criticize discussions and ideas about the state of Israel (see related article).
Of particular relevance to Oakland complaints, AB 715 contains a provision aimed at prompting districts to resolve discrimination complaints as quickly as possible. When the school district fails to respond within the 60-day response period, the complainant may appeal directly to the Department of Education.
The law also creates an Anti-Semitism Prevention Coordinator, independent of the Ministry of Education, who will be responsible for reporting and documenting anti-Semitic incidents. This person has the authority to require the school district to develop an improvement plan to address bias on the school campus.
The bill’s preamble states: “Anti-Semitism is dangerous and contrary to California’s values and will not be tolerated in any California classroom, whether or not there are Jewish students in the classroom.”
John Fensterwald writes for EdSource.
