An Orthodox Jewish teenager reduced his school attendance after a bomb threat and antisemitic harassment that Montgomery County Public Schools, in Maryland, failed to address adequately, according to a federal civil rights complaint filed on Oct. 15.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law submitted the complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office on behalf of its Coalition to Combat Antisemitism.
It alleges violations of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The student, whose identity is withheld, graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md., in June 2026. He wore a kippah and visible tzitzit and had transferred from another school within the district after antisemitic harassment, according to the complaint.
On April 18, he received an anonymous telephone threat to bomb him while he was home with his siblings, the filing alleges. The caller allegedly threatened, “You f***ing Zionist, you f***ing Jew, I am going to bomb you.”
Fireworks erupted outside immediately afterward, per the complaint.
Days later, he drew accusations of “genocide” after writing on social media that he planned to study in Israel before attending Yeshiva University. Rumors spread that he would join the Israeli military, although he planned to attend a yeshiva, according to the complaint.
On May 11, students allegedly pressured the victim’s friend to disavow their friendship. The Jewish student recalled classmates telling his friend, “Don’t talk to him. He is a Zionist.”
The complaint alleges that the school principal said, “What is wrong with calling a student a Zionist? Isn’t that a good thing?”
“The principal’s response disregarded how the term was being used to intimidate and exclude a visibly Jewish student, and how that targeting was impairing his education,” the complaint alleges.
The heavily Jewish county contains about 45% of Jews in the state. The district, Maryland’s largest, has more than 150,000 students in more than 200 schools.
The school arranged safety measures and graduation security, but those steps were insufficient for the student to participate fully in school, the complaint alleges.
While at Northwood High School in Rockville, Md., which is also part of the district, the students had coins thrown at him and was told “pick it up, Jew,” per the complaint.
“School administrators have no justification for failing to respond effectively to antisemitic harassment under their watch,” stated Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandes Center and a former assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights.
The center seeks an investigation, an independent monitor for at least five years and incorporation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred in district policies and training.
