With over 160,000 students, Montgomery County Public Schools is the largest school system in Maryland and the 14th largest in the country. Around 10% of Montgomery County is Jewish, but 61% of hate-bias incidents in MCPS have occurred against Jewish students and staff. There has been widespread criticism against MCPS for their failures in handling these incidents, culminating in a civil rights complaint filed against MCPS.
ZOA, the Zionist Organization of America, filed a civil rights complaint to the Department of Education alleging district officials have failed to address antisemitic incidents properly for years, violating Title VI. Title VI is part of the Civil Rights Act and states that discrimination is illegal in any federally-funded program, including public schools and universities.
The complaint is over 25 pages long and details years of antisemitic instances that MCPS failed to deal with properly. It also discusses the alarming rise in antisemitism after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack in Israel. The complaint mentions MCPS’s initial response to the Oct. 7 attacks, which has been called weak by many in the county. “MCPS failed to condemn the massacre and failed to educate the community about the problem of antisemitism, which was already soaring in the U.S. and deeply problematic in MCPS. The statement did not even mention antisemitism or contain a single reference to Jews,” the complaint says.
Another area of the complaint discusses MCPS reinstating teachers who were first placed on leave for making antisemitic statements. Notably, the complaint mentions Argyle Middle School math teacher Hajur El-Haggan, who was reinstated even after using the phrase ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ in her email signature and parent conferences. This phrase was recently declared antisemitic by the House of Representatives, as it calls for violence and the destruction of Israel.
One topic covered in the complaint is the Anti-Racist Audit completed by MCPS over two years. The complaint states that although other minority groups were represented in this audit, the Jewish perspective was not included, nor was the issue of antisemitism. “MoCo [Jewish Parents Coalition] urged MCPS to include antisemitism in that audit or to complete a separate but parallel audit on antisemitism, but MCPS refused. While other minority groups had grassroots representation on the audit steering committee, there was no grassroots representation from the Jewish community,” the complaint says.
The complaint also touches on the walkouts that occurred at high schools after Oct. 7, and how these contributed to creating a hostile environment for Jewish students in the county. The complaint highlights that walkouts during the school day are prohibited under MCPS policy, but schools still allowed them to occur. In one instance, at Northwood High School, the principal told community members that harmful slogans would be avoided at the walkout at the school, but that was not the case. “The organizers did not avoid those hurtful and derogatory phrases and slogans. The protesters held signs that said, ‘When people are occupied, resistance is justified’ and called for an intifada. These are calls for violence and terrorism against Israelis and Jews,” the complaint says.
The organizers of this protest were never held accountable or apologized, which demonstrates a larger pattern of antisemitic behavior not being punished within MCPS. To read the full complaint, visit the ZOA website or click here.
