<\/p>\n
Antisemitic incidents on American college campuses dropped sharply in 2025 following a surge after the October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza, but reported cases in non-Jewish Kindergarten through 12th-grade schools have remained largely unchanged, according to the Anti-Defamation League.<\/p>\n
The findings have heightened concerns about the safety of Jewish students as a new school year begins and raised questions about whether school districts are doing enough to respond.<\/p>\n
College campuses have dominated public discussion of antisemitism in recent years, often amid protests over the war in Gaza. But attention is increasingly turning to elementary and secondary schools, where the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that incidents have not declined at the same rate.<\/p>\n
The organization recorded 825 antisemitic incidents in non-Jewish K-12 schools in 2025, compared with 860 in 2024. During the same period, reported incidents on college campuses fell 66 percent.<\/p>\n
“That’s a concerning trend to us, that the K-through-12 space still seems to be a hotspot,” said Shira Goodman of the ADL. “A lot of our incidents, more than 50 percent, are still swastikas.”<\/p>\n
Recent cases have extended beyond hate symbols.<\/p>\n
In February 2024, Danielle Eshed, then a 15-year-old student at El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles, said a classmate shouted antisemitic slurs at her and assaulted her in a classroom. Students staged a walkout later that month in response to the alleged attack and other concerns about antisemitism at the school.<\/p>\n
“I was really shocked because he said he would beat me up, but I didn’t think that he was telling the truth until he got up and started to punch me,” Eshed said.<\/p>\n
CBN’s Faith In Action gives you a way to make your voice heard! Stand. Sign. Pray. Sign the petition to stop antisemitism in K-12 schools and at universities.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n At Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, Rachel Barold said she was among Jewish students named in alleged antisemitic threats made during an off-campus debate team trip in December 2022. The allegations emerged publicly in early 2023, after two students were accused of joking about luring Jewish students to an island and burning them.<\/p>\n “I am terrified of going to school,” Barold said. “I saw them in the hallway after I found out I was on the hit list and I had to go to the bathroom and throw up.”<\/p>\n Some advocates say the persistent number of incidents reflects a wider problem throughout the education system.<\/p>\n “We should all be very concerned because this is taking place, in my opinion, inside the major elementary school systems in the country,” said Mark Meckler of Convention of States Action. “It’s also endemic in our secondary education in colleges and universities across the country.”<\/p>\n The issue has drawn increased attention in Congress. Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said failures by school and government officials have allowed antisemitism to become entrenched.<\/p>\n “Administrative malaise or even prejudice at the school, district, and state level has allowed antisemitism to fester and even become normalized,” Kiley said.<\/p>\n Federal agencies have also expanded their scrutiny. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened investigations involving Baltimore City Public Schools, Florida’s Bay County School District and the New York City Department of Education.<\/p>\n The Justice Department reached a voluntary settlement with the Concord Carlisle Regional School District in Massachusetts that requires updated harassment policies, investigations of complaints, staff training and federal oversight.<\/p>\n Philadelphia has become one of the most prominent cases. The School District of Philadelphia has faced a congressional investigation over antisemitism allegations, while a separate Education Department review found that the district did not demonstrate it had properly handled most reported incidents.<\/p>\n “It’s been very disheartening to see that despite having these documented incidents and concerns, despite filing formal complaints to the school district, those incidents have largely been met with inaction or strictly boilerplate messages,” said Jason Holtzman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.<\/p>\n The district agreed to new training, reporting procedures and federal monitoring under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination in federally funded schools. Critics say those measures do not fully address concerns about classroom instruction.<\/p>\n “As often the case with these Title VI complaints, they don’t actually get to the larger ideological problems that are happening in the curricula,” said Rebecca Schgallis of CAMERA. “They tackle the incidents of harassment and bullying that target Jewish students.”<\/p>\n Philadelphia is not alone in facing congressional scrutiny. The House investigation also includes Berkeley Unified School District in California and Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. Lawmakers are examining the districts’ responses to alleged antisemitic harassment. Federal officials opened a separate civil rights investigation into Fairfax County in 2022.<\/p>\n Several states have adopted measures aimed at addressing antisemitism in public education. Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee have enacted policies, while California created a state antisemitism prevention position to develop training and educational resources for school personnel.<\/p>\n Supporters say such measures could improve protections for Jewish students. At a February 2026 public briefing by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on antisemitism at America’s colleges and universities, Genevieve Lakier, a University of Chicago Law School professor, cautioned that efforts to combat antisemitism must also protect First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n “Would we want a world in which no one on campus can speak or teach or write about Israel?” Lakier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Goodman says free speech protections do not remove a school’s responsibility under federal civil rights law.<\/p>\n “Title VI of the Civil Rights Law is what applies to schools and campuses,” Goodman said. “They have to create safe, welcoming environments. And even protected speech sometimes can rise to the level of a hostile environment.”<\/p>\n Supporters of the new policies say the question now is whether school districts can turn those commitments into meaningful protections for Jewish students.<\/p>\n CBN’s Faith In Action gives you a way to make your voice heard! Stand. Sign. Pray. Sign the petition to stop antisemitism in K-12 schools and at universities.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Antisemitic incidents on American college campuses dropped sharply in 2025 following a surge after the October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza, but reported cases in non-Jewish Kindergarten through 12th-grade schools have remained largely unchanged, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 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