Washington's second-largest district faces a federal investigation for allegedly allowing a hostile learning environment for Jewish students.
Maddie White | King 5 | March 20, 2025
SEATTLE — The second-largest school district in the state, Lake Washington School District, is under federal investigation over claims it is not preventing anti-Semitism.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prevents discrimination based on race, color, or origin within any institution that gets federal funds, such as public school districts.
The announcement comes several months after the legal team for nonprofit StandWithUs issued a legal complaint about the district's treatment of its Jewish students to the U.S. Office of Civil Rights. The complaint alleged the district violated the civil rights of its students by ignoring and enabling "rampant antisemitism."
A student in the Lake Washington School District, who preferred to remain anonymous, sat down with KING 5 in an exclusive interview. They described an incident they said caused Jewish students to feel unsafe on campus, early last year.
Ahead of a Pro-Palestine walkout, they said students witnessed their peers participating in a sign-making event on school grounds, “using school materials, that included rhetoric such as 'From the river to the sea'... This was in the commons of the school."
When the protest happened days later, they said it occurred on the school's campus, near the front entrance.
"I know there were students in PE classes, where the gym is right next to it, who are like, 'I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear it,'" the student told KING 5.
The student explained that many Jewish people view the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be Free" as a call for ethnic cleansing.
"I really see phrases like [that] as a call for the extermination of a Jewish state," the student said.
They said students then expressed concerns to the school’s principals, telling them, "This is making us all feel really unsafe and uncomfortable."
They said the principal responded, "I need to protect their First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech. I cannot impede it," and the students said they felt the principal was "purposefully ignoring it."
The legal policy director of the nonprofit StandWithUs said in the complaint to the federal office the administrators' inactions led to a hostile learning environment. The director said this relates to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which said that any federally funded institution has a legal obligation to protect against hostility.
"There could have been parameters that the school district imposed around that and said, 'Look, you have the right to free speech to a certain extent, but you can't be disruptive of the school day,'" said Carly Gammill, StandWithUs director of legal policy.
It's why Gammill said they are "encouraged" by the Office of Civil Rights' decision to investigate their complaint.
"This is a huge step toward some meaningful change," Gammill told KING 5.
Gammill said discrimination within the Lake Washington School District expands beyond student protests, however.
"Some of the incidents involved students surrounding their peers and using antisemitic slurs, calling them 'dirty Jews,' and worse," Gammill said. "It's it's truly troubling to see the treatment of Jewish students that's happening in the K-12 schools."
Shannon Parthemer, the director of communications for the Lake Washington School District, responded to KING 5 in an email Wednesday evening, saying, "The district will fully comply with all the Office for Civil Rights’ requests for information as they investigate and evaluate these claims."
Parthemer said the district has decided to decline an interview at this time.
"Lake Washington School District strives to create a safe learning environment for all students and staff," Parthemer said. "The complaint does not include many details such as dates/times/locations, so the district will need additional time to assess."
Another point mentioned in the complaint is the district's alleged approval of learning materials that many Jewish people view as anti-Semitic. Gammill provided an example.
"There are maps that are used in classes that are inaccurate," Gammill said. "The maps change in a way that is intended to convey that Israel has stolen land from the Palestinians.”
She said she is hopeful there will be change.
"Typically, the remedies for a Title VI complaint like this deal with policy updates, you know, ensuring that the school districts policies are in place in a way that that satisfiesTitle VI obligations," Gammill said.
According to a White House official, President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday calling for the shutdown of the U.S. Department of Education, which houses the investigating party: the Office of Civil Rights.
If the order goes through as planned, Gammill told KING 5 their nonprofit expects these investigations to be handled by another federal agency.
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