Jewish Educators Respond to the House Education and Workforce Committee Report on Antisemitism in K-12 Schools

Image taken from a gallery walk provided in a Rethinking Schools session at the NJEA Convention last year.

The Jewish Affairs Caucus of the NEA represents Jewish educators and helps our colleagues understand Jewish identity and antisemitism. Since October 7, 2023, our members have reported harassment, exclusion, and hostility in their schools, their communities, and their union. This problem is not intrinsic to public education or unions, which both play vital roles in uplifting all marginalized communities. But like any large community, they are places where ideas of all kinds spread, including hateful ones. A recent majority staff report from the House Education and Workforce Committee describes many of the same problems. 

• Biased and harmful curriculum. It describes materials used in Philadelphia and Berkeley that, in the report’s assessment, and our own, demonize Israel, erase Jewish perspectives, or excuse violence against Jews.
  

• Inadequate protection for Jewish students and staff. It details reports of antisemitism and questions whether districts responded effectively and held the responsible employees accountable.
  

• NEA support for questionable outside organizations. It examines the NEA’s past response to Jewish members and its partnerships with Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project, whose materials minimize antisemitism and promote bias. Our own members have witnessed Rethinking Schools spread antisemitic tropes in the name of professional development at a state union conference last year.
  

These concerns are not new to us. Many of us are living them. 

The report draws on school records, internal communications, and curriculum materials. While it would be easy to write this report off as the work of partisan committee members, its concerns should be reviewed and addressed on their merits. Jewish students and educators are entitled to the same civil-rights protections as everyone else. Taking antisemitism seriously is not partisan, and dismissing documented concerns because of who raised them only deepens the harm.

We also celebrate the meaningful steps the NEA has taken. At the most recent Representative Assembly, electronic voting made it harder to single out Jewish delegates for their votes. Staff stationed near our exhibit tables helped address harassment, and NEA leadership emphasized respectful dialogue. We appreciate leaders who are willing to listen and work with us. That progress matters, and so does the work still ahead.

We have asked the NEA to:

• Support amending our bylaws. Amend NEA Bylaw 12-1(h) so that Jewish members are recognized as an ethnic minority, giving them a seat at the table on the committees meant to keep educators and students safe.
  

• Hold NEA-promoted materials to a standard of accuracy. Our union should not lend its endorsement or members’ dues to materials from Rethinking Schools, the Zinn Education Project, and Teaching for Change or any other curriculum organization that presents inaccurate or one-sided accounts of Jewish history, Israel, or antisemitism. The evidence from the School District of Philadelphia cited in the report links this curriculum to the same antisemitism that a Biden administration civil-rights investigation found the district had failed to adequately address.
  

• Partner with us on education. Work directly with the Caucus, through established NEA programs such as EdJustice and Art for Activism, to educate members and the public about the rhetoric and targeted attacks on Jewish institutions that endanger our members and students.
  

We are the educators facing this hatred. We know what antisemitism in schools and unions looks like, sounds like, and feels like. When Jewish educators are pushed aside, the harm grows and those responsible are given cover.

Our early conversations with NEA leadership have been encouraging. We hope that willingness to listen leads to concrete change. Jewish educators and students are counting on our leaders to protect them, too.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS CONTENT ARE THOSE OF THE CAUCUS. THE CAUCUS HAS NO AUTHORITY TO SPEAK FOR, OR ACT ON BEHALF OF, NEA.