WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)
– As the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a racial discrimination case involving Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging that MCPS failed to effectively protect a Jewish student who received an explicit anti-Jewish bomb threat, followed immediately by fireworks outside his home. Subsequent harassment and ostracization left him afraid of physical harm and substantially reduced his school attendance. The complaint places his experience within a broader, ongoing pattern of antisemitic harassment across the district and seeks systemic corrective action.
According to the complaint, MCPS was alerted multiple times to harassment and threats against the student at Montgomery Blair High School through the student’s family, faculty reports, formal bullying complaints, and meetings. This included being accused of genocide because of his intention to study in Israel, being accused of supporting genocide because he wore an Israel baseball shirt, being targeted with demands that classmates shun him as a “Zionist” being told to “go back to 1935” by other students, and receiving an anonymous phone call saying, “You’re a stupid fucking Zionist Jew, and we are going to bomb you” immediately followed by fireworks being set off outside his home.
Prior to attending Blair, the student had transferred from another MCPS school, Northwood High School, after teammates threw coins and told him to “pick it up Jew” students made Hitler salutes, and an online message called him a “Jewish freak” and told him to kill himself.
Despite reports of this behavior, MCPS failed to adequately address this hostile environment of intimidation and exclusion and did not restore this student’s ability to fully participate in school life. This also reflects a longstanding pattern of anti-Semitic harassment being overlooked at MCPS, including antisemitic graffiti like a swastika found at a district high school, along with numerous antisemitic comments, Hitler salutes, classroom comments directed at Jewish teachers about accepting money from AIPAC and suggestions that Israel controlled the American government, and threats and harassment affecting Jewish students across the district. Consequently, more than 40 rabbis and cantors sent a letter to the district emphasizing the need for action.
In response to MCPS’s alleged failure to adequately recognize and address antisemitic harassment, the Brandeis Center is asking OCR to investigate the district and require corrective action, including incorporating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism and its contemporary examples into MCPS policies and training. The complaint calls for administrators to consistently use IHRA when assessing allegations of antisemitic harassment, while expressly preserving First Amendment protections.
The Montgomery County Council affirmed IHRA as an educational tool in a nonbinding resolution in 2022. The complaint seeks to translate that recognition into explicit policies, training, and consistent assessment of harassment complaints within MCPS. The Brandeis Center is seeking a review of MCPS’s handling of complaints, revised procedures for addressing cumulative harassment involving multiple perpetrators, mandatory staff training, student education, and a public statement condemning antisemitic harassment. Additional requested remedies include climate assessments, implementation deadlines, reporting requirements, an independent outside monitor for at least five years, and ongoing monitoring to ensure corrective measures are implemented and effective.
“School administrators have no justification for failing to respond effectively to antisemitic harassment under their watch. An explicit anti-Jewish bomb threat should leave no doubt about the seriousness of the danger or the urgent need for an effective response from school leadership,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education who ran the Office for Civil Rights during two administrations.
“A Jewish student was threatened with life-threatening violence, accused of genocide, ostracized by his classmates and ultimately became afraid to attend school, while administrators allegedly treated his harassment as a political disagreement. It is both unfortunate and grimly ironic to see such incidents in a county that has such a robust Jewish community. Montgomery County school officials have an obligation to respond promptly and effectively to antisemitic incidents, just as they must respond to other forms of hate or bias. It is deeply concerning that this school district is facing multiple serious civil rights allegations, from racial discrimination in admissions to antisemitic harassment. It is no coincidence that Montgomery County is attracting national attention for multiple alleged failures to protect different minority groups from discrimination. We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to review the admissions case and hope it brings greater attention to the district’s responsibility to protect the rights of all students.”
The complaint marks the latest in a series of recent efforts by the Brandeis Center to combat anti-Semitism in K–12 schools across the country. Earlier this year, the Brandeis Center filed a lawsuit against the State of California for allegedly failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from widespread harassment and discrimination in public schools. The Brandeis Center has also pursued legal action against Virginia’s Nysmith School, where three Jewish siblings were allegedly expelled after their parents reported antisemitic bullying, and has previously filed a federal civil rights complaint against Fulton County School District in Georgia over persistent antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students. In April, the Brandeis Center, alongside ADL and Mayer Brown, also secured a federal settlement requiring Massachusetts’ Concord-Carlisle Regional School District to strengthen protections against antisemitism.
*
Preceding provided by the Brandeis Center.