The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is opening investigations into complaints against Fulton County Schools regarding antisemitism against students.
The complaints were filed by the Brandeis Center and the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC).
The two organizations filed a Title VI complaint with the OCR in August 2024, Rough Draft reported. The complaint said that antisemitic acts have taken place in the hallways, classrooms, buses, and schoolyards of elementary, middle, and high schools across the district.
“Fulton County Schools is deeply committed to fostering a safe and respectful learning environment for all students,” a Fulton County Schools spokesperson said in a statement to Rough Draft Atlanta. “We take any allegations of discrimination or harassment seriously and investigate all reported incidents thoroughly and we remain steadfast in our responsibility to uphold the rights and protections of every student. Our focus will always be on ensuring a school community where all students feel valued and supported.”
The complaint documents incidents the Brandeis Center and NJAC said showed how the school district fostered a hostile climate that has allowed anti-Semitism to thrive in its schools at the hands of students, teachers, and administrators. It said the school district has ignored pleas from Jewish and Israeli parents whose children have faced increasing physical and verbal harassment, and the school district has denied the antisemitic nature of the incidents.
“We are thrilled that the Department of Education has opened an investigation into Fulton County, and we are encouraged that the OCR is not falling for the typical excuses,” NJAC CEO Mark Goldfeder, according to the Brandeis Center release. “There is a difference between protected political speech and thinly veiled anti-semitism, and this case highlights the very real danger of what can happen when perpetrators and administrators alike are allowed to confuse speech with acts and conflate politics with demonizing and discriminatory hatred.”
Kenneth L. Marcus, the Brandeis Center chairman and a former assistant secretary of Education who ran OCR during two administrations, said changes to the department raised concerns on what it would mean for fighting campus and K-12 antisemitism.
“We are pleased to see the department continuing to move forward rapidly on Title VI complaints, and in some cases, they are well exceeding historical norms for prompt action,” Marcus said.
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