The committee letter cited specific incidents of antisemitism at BUSD schools in recent years, including an allegation that during a pro-Palestinian walkout at Berkeley High School in 2023, students yelled “Kill the Jews,” and that a teacher at the school displayed a photo of a fist destroying the Star of David, describing it as “standing up for social justice.”
Parent Ilana Pearlman, who pulled one of her children out of BUSD over antisemitism concerns, said she’s filed multiple complaints with the district that have gone unaddressed for years.
“There’s that sense of, ‘I told my parents something, I told my teacher something that happened, and nobody did anything,’” she told KQED. “That’s kind of how I feel in the district in general. I, as an adult, said, ‘These things have happened,’ and nobody’s done anything.”
Miller said there have been more than 100 such complaints lodged with BUSD since January 2024.
“What matters is the takeaway and the impact that that still has on my children of this noticing … that it might be unsafe to be Jewish,” Pearlman said.
The district said in an email on Tuesday that it would respond “appropriately” to the Committee’s letter, which demands a plethora of documents related to curriculum, school activities, partnerships and contracts that refer or relate to Jews, Judaism, Israel, Palestine, Zionism or antisemitism, as well as a chart of all complaints of antisemitism the district has received since Oct. 7, 2023.
A BUSD spokesperson added that Ford Morthel addressed the specific claims of the letter at the May 2024 hearing.
“Our babies sometimes say hurtful things. We are mindful that all kids make mistakes,” Ford Morthel told lawmakers at the time. “We know that our staff are not immune to missteps either, and we don’t ignore them when they occur.”
She also said that when students and staff district addressed alleged incidents of antisemitism through education, restorative justice and discipline.
