Families v. Major Urban School District

Pennsylvania Federal Court

date case opened

up and coming deadlines

about case

Four boys were accused of illegally entering or allowing to enter a former student into a high school at the very end of the school year. The boys were reported for allegedly trashing and otherwise violating a Muslim prayer room in the library of this (public) school and with making sexual gestures on Muslim prayer objects and insulting Muslims. None of this happened.

But the four boys, based on the false reports and without any investigation, were summarily suspended and their names and alleged acts were sent out on social media – leading to death threats—and teachers not only shared this on their social media, but also denounced the boys at public school board meetings. The background material is being prepared and a Complaint will be filed in early 2025.

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FAQs

We’re here to help. Check out some of our most frequently asked questions. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for, be sure to contact someone from our team.

Is antisemitism in school settings illegal?

Acts of Antisemitism can be the basis of a legal violation, so long as those acts create an interference with the ability to do one's job or to participate in one's educational experience.

Don't teachers have free speech rights, so they can't be punished for saying antisemitic things?

K-12 public school teachers do NOT have free speech rights in the classroom or whenever they are performing their official duties. Private school teachers have greater leeway, as do college professors.

Do anti-Zionist/anti-Israel assertions constitute a violation of anti-discrimination laws?

It depends. The U.S. government has slowly begun to recognize that anti-Zionism can constitute antisemitism, and so is subject to anti-discrimination laws, when such hostility goes beyond merely criticizing the Israeli government for various policies but instead attacks Zionists or Israelis for things the speaker doesn't criticize other countries for doing. This is why it is so important for institutions and governments to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and its examples.

Discrimination in education is governed by Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But Title VI doesn't include religion as a protected category. So is antisemitism not considered discriminatory under Title VI?

Someone who is Jewish and believes that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state may have a claim under Title VI under the protected categories of Shared Ancestry and Ethnicity.

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