State finds Oakland Unified created discriminatory environment for Jewish students

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In three separate rulings, the California Department of Education has determined that the Oakland Unified School District created a “discriminatory environment” against Jewish students and staff, contradicting the district’s findings.In rulings issued in late October, the Department of Education also criticized the district for taking more than a year, longer than the 60 days allowed, to respond to Jewish families’ complaints of antisemitism, and also for violating state law by declining to turn over reports of its investigations that could have shed light on the district’s conclusions.Additional unresolved complaints citing antisemitism have been filed by Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks, who has represented Jewish families in the district.She filed the complaints as a concerned member of the community.“There are anti-Israel discussions, assemblies, pro-Palestine posters, maps hanging in teachers’ classrooms, in district hallways, in school hallways, in administrative offices,” she said.

“There are certain schools where it’s just awash in pro-Palestine propaganda, which is not appropriate.The district is a hostile environment for Jews and Israelis.”In its first response to the complaints released Wednesday, Oakland Unified stated that, as a result of the Department of Education’s findings, “we will begin additional trainings in December in response to antisemitism specifically, and addressing hatred more broadly.”“We are in the process of implementing corrective actions identified by both OUSD and the CDE in an intentional and effective manner so that both implicated and non-implicated OUSD staff receive the required training to educate and inform on antisemitism, bias, and the impact of providing only one viewpoint in our classrooms and campuses,” the statement said.The initial Oakland Unified complaints covered incidents that occurred weeks fol...