At Nysmith School in Virginia, three Jewish siblings were expelled after their parents notified the headmaster about the relentless antisemitic bullying faced by one of the daughters.
At Concord-Carlisle High School in Massachusetts, students gave Nazi salutes in school hallways, divided themselves into teams called “Team Auschwitz” and “Team Hamas” during athletic games, drew swastikas in notebooks and on school property and told Jewish students to “go to the gas chamber.”
At Etiwanda School District in California, a 12-year-old Jewish student was beaten by another student, and when she called for help, she was told to “shut [her] stupid Jewish ass up.”
You have likely seen the recent onslaught of antisemitism in K-12 schools. But is it surprising that Jewish and Israeli K-12 students are experiencing antisemitism in schools, when so many teachers unions are promoting antisemitic curricula and engaging in anti-Israel political advocacy?
Nor should it be surprising that, across the country, Jewish teachers are facing the same antisemitism, only from their own peers, employers and the very people who are supposed to be protecting them from this kind of harassment in the first place — their unions.
In many instances, teachers unions play a role in curriculum development, resolve disputes between teachers and administrators and address issues related to school resources. Unions are also the bargaining representative of teachers.
As such, federal labor law imposes on a union the legal duty to fairly represent all its employees. Unions cannot choose to favor one protected identity over another or facilitate discrimination against a group of its members.
By developing antisemitic curricula and encouraging teachers to include discriminatory materials and propaganda in the classroom, the bias is clear.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teacher union, released a curriculum resource list earlier this year whose materials on the Israel-Palestine conflict not only heavily favored the anti-Israel narrative, but were also outwardly antisemitic. They included, for example, a poster that read, “Zionists f— off” and a replica of the Star of David made out of folded dollar bills.
When some union members pushed back against this, the union’s board of directors claimed that the protesters were “weaponizing” antisemitism to “suppress learning about the Palestinians.”
Three thousand miles away in California, unions have come under fire for similar actions. Last year, the United Teachers of Los Angeles union tried to implement a vehemently antisemitic and one-sided “liberated ethnic studies curriculum” that identifies Israel as a “colonialist,” and “settler state,” created through “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid.”
The Oakland Teachers Association encouraged teachers to bring unauthorized materials — including a book for elementary students with the lesson, “I is for Intifada, Intifada is Arabic for rising up for what is right, if you are a kid or a grown-up!” — into the classroom, and vowed to protect teachers who faced discipline for doing so.
Following in their neighbor’s footsteps, the California Teachers Association recently opposed a bill that would strengthen the state’s capacity to prevent and respond to antisemitism.
The bill, which passed the state assembly unanimously, would strengthen anti-discrimination protections, increase accountability for schools and districts, establish California’s first-ever State Antisemitism Coordinator to lead statewide efforts, and more.
Opponents of the bill claim that it would be “weaponized to silence critical perspectives on Palestine and global injustice and sets a troubling precedent for censorship in our state.”
This kind of underhandedness isn’t just happening at the state level. The most prominent national teachers union — in fact, the largest labor union in the country — is the National Education Association. Its annual Representative Assembly debated last month whether Jewish American Heritage Month was worth recognizing. Attendees discredited rates of antisemitism in schools.
Members also endorsed a proposal to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, which was ultimately unsuccessful. According to a joint letter from numerous Jewish organizations to National Education Association leadership, Jewish attendees who spoke out against the resolution were harassed and ostracized, left fearing for their safety, and felt abandoned by their union.
Through these actions, teachers unions are putting all other identities above “Jewish.” They are saying that discrimination and harassment is okay, as long as it’s against one of the Jewish members.
Not only are actions such as these — actions by the group that is tasked with protecting its members — morally reprehensible, they are illegal. When a union violates its duty to fairly represent the interests of its Jewish employees, it also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Unfortunately, teachers unions are not unique cases. Jewish union members in every sector are feeling isolated as labor unions continue to adopt more anti-Zionist approaches in their workplace, as evidenced in Brandeis Center’s recent legal claims brought against the unions of New York Legal Assistance Group and the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.
From posters that supported Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre to retaliatory expulsions, Jewish union members are being shunned or outwardly harassed, their concerns silenced and their heritage spat on. They are being told that they are not worthy of protection because of where they are from and who they are.
Teachers unions have extraordinary power to make positive change, including the power to fight antisemitism now and in future generations. They must acknowledge their role in molding young minds and take responsibility for protecting children from bigotry in the classroom.
Without action by union leaders to discourage the use of antisemitic materials and language, Jewish teachers feel ostracized in union spaces, and Jewish children will feel unsafe in their own classrooms.
But it’s not just the unions: Parents, educators, policymakers and community leaders must insist on zero tolerance for antisemitism in our schools and unions alike, including ensuring curricula are free from bias and propaganda. If we fail to act now, we allow hatred to shape our children’s education and their future.
Kenneth L. Marcus is the chairman and CEO of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the former assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education under two administrations.
