Tim O'Brien, the father of a senior at California's Berkeley High School and a supporter of the Palestinian cause, watched a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism attended by school district Superintendent Enikia Ford Mortell on Wednesday. In his eyes, she was a “rock star.”
At the Capitol, 3,000 miles away, Ilana Perlman, another Berkeley High School parent who is Jewish, saw the same testimony firsthand, especially when Ms. Ford Motel said anti-Semitism was “not pervasive.” He said he couldn't believe his ears at what he said. school district.
Republican lawmakers say school district leaders in Berkeley, New York City and Montgomery County, Maryland, are not doing enough to address anti-Semitism in public schools, while administrators fiercely defend themselves and their policies. he accused. After that, local reaction to the hearing seemed to depend on whether opinions changed, with few changing their minds and some questioning whether it was worth the time.
Mr. O'Brien, who watched the hearing over coffee and muffins with about 10 other pro-Palestinian parents in a UC Berkeley classroom, objected to the hearing in general, but said that Ford Motel had survived well. I thought.
“It was like the Salem witch trials,” he said, adding that the hearings were a distraction from the devastation in Gaza. But he said it was right for educators to teach students about the war with Israel and the importance of liberating Palestine. And he thought Ms. Ford Motel conveyed that message effectively.
“We all hoped that her personality and charm, compassion and intelligence would help her survive in such a toxic environment, and she did not disappoint,” he said. Ta.
Perlman, the parent of a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging “severe and persistent” anti-Semitism in the Berkeley school district, said she appreciated the hearing, but was disappointed in the superintendent's testimony. He said he did.
She particularly blanched at Ms. Ford Motel's opening statement denying that anti-Semitism was a major problem in the district.
Perlman, who was watching the trial with other Jewish mothers in the hearing room, said she contacted Ford Motel after the hearing.
“I said, 'Why don't you believe in us?'” Perlman recalled. “She cupped my hand. She wanted to throw up. And she said, 'I believe you, I believe you.' I said, 'No, it's not that.' ”
Perlman said her son, a freshman, saw an art teacher present a drawing of a fist hitting the Star of David and heard another teacher refer to Israel as a settler colony. She said he has now silenced his Jewish heritage.
Ford Motel declined to be interviewed after testifying.
Immediately after the hearing, things got even more complicated at Berkeley schools. The Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has joined the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to represent the federal government on behalf of school officials and parents who allege “serious and pervasive anti-Palestinian racism” in the area. filed a complaint.
Although the group primarily supports Ford Motel, it has also responded to incidents such as students mocking Arab and Muslim classmates by calling them “terrorists” and “9-11” chants. They argued that individual principals were not responding appropriately. In another incident, a student ripped off a classmate's hijab, according to the complaint.
Molly Sampson, whose half-Palestinian daughter attends the Berkeley school, said she thought the accusations of anti-Semitism were overblown and the hearing was a waste of time.
“This is our town, our district, but when I see how it's portrayed on a national level, I feel like I'm living in an upside-down world,” she said. Ta. “I thought our coach had incredible grace and poise in dealing with it.”
After the hearing, pro-Palestinian meetings were held in Berkeley and New York, where parents, teachers, and other participants discussed the importance of teaching about Palestinians. In public schools.
Muhammad Delgado, a senior at Berkeley High School, said he watched the public hearing before attending the rally and said he was grateful that Ford Morsell stood up for the district.
“I thought our superintendent did a good job of defending and pushing back against this narrative that educators and students are anti-Semitic,” he said. “My experience was one of cooperation and camaraderie.”
Like Ms. Ford-Motel, the New York City school superintendent strongly pushed back against Republican lawmakers' claims that school districts are not doing enough to prevent anti-Semitism. The official, David C. Banks, acknowledged some instances of anti-Semitism, but said he and the district were responding with appropriate measures and that Republicans were simply “seeing the pitfalls” rather than real solutions. He said he was just looking for “.
Leah Wiseman Fink, a mother of two who attends Brooklyn public schools, attended the hearing, which highlighted several high-profile anti-Semitic incidents in New York schools. , others said they felt ignored.
For example, she said that after she complained about anti-Semitism at the school, she was blocked by the school board's official Instagram account and was not allowed to participate in a video conference. She, along with other local parents, filed a formal complaint about the school board's treatment of Jewish parents, but it was not addressed at the hearing.
“I’m glad that part of the story is being told,” she said. “But there's a big part of the story that's been left out.”
Carla Silvestre, the school board director in Maryland's Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, acknowledged reports of “anti-Semitic depictions, language, and vandalism” at her county's schools, saying, “We don't get it right every time. “I haven't,” he admitted. But like Banks, Silvestre said her own school district will soon implement new training programs and curriculum to address anti-Semitism.
Rachel Barold, a Montgomery County high school sophomore, attended Wednesday's hearing and left feeling overwhelmed.
Before the hearing, she submitted a letter to the office of Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, demanding that Montgomery County schools respond to a surge in enrollment. said that they were not able to respond quickly enough. antisemitism.
Barold said in a text message that she felt the hearing was “quite a waste” because Silvestre spoke less than Ford Motel and Banks.
Adam Zimmerman, who has two children in Montgomery County schools and teaches Holocaust education to middle school students at a local synagogue, said he didn't expect the hearing to be such a pivotal moment, and since then it has become clear that said that this was not the case.
“This is not an issue that can be resolved through public hearings alone,” he said. “My hope is that school leaders there understand that we still face very significant challenges,” he added.
Coral Murphy Marcos Contributed reporting from Berkeley, California. Troy Crosson I contributed a report from New York.