Jessica Russak-Hoffman | JNS

Families at Congregation Har Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in Potomac, have told Rabbi Adam Raskin, who has led the community for 15 years, that they “don’t feel that the public schools are a safe place for Jews.”

Raskin, 52, whose three children attended Jewish day schools, signed a letter on Monday urging Montgomery County Public Schools to confront Jew-hatred.

“They don’t feel like the administration handles incidents of antisemitism with any meaningfulness or seriousness,” he told JNS.

The letter states that the district recorded 600 hate-bias incidents of all kinds in the 2025-26 school year, up from 253 the year before.

The heavily Jewish county contains about 45% of Jews in the state.

The letter cites Anti-Defamation League figures, which place Maryland fifth nationally for antisemitic incidents in K-12 schools. Montgomery County accounted for 84% of the state’s incidents, the letter says.

Dozens of rabbis and cantors signed the letter to Thomas Taylor, superintendent of the county public school system, and the district’s board of education.

Jewish families are withdrawing children from public schools, and some families have teenagers who stop going to school or transfer after being harassed and facing physical threats, the signatories write. Jewish teachers also reported bigoted comments from students and colleagues, according to the letter.

Their demands for the 2026-27 school year include training teachers and administrators to identify Jew-hatred, bring programs on Jewish identity and the Holocaust into classrooms and set enforceable rules for social media harassment.

They also want the district to report measurable progress.

Of more than 1,000 educators who attended a free Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington training during the past academic year, only 2% came from the county public school system, according to the letter.

Raskin told JNS that his synagogue serves 750 families and that teachers and families in his community have spoken to him about the issue.

Teachers have described hostility from fellow educators and said that some students feel that they have no one at school who understands what they are experiencing, he said. The district’s response to offers of training and education has been “underwhelming, to say the least,” the rabbi told JNS.

Raskin said that if schools are “dodging the issue” of antisemitism training because of sensitivities around the subject of Israel, then “it’s a standard that’s only applied to the Jewish community in terms of diversity training and education, which is unfair.”

“The fact is, you have to be able to address that thoughtfully and meaningfully, not use that as an excuse to delay,” he told JNS. “I think what we’re experiencing is that the district has preferred to ignore it or push it under the rug.”

“Zionism is a lightning rod issue,” he said. “But it’s also a fundamental part of Jewish identity, and most Jews in Montgomery County and beyond believe that Israel is a core part of their Jewish identity.”

“Antisemitism is masquerading as anti-Zionism,” Raskin added. “There are other antisemitic tropes that are surfacing that are not really only about Israel. Symbols and myths and slogans and imagery that has deep antisemitic history associated with it.”

The rabbi told JNS that students are taught that Israel is a part of their Jewish identity, but when they go to school, they face hostility about that identity expressed by “their educators and advocates and people who are supposed to create safe spaces for them.”

That “changes the entire landscape of school,” he said.

Rabbi Susan Shankman, a signatory who was involved in the initial drafting process of the letter, similarly hears from families who attend Washington Hebrew Congregation.

“I was hearing weekly from parents of students at various schools about what their students were experiencing in terms of antisemitism, both in and out of the classroom, and the way in which antisemitism is not being addressed or not being addressed strongly enough to prevent students from experiencing that,” Shankman told Washington Jewish Week.

The senior rabbi said the antisemitic incidents she hears about are typically verbal harassment, intimidation and bullying. A few families have enrolled their children at Jewish day schools in place of public schools.

“Parents are expressing that they don’t feel that their students are safe or being protected. They’re very wary, certainly anxious, about the climate and how antisemitism is normalized by teachers and administrators,” Shankman said, adding that she’s also had positive experiences working with some responsive school teams and administrators in MCPS.

Raskin said the rabbis want to work with county schools. This summer, he arranged for five county public school students to tell a group of county teachers about their experiences as Jews at school.

The teachers listened and asked how they could help, according to the rabbi. “We just hope the district will take us up on it,” he told JNS.

JNS has reported on a federal civil rights complaint alleging slurs, Nazi swastikas and retaliation against educators in the county public school system.

In May, police sought three suspects after antisemitic graffiti appeared at Greenwood Elementary School in Olney, Md. At the time, a JCRC official told JNS that the group was receiving significantly more reports of antisemitism from Montgomery County Public Schools than from other school districts in the region.

Taylor, the superintendent, responded to the rabbis’ letter on Oct. 1, thanking Montgomery County’s Jewish pastoral leadership and condemning antisemitism at MCPS.

“The number of reported hate-bias incidents is deeply concerning,” he wrote. “We believe this is in part to increased awareness and reporting. We have made a conscious effort to raise awareness of antisemitism and how to report hate bias incidents. We are making progress in closing the gap of unreported and underreported incidents. There is still room for improvement here as well, but we see this as a critical first step in assessing the problems that we need to address.

“That said, this does not diminish the seriousness of what is being reported or the harm these incidents cause to individual students and entire school communities. Rather, acknowledging, documenting, and responding to hate, bias, and antisemitism are necessary steps toward understanding where and why these incidents are occurring and, ultimately, reducing them.”

Taylor addressed the status of MCPS’ work in the three areas outlined in the clergy members’ letter:

• MCPS’ mandatory compliance training for all staff now includes antisemitism awareness — it didn’t in the recent past — aligned with state law and informed by initial input from JCRC.
• MCPS welcomes experiential learning, such as peer-to-peer programs and speakers that help students understand and confront antisemitism.
• The Employee and Student Codes of Conduct provide authority when conduct — including via social media — affects the school environment, school day or school-sponsored activities.

“ … Reducing hate bias incidents is an important district priority,” Taylor added. “That is why I want our next step to be more than another conversation. I am committed to establishing repeat, collaborative dialogue with you to identify what meaningful actions MCPS can implement.”

He has asked Nyah Hamlett, MCPS’ chief equity and development officer, to lead and be an integral part of those discussions, with Taylor’s direct involvement.

“Thank you again for your advocacy, your partnership, and your commitment to our students. I look forward to continuing this work together,” Taylor wrote. “My door remains open to you and others in Jewish pastoral care leadership on this and other matters.”

Guila Franklin Siegel, the JCRC’s chief operating officer, emphasized the urgency of the situation in her response to Taylor’s letter.

“JCRC appreciates MCPS’ prompt reply to Jewish clergy in our area who raised serious concerns about antisemitism in our schools. The urgency of this problem demands a swift response,” she wrote on Oct. 1.

“The district’s commitment to engage in immediate dialogue with Jewish leaders is welcome, but cannot signal a prolonged process without action. Jewish families do not have the luxury of waiting for an entire school year or even a semester. School leaders should be implementing the specific recommendations that JCRC has been communicating to MCPS for years, which have now been endorsed by more than 40 local Jewish clergy from every corner of our community, as well as our partners at the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee.

“JCRC’s teacher and administrator training programs are available right now. Our Holocaust speakers have presentations ready right now. Our Student to Student peer leaders are willing and able to talk about their experiences right now. These programs are effective and free of charge to MCPS. Alongside our dedicated clergy and partners, JCRC is committed to working collaboratively to create safer and more inclusive school communities throughout MCPS. We urge district leaders to take full advantage of the wealth of resources being offered to them.”

Zoe Bell contributed reporting to this article.