Washington, D.C. – On February 26, the Louis D. Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law and StandWithUs, in coordination with outside counsel, including veteran California plaintiffs’ attorney Michael A. Sherman, sued the State of California, the California State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, and Superintendent Tony Thurmond on behalf of Jewish parents whose children have been, and continue to be, the subjects of cruel, persistent, and pervasive antisemitism in their California public schools.

The lawsuit highlights unchecked antisemitism festering in school districts across the state, including Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Campbell Union, Berkeley, Fremont, Etiwanda, and Oakland, among others.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, at Kester Elementary School, a third-grade Jewish student was called “a racist” by her teacher. At Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, a Jewish honors student was forced to sit through his teacher’s antisemitic celebration of the October 7, 2023 massacre of Israelis. At Louis Armstrong Middle School, a teacher repeatedly meted out unfounded discipline to a seventh-grade Jewish student who wore a Star of David necklace and Israel-related shirts to school. Other students have called their Jewish peers antisemitic names and even assaulted them. In each case, school administrators failed to take meaningful action to address the antisemitism.

Across Northern California school districts, Jewish students and parents have faced a similar surge of antisemitic harassment. In Santa Clara, a Jewish girl’s classmates threatened to “jump” her and referred to her only as “Jew.” A Berkeley Unified ninth grader saw his art teacher display antisemitic artwork, including a Star of David with a fist punching through it. The same teacher promoted a walkout filled with chants that included, “Fuck the Jews.” When the student’s mother reported the teacher’s conduct, the school’s solution was to segregate the Jewish student in the library and health center. Students at Berkeley Unified chanted “kill the Jews,” and asked Jewish students what “their number is” (a reference to the Nazi practice of tattooing numbers on the arms of concentration camp prisoners). At Etiwanda Unified, in San Bernardino County, a middle schooler choked a Jewish student while shouting, “Shut your stupid Jew ass up.” Staff blamed the victimized student.

Antisemitism also targets parents: for example, a Pajaro Valley school board member publicly ranted against the Jewish community. At a Berkeley Unified school board meeting, a mother reporting slurs like “kikes” and “dirty Jews” was mocked (“Zionist Nazi bitch!”) and subsequently had her job information posted online.

The lawsuit also documents multiple instances in which teachers or unions have facilitated the spread of antisemitism into California classrooms. Members of the Oakland Education Association created an unapproved curriculum that recycles antisemitic propaganda and age-old antisemitic tropes. The curriculum featured, among other things, a children’s book for Oakland’s transitional kindergarten through 3rd grade students that proclaims, “I is for Intifada,” a word defined benignly as simply “rising up for what’s right.” In reality, Intifada describes two periods in recent Israeli history marked by severe violence and acts of terrorism in which more than 1,000 Israelis were killed, including in brutal bus bombings. One of the other materials asks children to draw a picture of “The Zionist leaders of Israel receiv[ing] money and support to conduct” a “two-tiered (unfair) system where Palestinians are mistreated and attacked,” which blatantly promotes the oldest, ugliest antisemitic stereotypes of Jews as greedy money-hoarders who use their wealth to commit evil.

In another instance, a video created by an Oakland Unified School District teacher shows fifth graders reciting what they had learned, with one student looking into the camera and saying, “Another major thing that I’ve learned is that the Jews, the people who took over, basically just stole the Palestinians’ land… And one thing that’s really surprising to me, and that appeals to me is that the U.S. is helping the Jews.”

“The California education system is teaching the state’s children that Jewish Americans and Israelis are racists, white supremacists, oppressors, and baby-killers who should be shunned. The result is not surprising: Jewish children and children perceived as Jewish are bullied and excluded by their peers and harassed by their teachers, who silence, mock, and even segregate them if they speak out,” said Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education during two administrations. “School officials have done little or nothing at all to help these children. It is the state’s legal responsibility to defend and protect innocent children from discrimination and bigotry, not foster hate as California has been doing.”

“Jews consistently are being targeted with hostility because of who they are, including in California and particularly in K-12 public schools. This lawsuit seeks to remedy that,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO and co-founder of StandWithUs. “It is imperative that California K-12 schools not be co-opted by those seeking to indoctrinate students into antisemitic hate. However, Jewish students and parents indicate that this is precisely what is happening in California. Shockingly, those tasked with enforcing non-discrimination laws in our schools have failed to intervene effectively to put a stop to this growing problem. This lawsuit was necessitated by that systemic failure and seeks to ensure, going forward, that California’s Jewish students are protected and have access to an education free from discrimination.”

Other Jewish organizations have expressed their support for the lawsuit.

“More than half a million students attend L.A. public schools, including 50,000 Jewish children. Rising antisemitism in our classrooms is leaving some students unsafe and unprotected. California already has strong laws to prevent hate and discrimination—now they must be enforced consistently so every child can learn in safety with dignity. When any child experiences hate unchecked, it threatens the safety and moral integrity of our entire public education system,” said Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation.

“California has some of the strongest laws and policies aimed at protecting Jewish residents from antisemitism, yet enforcement remains sparse, inconsistent and lacks accountability. Jewish students are increasingly targeted because of their identity and exposed to lesson plans containing antisemitism and anti-Israel narratives. It is time for California officials to deliver on their promise of schools and classrooms that are free of hate. Our children cannot afford to wait any longer,” said Robert Trestan, Vice President, Anti-Defamation League West.

Jewish parents have filed hundreds of formal UCP (uniform complaint procedure) complaints and many California Department of Education (CDE) appeals reporting harassment, discrimination, bullying, and biased teaching materials, but the UCP process is not designed to address systemic discrimination, and complaints and appeals have proven ineffective. Investigations, if they take place at all, are initiated well past the statutory deadline, and, even when completed, provide little or no relief. The complaint alleges that the defendants, including the CDE, are aware of the anti-Jewish racism infecting California’s K-12 schools and have implicitly acknowledged the problem in letters asking school districts to obey state and federal non-discrimination laws. However, they have taken no further action, allowing Jewish children continually to be deprived of the educational opportunities to which all students are entitled.

According to the complaint, defendants violated the California constitution, including its equal protection and free exercise clauses, by failing to take action against antisemitic discrimination in the state’s public schools. Defendants have largely stood by while California public schools permit, and at times encourage, an ongoing hostile environment for Jewish students. Defendants are aware that many California teachers use class time to teach antisemitic and biased anti-Israel propaganda and to lead students in off-campus walkouts that support Hamas and demonize Israel. Antisemitism has been normalized, with Jewish students across multiple districts being targeted with discrimination at the hands of teachers and other children, who address them using antisemitic slurs and physically assault and injure them. When parents complain, school officials do little or nothing to address the problem or prevent it from recurring. Many Jewish parents are left with the challenging decision to allow their children to face daily antisemitism or remove them from their school and continue their education in less hostile environments.

Plaintiffs are seeking statewide injunctive relief, asking the court to order monitoring of schools where antisemitism is a problem, elimination of antisemitic curriculum and instruction, prohibition on segregation of Jewish students, mandatory antisemitism training for teachers and administrators, and limits on school funding for schools that fail to enforce nondiscrimination policies.

Personal testimonials from Jewish parents who filed the lawsuit can be found below.

California parents whose students are experiencing antisemitism can seek assistance from Brandeis and StandWithUs attorneys at: CASchoolHelp@brandeiscenter.com.