The Anti-Defamation League announced on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 that they are filing a federal rights civil suit complaint on behalf of Jewish parents whose children have been subjected to “egregious and persistent discrimination and harassment” at the hands of fellow students and teachers in the Baltimore City Public School System. The ADL is represented pro bono by the law firm Covington & Burling LLP.
The Title VI complaint, filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleges that BCPSS has knowingly allowed its schools to become hostile environments for Jewish students. The system has allegedly neglected to address numerous incidents of antisemitic harassment, bullying and discrimination.
The complaint details how Jewish students have faced relentless hostility including a teacher directing NAZI salutes at the sole Jewish student in his classroom, threats from classmates that “6 million [Jews] was not enough” and comments including “all Jews should die.” Additional incidents were also noted:
Students at Mt. Washington School elementary and middle school subjected Jewish classmates to antisemitic text messages linking to a “Zionist or Nazi” quiz, daily Nazi salutes on school grounds and threats such as “we should call Hamas and have them come here.”
Graffiti swastikas appeared on the grounds of multiple schools and a poster saying, “from the river to the sea” was displayed at Baltimore City College high school. That slogan was one that conveys a desire for the destruction of Israel. In one case, a teacher said to a class, “I’m about to go all Nazi on you.”
The complaint also includes how Jewish students have been forced to isolate themselves, drop classes, eat lunch alone, and hide their Jewish identities to avoid harassment. Parents requested concrete action plans and educational programming on antisemitism, schools offered inadequate responses or totally ignored their pleas.
The complaint urges the U.S. Department of Education to investigate the hostile environment in BCPSS schools and implement comprehensive remedies.
“All schools have a fundamental obligation to maintain a learning environment that protects students from discrimination,” said James Pasch, the ADL’s vice president of litigation, in the press release. “On this essential measure of keeping its Jewish students safe from harassment and intimidation, Baltimore City Public Schools have failed.”
Regarding the allegations, BCPS claims to have addressed the events when they initially occurred. “When we know that something happened, and we received a report whether it be at Bard or Mt. Washington or Poly, we were able to address it,” BCPS spokesperson Andre Riley stated in a CBS News Baltimore interview. The district stressed its commitment to combating antisemitism, with Riley emphasizing, “We reject antisemitism, racism, or any kind of bullying in our school district.”
The ADL has also filed civil rights and legal complaints against other school districts and schools to address antisemitic environments for Jewish students, including the School District of Philadelphia, the Berkely Unifed School District, Concord-Carlisle Regional School District, and Santa Ana Unified School District.
Press Release from the ADL:
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-By Jan Greenhawk
