On Thursday, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) filed a complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The complaint accuses Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) of failing to address “severe, persistent and pervasive antisemitism.”
The ZOA’s news release lists eight instances of harassment and/or intimidation documented by Jewish students and staff over multiple years. Several of the cases included in the complaint relate to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein and Director of ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice, Susan B. Tuchman, Esq. called the reports “horrifying.”
“[MCPS community members have] asked for district officials to speak out forcefully against antisemitism, to appropriately discipline perpetrators,” Klein and Tuchman said in the release. “But these community members have largely been met with indifference and even hostility from district officials.”
The complaint alleges mention of Nazi and swastika imagery, as well as other hateful language that MCPS officials did not handle properly.
ZOA has filed a civil rights complaint against @MCPS alleging severe, persistent, pervasive #Antisemitism in schools that officials have failed to address, in violation of #TitleVI of the Civil Rights Act.
The complaint documents years of such incidents: https://t.co/cc8odOni1h— Zionist Organization of America (@ZOA_National) April 19, 2024
