Oakland Schools Face Heat for Jewish Student Discrimination

Oakland Unified School District is in hot water after the California Department of Education found that it created a hostile environment for Jewish students and staff. The department issued three rulings in late October, criticizing the district for taking over a year to respond to complaints of antisemitism, which is way longer than the allowed 60 days. The complaints came from Jewish families and were filed by Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks. She pointed out that there are anti-Israel discussions, pro-Palestine posters, and maps in classrooms and hallways, making the district a hostile environment for Jews and Israelis. In response, Oakland Unified stated that it will start additional trainings in December to address antisemitism and hatred more broadly. The district also acknowledged that some materials created by outside groups violated its policy on teaching controversial subjects. The initial complaints covered incidents that occurred after the Oct. 7, 2023, killing of 1, 200 Israelis by Hamas and the kidnapping of about 250. The Department of Education's decisions reflect the strains Jewish families and students in the district are facing amid the activism of pro-Palestinian teachers and students. One complaint objected to the flying of the Palestinian flag on a school flagpole at Fremont High School. The district found that the principal reported no objections from students or parents, but the state investigation concluded that flying exclusively the Palestinian flag at that tense time could be perceived as favoring one point of view and contributed to a discriminatory environment for Jewish students. Another complaint characterized an unauthorized teach-in on Palestine, led by a dozen teachers, as biased indoctrination that excluded an Israeli perspective of the conflict. The district acknowledged that some of the materials created by outside groups violated its policy on teaching controversial subjects and cast Palestinians as victims and Israelis as oppressors. The state investigation found that the district's inquiry didn't directly respond to the complaint's allegation that the teach-in constituted discrimination or intimidation against Jewish students and staff. The state's investigation, noting that the teach-in excluded an Israeli perspective on the Palestinian conflict, supported the claim. Sacks has filed a total of 25 complaints against the district, citing Free Palestine posters in various school classrooms, additional teach-ins, a May Day walkout, and disruptive conduct at an antisemitism training session. She said that at least two dozen Jewish parents have transferred their children to other districts or sent their kids to private school because of the antisemitic environment in Oakland Unified. Pro-Palestinian groups such as the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in San Francisco criticized the complainants as the ones trying to suppress dissent by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. In finding that the district allowed biased instruction with the teach-in, the state ordered that the district hire a non-district trainer for high school social studies teachers and site administrators to discuss how to comply with the Education Code ban on instruction and activities that promote discrimination. Sacks doubts it will make a difference. She said that the district tries to present the complaints as isolated incidents, but antisemitism is districtwide.