Montgomery County school officials respond to Jewish leaders urging action against antisemitism

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor responded Thursday to dozens of local Jewish leaders who said the district must do more to combat antisemitism.

The backstory:

More than 40 local Jewish leaders sent a letter to MCPS officials Monday, saying that over the last three years, they’ve witnessed "skyrocketing school-based antisemitism." That includes an incident last week at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, where a swastika was found on a classroom desk.

It also includes several other incidents just in the past week in Montgomery County. According to police, there was an antisemitic symbol found in a high school locker room, a swastika under a desk, and racial and antisemitic graffiti on a bathroom wall.

READ MORE | Jewish leaders urge Montgomery County school officials to combat 'skyrocketing' antisemitism

What we know:

Now, Taylor has responded to the clergy with a letter, writing in part: "It is clear that there are issues, and we are committed to addressing those issues to the extent possible."

Taylor acknowledged "a misstep" in communication about the Walter Johnson incident, saying, "the message to the school community should have explicitly identified the swastika as an antisemitic symbol and named the nature of the harm more directly."

He added that the district has "made a conscious effort to raise awareness of antisemitism and how to report hate bias incidents." 

Taylor also listed work already being done to combat antisemitism in schools, and said, "I am committed to establishing repeat, collaborative dialogue with you to identify what meaningful actions MCPS can implement." 

He noted that the MCPS chief equity and organizational development officer will take the lead.

What they're saying:

In response, Rabbi Adam Raskin of Congregation Har Shalom and Rabbi Sue Shankman of Washington Hebrew Congregation told FOX 5 that they had hoped their letter would lead to a face-to-face meeting with Taylor. They also said the local Jewish community has programs that could be implemented by MCPS right now, free of charge.

"We want to be collaborative, we want to work with educators and school leaders, but we also want to see change happen in the near term because our kids and our families don’t have the luxury to wait," Rabbi Raskin said.

Added Rabbi Shankman, "following the sharing of that letter, both on social media, and after it was distributed, many of us heard from congregants who may not have said something previously but are now sharing their experiences and their stories and things that have been happening, even in this school year."

FOX 5 reached out to MCPS officials Thursday. They provided a copy of Taylor’s letter but declined further comment.

Dig deeper:

Below is the full text of Taylor's letter to the local Jewish leaders in full:

Dear Rabbi Raskin and members of the Montgomery County Jewish pastoral leadership,

Thank you for writing and for sharing your concerns so clearly. I appreciate both the urgency reflected in your letter and your continued commitment to working with Montgomery County Public Schools on behalf of our students, staff, and families. It is clear that there are issues, and we are committed to addressing those issues to the extent possible. 

Antisemitism, like all forms of hate and bias, has no place in our schools. We take seriously all reported incidents as well as the impact these experiences can have on a student’s sense of safety, belonging, and ability to learn. The persistence of disturbing incidents in our schools, including the recent incident reported at Walter Johnson High School, reinforces the need to approach this work with focus, urgency and a commitment to meaningful change.

I also want to acknowledge a misstep in the school communication about the Walter Johnson High School incident. The message to the school community should have explicitly identified the swastika as an antisemitic symbol and named the nature of the harm more directly. Language matters, particularly when responding to hate and bias. Being precise about what occurred is important to helping students and communities understand why it is harmful and to affirming those who are impacted. We can and will do better more consistently in this regard.

The number of reported hate-bias incidents is deeply concerning.  We believe this is in part to increased awareness and reporting.  We have made a conscious effort to raise awareness of antisemitism and how to report hate bias incidents. We are making progress in closing the gap of unreported and underreported incidents. There is still room for improvement here as well, but we see this as a critical first step in assessing the problems that we need to address. That said, this does not diminish the seriousness of what is being reported or the harm these incidents cause to individual students and entire school communities. Rather, acknowledging, documenting, and responding to hate, bias, and antisemitism are necessary steps toward understanding where and why these incidents are occurring and, ultimately, reducing them.

I appreciate that the three areas outlined in your letter are ongoing concerns for many in the Jewish community: professional learning for staff, experiential educational opportunities for students, and the district’s response to harmful social media behavior. Your concerns are well taken. MCPS has taken important steps forward in each of these areas, but we recognize that the work must go further. Dialogue with advocates who push us to be our best is an important part of continuous improvement. Your advocacy and perspective can help us identify where our efforts can be strengthened and where partnership can help move this work forward. 

More must be done, and on that we agree. At the same time, there are no easy answers in any of these areas for MCPS. Our commitment is to keep learning, strengthen our approach and continue doing the work. As you may know, the current status of our work in these three areas includes:

• Our mandatory compliance training for all staff now includes antisemitism awareness (it did not in the recent past), aligned with state law and informed by initial input from the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). We have received further feedback that we will seek to incorporate in future iterations, MCPS also offers voluntary courses for deeper understanding. We already know that this has helped to raise awareness.
• We welcome experiential learning, including peer-to-peer programs and speakers that help students understand and confront antisemitism.
• We do have to grapple with the very real impact of social media on students and school climate, which is why the Employee and Student Codes of Conduct provides authority when conduct affects the school environment, school day, or school-sponsored activities.

We actively seek your public support to strengthen these efforts.

So how do we move forward? First, know that reducing hate-bias incidents is an important district priority. Doing so requires not only responding appropriately when incidents occur, but continuing to strengthen prevention, education, reporting, support for those impacted, and accountability across our schools.

That is why I want our next step to be more than another conversation. I am committed to establishing repeat, collaborative dialogue with you to identify what meaningful actions MCPS can implement. To expedite, I have asked Dr. Nyah Hamlett, my Chief Equity and Organizational Development Officer, to lead and be an integral part of those discussions (with my direct involvement). Her role, experience, and expertise position her well to work alongside you and our team to examine these concerns and to identify areas where change is possible for the results we both seek.

We may not agree on every issue or every proposed solution, but I do believe there are steps we can take together, and I want our continued discussions to be focused on finding them and turning them into action. Dr. Hamlett will help most directly with this important work and I will be visibly present along the way to help.

Thank you again for your advocacy, your partnership, and your commitment to our students. I look forward to continuing this work together. My door remains open to you and others in Jewish pastoral care leadership on this and other matters.

Sincerely,

Thomas W. Taylor Ed.D., M.B.A.
Superintendent
Montgomery County Public Schools.