Investigation underway by federal authorities into allegations of antisemitism within NJ school district

The federal Department of Education has reportedly opened a probe of a New Jersey school district under fire for what Jewish parents allege is an antisemitic climate since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

The case at Teaneck Public Schools in suburban New York City is among other federal Title VI civil rights investigations involving alleged discrimination against Jewish or Arab students in the months since Hamas attacked Israel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

No reason for opening the investigation was explained, according to JTA.

“I have been here for 35 years, and I have never seen this type of tension,” Noam Sokolow, the proprietor of a local kosher deli, told the Washington Post in November after debate over a resolution condemning Hamas divided the town’s governance committee, sparked fights and led to the resignation of most members of a municipal inclusion committee.

Tensions began when the Teaneck schools superintendent responded to Hamas’ attack on Israel — and at a board meeting at which Jewish speakers claimed they were silenced, JTA reported.

Afterward, pro-Palestinian students staged a walkout that prompted mixed messages from the superintendent’s office.

“I think that the superintendent’s actions, the first letter that he wrote, and the fact that he allowed this walkout where there was hate speech on school grounds, it shows a complete lack of understanding about what antisemitism is,” Hillary Kessler-Godin, a Jewish parent who filed a Title VI complaint against the district, told JTA.

JTA noted local Jewish leaders also encouraged parents to file the complaints with the federal education department’s Office of Civil Rights.

Naomi Knopf, chief impact officer at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, told JTA she didn’t know which complaint the department took up in its investigation, but that the federation supports it.

“Jewish Federation is very pleased that the Department of Education is taking these incidents seriously,” Knopf told the outlet.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on criteria including “shared ancestry,” JTA stated. The department has said opening an investigation doesn’t mean the complaint has merit.

The mixed messaging by Teaneck Superintendent Andre Spencer began when he emailed a message of support that didn’t include mention of Israel shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack — and used phrases like “unfortunate situation” that Jewish parents felt did not match the severity of the moment.

Tensions came to a head in November, when the superintendent appeared at first to endorse a planned student “walkout for Palestine,” JTA reported.

Local Orthodox rabbis, responding to the walkout organizers’ allegation that Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza, railed at the demo in its own statement that prompted Spencer to issue a second announcement condemning antisemitism, JTA reported.