ADL files federal complaint against BUSD, alleging anti-Semitism on campuses

News

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Brandeis Center released a complaint alleging that BUSD has failed to sufficiently address harassment and discrimination against Jewish-identifying students at elementary, middle, and high schools in the district. The complaint is based on input from approximately one hundred students and parents and asks the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to open an investigation into BUSD. 

In a statement responding to the complaint, Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel said, “We continue to uphold our stance against all forms of hate and are proud of our legacy of diversity and inclusion. If and when there are problems in our community, we work together to address them.” 

The BUSD Jewish Parents for Collective Liberation released a media statement opposing the complaint, saying that the complaint “irresponsibly fabricates or exaggerates a majority of incidents described, and needs to be laid bare for what it is: another harassment tactic intended to censor teaching our children about Palestine.”