Jewish groups file federal complaint alleging antisemitism in Fulton schools

ATLANTA (AP) — Three Jewish advocacy groups filed a federal complaint against the Fulton County school district over alleged antisemitic bullying against Jewish students since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7.

The complaint said administrators failed to take action when Jewish and Israeli students faced harassment. The school district “has fostered a hostile climate that has allowed antisemitism to thrive in its schools,” the complaint said.

In a written statement, the Fulton County district denied the allegations. “The private group’s efforts to depict Fulton County Schools as promoting or even tolerating antisemitism is false,” the statement said.

The organizations filed the complaint under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act with the U.S. Department of Education on Aug. 6. Title IV prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.

The complaint follows a wave of antisemitism allegations against schools and universities across the country. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, filed a similar complaint in July against the Philadelphia school district, one of the country’s largest public school systems. In November, the Department of Education announced investigations into seven schools and universities over alleged antisemitism or Islamophobia since the start of the Israel-Hamas War.

Activism erupted in universities, colleges and schools when the war began. On Oct. 7, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took hostages in an attack against Israel. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Some estimates say about 1.9 million people have been displaced from Gaza.

The Fulton County complaint listed verbal attacks against Jewish students since Oct. 7, but it also described certain displays of pro-Palestinian sentiment as intimidating. The groups took issue with students wearing keffiyehs, a scarf that has become a symbol for the Palestinian movement. The complaint said that the day after the attacks by Hamas, students wearing keffiyehs shouted “Free Palestine” at Jewish students, a slogan the groups labeled “a rallying cry for the eradication of Israel.”

Other instances detailed in the complaint involve a high school student cursing at an Israeli student in Arabic, and a middle school student telling an Israeli peer, “Somebody needs to bomb your country, and hey, somebody already did.” In the classroom, the complaint said that some of the pro-Palestinian positions teachers took were inappropriate.

Jewish parents met with Fulton County school district leaders in late October after several complaints about antisemitism and “other students cosplaying as members of Hamas,” the complaint said. Parents offered to arrange antisemitic training, among other suggested actions. The complaint says school district leadership declined to take action and ignored numerous complaints, including an email to the district’s superintendent signed by over 75 parents.

The district says it already takes complaints seriously.

“Like most, if not all, schools across the country, world events have sometimes spilled onto our campuses,” the district said in its statement. “Whenever inappropriate behavior is brought to our attention, Fulton County Schools takes it seriously, investigates, and takes appropriate action,” the statement reads.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education and the National Jewish Advocacy Center filed the complaint. The organizations asked the district to denounce antisemitism, discipline teachers and students for antisemitic behavior, and consider how to improve experiences for Jewish students.