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As we enter the 2024-2025 academic year, the rise in antisemitic incidents highlights the urgent need for effective strategies and support. In 2023, Massachusetts saw a dramatic 189 percent increase in antisemitic incidents, with a significant number occurring in K-12 schools. This rise underscores the importance of having comprehensive resources to address and prevent antisemitism in educational settings.
This guide is designed to support students, parents, educators, and administrators by providing valuable tools and strategies for managing antisemitic incidents and fostering a deeper understanding of antisemitism. Here, you will find a range of resources, from practical response guides to educational materials aimed at promoting inclusivity and awareness. By leveraging these resources, we can work together to ensure that our schools remain safe, supportive, and respectful environments for all students.
Immediate Actions: Responding to Incidents
The ADL offers two free online guides for administrators: “Responding to Bias Incidents in Middle and High Schools” and “A Guide for Responding to School Sports-Related Bias Incidents.” In an article for CommonWealth Beacon, Sara Colb, deputy director of ADL New England, mentioned both guides as part of her recommendations for preparing to face antisemitism in the coming school year. ADL also offers a mini-course for educators and administrators on responding to bias incidents, along with resources on incident response for schools.
The ADL has an online form to report an antisemitic incident.
Echoes and Reflections has a one-day lesson plan for middle and high school students on how to respond to an antisemitic incident.
More broadly, check out the US Department of Justice toolkit for administrators and community leaders called “Preventing and Responding to Bias and Hate Incidents in K-12 Educational Settings.”
Educational Resources: Understanding and Preventing Antisemitism
The FY25 Massachusetts state budget requests schools to provide resources addressing both antisemitism and societal bias, while step four in CJP’s 5-point plan for fighting antisemitism is to “Inform and educate the next generation.”
Project Shema offers up-to-date Campus & K-12 Resources as well as a variety of programs countering antisemitism in the K-12 sphere.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) has a resources page for its K-12 Education Initiative. The page features a blog as well as webinars, along with referrals to other organizations.
Facing History & Ourselves is offering a mini-course, “Brave Classrooms,” in the fall of 2024 that includes an examination of the history of antisemitism along with ideas for how students can stand up to it.
American Jewish Committee (AJC) staff member Aaron Bregman, the organization’s director of high school affairs, made numerous recommendations on how K-12 schools can fight antisemitism.
Websites that cover education have spotlighted the issue of antisemitism in the K-12 space. Chalkbeat reported on a school district in Maryland with a diverse student body – a diversity that was reflected in its Jewish population, which included both Zionists and anti-Zionists. K-12 Dive focused on how a Washington State school district addressedproblems of antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of Oct. 7.
For students in Jewish day schools and their parents, the Prizmah Center for Jewish Day Schools has an extensive list of resources geared toward administrators.
Locally, the North Shore-based Lappin Foundation has programs for teens and tweens, including a Teen Antisemitism Task Force.
For personalized assistance or to discuss further ways to enhance inclusivity and safety in your educational environment, please reach out to CJP’s Center for Combating Antisemitism. Together, we can work towards creating a more understanding and respectful school community for all students.
