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The School District of Philadelphia building (Photo credit: wikicommons\/It\u2019s Our City)<\/p>\nThe School District of Philadelphia building (Photo credit: wikicommons\/It\u2019s Our City)<\/p>\n
The National Jewish Advocacy Center and the Deborah Project have issues with the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s Office for Civil Rights.<\/p>\n
Both Jewish groups have filed a lawsuit alleging that the office did not craft a serious agreement with the School District of Philadelphia to eradicate antisemitism in the district. The suit also says that OCR neglected to \u201cenforce even that inadequate agreement,\u201d according to a press release.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia\u2019s public school district includes almost 200,000 students across 330 schools. In December 2024, it accepted a Voluntary Resolution Agreement after an OCR investigation into possible violations of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. As part of the agreement, the district pledged to update policies regarding the reporting, documenting and investigating of possible antisemitic incidents. It also promised staff training, education for students on discrimination and an audit of past harassment complaints.<\/p>\n
The groups now suing the OCR described this agreement as \u201csuperficial\u201d in their release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government has a basic legal obligation under Title VI to protect students from discrimination,\u201d said Rachel Sebbag, litigation counsel with NJAC. \u201cThe agreement failed to address the root causes of antisemitism in the district, and then the government failed to enforce it. Jewish students are paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NJAC and the Deborah Project are nonprofit organizations that advocate for Jewish civil rights and protect against discrimination, according to the release. Their plaintiff in this case is the Gevura Fund, a nonprofit organization that works to \u201caddress antisemitism and promote accountability in public institutions.\u201d In this case, the Gevura Fund includes district parents whose children have faced consistent antisemitism.<\/p>\n
They have faced antisemitism even in the 15 months since the agreement was signed, according to the release. That\u2019s why the groups also criticized the OCR for a lack of enforcement in their complaint.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore and after the Title VI case in Philadelphia, the Gevura Fund has heard from parents, teachers, and students about the hostile environment for Jews in the city\u2019s schools,\u201d said Tina Snider, president of the Gevura Fund, in the release. \u201cMany are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. It\u2019s time for the government to be held accountable and for Jewish children to attend school without fear of bullying or harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDistraught Jewish parents are telling us that their children are being victimized in Philadelphia\u2019s public schools. That is the direct consequence of the federal government\u2019s failure to hold district leadership accountable,\u201d added Jerome Marcus of the Deborah Project. \u201cThe government must step up and do what it is legally required to do \u2014 impose behavior-changing penalties for the district\u2019s failure to enforce essential policies which ensure that all children can learn without fear of harassment and physical threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark Goldfeder, CEO of the NJAC, said it was important to hold OCR accountable for both entering and failing to enforce the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the government wants credit for resolving discrimination complaints, it has to also do the hard part, which is enforcement,\u201d Goldfeder said in a JNS report on the suit. \u201cOtherwise, the students they are supposed to protect are left exactly where they started.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile lawsuits over the Department of Education\u2019s broader Title VI enforcement failures are not new, this approach represents a novel effort to hold the Department accountable for entering into, and then failing to enforce, its own OCR resolution agreement in a Title VI antisemitism matter,\u201d he explained in the release. \u201cCivil rights law cannot be performative, and an unenforced agreement is not worth the paper it was signed on.\u201d<\/p>\n