The Berkeley Unified School District, which has about 9,400 students in 20 schools, erred when it found that anti-Israel materials at a school-sponsored event were not discriminatory, the California Department of Education said last week.
The materials were at a Palestinian stall at the Asian American Pacific Islander Night Market in May at Willard Middle School in Berkeley, Calif., according to the department’s ruling, which JNS viewed.
Scott Roark, public information officer for the department, confirmed the ruling to JNS.
The market had student-run stalls representing Asian countries and cultures. The Palestinian one had a map describing a “settlement” as “illegal under international law” and “violent land grabs by Israeli citizens who harass, steal and kill at will, fully backed by the Israeli government,” the department said.
It also “included information for emergency aid for Gaza and depictions of individuals resisting military forces,” the state said.
A spokesman for the House Education and Workforce Committee told JNS that the department’s ruling “raises serious concerns that are consistent with the committee's findings about antisemitism in Berkeley Unified School District.”
“The district’s initial dismissal of the complaint makes this incident particularly troubling,” the House panel spokesman said. “School leaders have a responsibility to protect Jewish students from discrimination and address these concerns when they arise.”
The committee released a report on Wednesday about Jew-hatred in the district. Bay Area Jewish groups told JNS that the committee’s findings were in line with issues that the community has raised for years.
A grandmother who attended the May event with two students filed the complaint with the district on June 26. The two students felt that the materials at the Palestinian stall “promoted a narrative that was offensive to their heritage and beliefs,” the state said. The two declined to be interviewed by a district investigator, the department said.
The district determined on Aug. 25 that the materials didn’t provide differing viewpoints but weren’t discriminatory. On Aug. 31, the decision was appealed to the state, which disagreed with the district.
“The printed materials contained a one-sided political narrative that promoted a discriminatory bias, and it could be reasonably expected that they would make students from a protected class—students with Israel and/or Jewish identity—uncomfortable,” the state said.
“Moreover, the inclusion of such a political narrative did not fit within the stated scope and purpose of the Night Market,” it said. “The evidence supports a finding that the printed materials contributed to a discriminatory environment.”
The state gave the district until Dec. 15 to implement corrective measures to “ensure that such events do not carry a discriminatory bias towards any protected characteristics.” (JNS sought comment from the district.)
Itamar Laundau, founder of the Jewish Coalition of Berkeley, which was involved in the complaint and appeal, told JNS that “in recent months, multiple rulings have confirmed that Berkeley schools have fostered biased, politically charged classrooms and school activities that undermine Jewish students’ identity and can fuel antisemitism, harming not only Jewish students but all students.”
“More complaints are still under investigation, and these cases are only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Many Jewish students and families are afraid to come forward.”
“We hope this decision and the congressional report lead BUSD to make real change, so that every student can learn in a school environment free of bias and hostility,” he told JNS.