Members of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce spent two hours on May 8 grilling three school district leaders, including Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education President Karla Silvestre, during a hearing entitled “Confronting Pervasive Antisemitism in K-12 Schools.”
“MCPS schools have been home to student walkouts featuring calls to ‘Kill the Jews’ and ‘Bring Hitler Back.’ What’s worse, the administrators approved excused absences for the walkouts in violation of district policy,” said Committee Chair Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL) at the start of the hearing.
Silvestre testified that no teacher has been fired for uttering antisemitic remarks, posting hate on social media or teaching biased facts, but said some teachers have been disciplined.
Silvestre, like Chancellor of the New York City Schools David Banks and Superintendent of the Berkeley, California, United School District Enikia Ford Morthel, said they could not comment on individual cases or punishments.
As a row of photographers captured her every move, Silvestre told committee members that she understands they are “aware of recent press reports and public complaints about antisemitic imagery, language and vandalism in our district.”
She testified, “I can’t tell you we’ve gotten it right every single time.” But, she continued, “Let me be clear. We do not shy away from imposing consequences for hate-based behavior, including antisemitism.”
Three high school students who listened in an overflow room said they complain but never feel heard and are never told if any action is taken.
As the hearing ended, those students rushed to speak with Silvestre. Kobie Talmoud, an 11th grader at J.F. Kennedy High School, started to tell her about some comments made by his teachers.
Silvestre replied, “Legally, we can’t tell you what happened. I appreciate you bringing it up. I hear you.” The conversation ended abruptly when one of her assistants said she had to leave.
Talmoud told WJW that one of his teachers said Jews killed Jesus. Another teacher said all Jews are white.
Darci Rochkind, a senior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, said that swastikas have been found in her schools throughout her years. “Now, it’s more rhetoric,” she said, adding that comments by students and teachers are highly charged and often incorrect.
She has been told that Zionists are trying to take over the world, but when she responded that Israel had returned the Sinai to Egypt, “They were shocked,” she said.
A mother who attended the hearing said she finally pulled her twins out of A. Mario Loiederman Middle School in Silver Spring after feeling that her complaints concerning “67 incidents” were falling on deaf ears.
Rachel Barold, a sophomore at Walt Whitman High in Bethesda, said that whenever students complain, “We’ve been repeatedly ignored.” Her mother was told to advise her daughter not to speak with the media or she would be “sanctioned.”
Barold wrote in her Change.org campaign to bring Holocaust education to MCPS that “anti-Semitism in Montgomery County Public Schools has exploded into a persistent problem,”
The Holocaust is taught in 11th grade with some teachers including it in ninth and 10th grades. Her petition calls for it to be introduced by at least sixth grade.
During the hearing, Silvestre testified that “yes,” Israel has a right to exist, and “yes,” Hamas’ attack on Israel was terrorism. She also agreed that hate in all its forms can be fought simultaneously.
When pressed, Silvestre agreed that MCPS could do a better job in letting victims of hate learn what happens after they have reported an incident. While personnel matters are private, administrators “are working on improving communications,” she said.
“Teaching and learning are the bread and butter of what we know how to do,” Silvestre told committee members, adding that all teachers and staff will receive hate-based training this summer.
MCPS is working with outside partners for better cultural expertise, Silvestre noted. “We want to get it right, and these community groups will help us get it right.”
Chairman Bean began the hearing by saying that the three school officials “represent some of the largest public school districts that have allowed vile antisemitism to spread unchecked. Now, thousands of Jewish students in their districts fear riding the bus in the morning, wearing their kippah to school or just eating and breathing as a Jewish student.”
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) said, “I’m hearing really nice words here.” However, he added, “What I am missing is disciplining, firing.”
Following the hearing, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington Associate Director Guila Franklin Siegel praised Banks for not shying away from speaking of Jews and antisemitism without constantly bringing up all other types of hate. “That is a contrast to what we see in Montgomery County,” she said.
“I thought it (the hearing) did highlight some persistent problems that need attention,” she said, including the “need for greater transparency in the discipline process.” Currently, “Trust in the school system is severely compromised” and students “cannot have any sense of comfort,” Franklin Siegel said.
She and JCRC Director of Education Programs and Services Sara Winkelman wrote a lengthy letter to the committee members on what the JCRC has done and detailing MCPS’ problems, concluding with what the district should do.
“Disrupting this alarming trajectory will require all people of goodwill, regardless of political affiliation, to work together to develop and implement practical, impactful solutions. Critically, it will require leaders to resist efforts to politicize an issue that cannot afford to be the provenance of any one political party,” they wrote in the letter.
Summing up the hearing, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) said, “I feel strongly this should be a powerful learning moment,” where school staff can teach facts and critical thinking. “Sadly, some teachers are getting some of the facts wrong.”
Suzanne Pollak is a freelance writer.
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