Bias against Jewish students in Oakland Unified cited

In three separate rulings, the California Department of Education has determined that the Oakland Unified School District created a “discriminatory environment” against Jewish students and staff, contradicting the district's findings.

- By JoHN FENSTERWALD

In rulings issued in late October, the Department of Education also criticized the district for taking more than a year, longer than the 60 days allowed, to respond to Jewish families’ complaints of antisemitism, and also for violating state law by declining to turn over reports ofits investigations that could have shed light on the district’s conclusions.

Additional unresolved complaints citing antisemitism have been filed by Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks, who has represented Jewish families in the district. She filed the complaints as a concerned member of the community.

“There are anti-Israel discussions, assemblies, pro-Palestine posters, maps hanging in teachers’ classrooms, in district hallways, in school hallways, in administrative offices,” she said. “There are certain schools where it’s just awash in pro-Palestine propaganda, which is not appropriate. The district is a hostile environment for Jews and Israelis.”

Inits first response to the complaints, released this month, Oakland Unified stated that, asa result of the Department of Education's findings, “we will begin additional trainingsin December in response to antisemitism specifically, and addressing hatred more broadly.”

“We are in the process of implementing corrective actions identified by both OUSD andthe CDE inanin-tentional and effective manner so that both implicated and non-implicated OUSD staff receive the required training to educate and inform on antisemitism, bias, and the impact of providing only one viewpoint in our classrooms and campuses,” the statement said.