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Berkeley schools discriminated against Jewish students, state says

California education officials ordered training and other changes at two Berkeley schools.

"Teach Palestine" signs and T-shirts were strung from a fence and strewn on the ground as Berkeley High students led a rally in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park after walking out of class Jan. 27, 2026. Niva Ashkenazi/J. Staff

By Niva Ashkenazi | J. The Jewish News of Northern California

A Bay Area Jewish advocacy group is accusing Berkeley schools of failing to protect their Jewish students, citing two recent state rulings that found the district mishandled antisemitism complaints.

The Bay Area Center to Counter Antisemitism disclosed the rulings in a Sept. 10 press release, framing them as the latest evidence of a longstanding pattern at Berkeley Unified School District and calling on the district to change course.

"BUSD continues to fail to protect Jewish students in their religious and cultural identity," BUSD parent Stacey Zolt Hara, quoted in the release, said. "In refusing to enforce its own rules against hate and harassment when it comes to Jewish students, the district has created an unequal environment for Jewish kids that detracts from their educational experience and ability to learn."

The first ruling, issued Aug. 13 by the California Department of Education, concerned posters in a Berkeley Independent Study classroom at Berkeley High School, including posters reading "Stop Israeli/US Genocide in Palestine!" and "Berkeley Educators for Palestine."

BUSD's own, earlier investigation following a parent complaint had found that the posters were one-sided but not discriminatory. The CDE reversed that finding, ruling that the posters, taken together, created a discriminatory classroom environment and ordered training for all Berkeley Independent Study teaching staff.

Pro-Palestinian posters displayed on the wall of an independent study classroom at Berkeley High School in April. *Courtesy BUSD parent*

The second ruling, issued Aug. 17, involved separate assemblies at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, one hosted by the Jewish Student Union, the other by the South and Southwest Asia and North Africa, or SSWANA, club.

The latter assembly included references to "Palestinian genocide," used maps omitting Israel and ended with students chanting "Free Palestine" while waving flags and displaying kaffiyehs. It was found to have violated district policy.

BUSD's own investigation concluded that the SSWANA assembly "unlawfully discriminated on the basis of a protected characteristic."

State education officials upheld that conclusion but faulted staff for not intervening to stop the chant from recurring across additional assemblies and ruled that BUSD's proposed remedy was too vague.

The CDE ordered a schoolwide lesson, administrator training and a new assembly-review policy.

BUSD officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other incidents at the school have also alarmed members of the local Jewish community.

In spring 2024, an antisemitic statement was found scrawled on a classroom whiteboard at the school on the same day that students participated in a pro-Palestinian walkout, J. reported at the time. The statement included a student's name and read "[Name] hates Jews" and "We stand with [name]."

The state rulings come as a group of Berkeley High parents continue to press administrators over an image published in the most recent yearbook that they say justified the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

"We want nothing more than for district leaders to bring change instead of constantly disregarding parents' concerns about harm to students," BACCA executive director Adina Danzig Epelman said in a statement.