Three Jewish organizations have called for federal intervention to counter what they characterize as pervasive, unchecked antisemitism in Georgia’s Fulton County School District.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced on Tuesday that with Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education and the National Jewish Advocacy Center, it had filed a complaint against the district with the Education Department, claiming violations of Title VI from the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Brandeis Center said the district had “fostered an intense climate of hostility and fear by teaching propaganda and by allowing students to harass their Jewish and Israeli peers before, during, and after class, mocking their pain and threatening their families.”
Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center, said while post-Oct. 7 antisemitic harassment largely appeared at colleges, some K-12 schools have failed to counter hate against Jewish students.
“Antisemitism also is being taught in K-12 schools and at times perpetuated by teachers and staff,” Marcus said. He called for the district to “fulfill its moral and legal obligations to create a school climate free from antisemitic harassment and discrimination.”
The school district released a response denying any wrongdoing. “This private group’s effort to depict Fulton County Schools as promoting or even tolerating antisemitism is false,” the district stated. “Whenever inappropriate behavior is brought to our attention, Fulton County Schools takes it seriously, investigates and takes appropriate action.”
The statement concluded by asserting that “school leadership has continually communicated with parents and students with the goal of respecting one another and maintaining a focus on learning.”
Denise Katz-Prober, director of legal initiatives for the Brandeis Center, said that “the families of these Jewish and Israeli students have been left to fend for themselves, by administrators who dismiss their complaints and refuse to act. It is long past due for FCSD to take swift corrective action against the antisemitism that pervades their schools.”
