Question on Anti semitism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

There is significant racism in the us, and not sure why the bar for assessing racism and discrimination is much higher than for antisemitism.

[Anonymous]

Ohh geez. You again with another post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ohh geez. You again with another post.

If you joined the thread again you seem to enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

This topic can be reported and removed just as the last one was- just copy and paste and put it into "feedback" in the forums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wanted to ask a sincere question about how schools investigate antisemitism. In our kids’ school, an independent party interviewed 12 teachers, and half of them said they believed there was antisemitism. The report concluded that there is antisemitism at the school. I found this a bit puzzling because, in other contexts like racism investigations, independent reviews usually look at both sides of the issue and try to understand the broader dynamics. The fact that someone feels there is racism or antisemitism is very important, but it doesn’t automatically mean there is intentional discrimination. Sometimes it could reflect uneven communication or engagement from the school with different staff. When investigating any policy violation, I would expect all perspectives to be heard. Does this sound like a fair and reasonable process to you?

I think it sounds fair and reasonable yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This topic can be reported and removed just as the last one was- just copy and paste and put it into "feedback" in the forums.

Sure. I guess some people are intolerant to any differences in opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted to ask a sincere question about how schools investigate antisemitism. In our kids’ school, an independent party interviewed 12 teachers, and half of them said they believed there was antisemitism. The report concluded that there is antisemitism at the school. I found this a bit puzzling because, in other contexts like racism investigations, independent reviews usually look at both sides of the issue and try to understand the broader dynamics. The fact that someone feels there is racism or antisemitism is very important, but it doesn’t automatically mean there is intentional discrimination. Sometimes it could reflect uneven communication or engagement from the school with different staff. When investigating any policy violation, I would expect all perspectives to be heard. Does this sound like a fair and reasonable process to you?

I think it sounds fair and reasonable yes.

Sounds good. Is there antisemitism in your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

There is significant racism in the us, and not sure why the bar for assessing racism and discrimination is much higher than for antisemitism.

First, I agree that there is significant racism in the US. There is also significant anti-semitism.
Second, why do you think in this case the bar for assessing racism is so much higher than antisemitism. You don't have all the details and the incidents haven't been publicly released.
Third, just because we do an inadequate job of addressing racism, does that mean that Jews shouldn't expect better? It's not a binary.
Fourth, antisemitism is discrimination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohh geez. You again with another post.

If you joined the thread again you seem to enjoy it.

No, I think there’s something seriously wrong with you. And actually this thread feels a little anti-Semitic. I think you’re sock puppetting too. I don’t feel like being the one to report it and ask your threads to be taken down. But it will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohh geez. You again with another post.

If you joined the thread again you seem to enjoy it.

No, I think there’s something seriously wrong with you. And actually this thread feels a little anti-Semitic. I think you’re sock puppetting too. I don’t feel like being the one to report it and ask your threads to be taken down. But it will happen.

Can you please elaborate why the comments here are anti-Semitic ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

This is very helpful info that OP either didn’t have or didn’t share. Seems like the school is doing the right thing and OP just doesn’t want to admit there’s an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

There is significant racism in the us, and not sure why the bar for assessing racism and discrimination is much higher than for antisemitism.

First, I agree that there is significant racism in the US. There is also significant anti-semitism.
Second, why do you think in this case the bar for assessing racism is so much higher than antisemitism. You don't have all the details and the incidents haven't been publicly released.
Third, just because we do an inadequate job of addressing racism, does that mean that Jews shouldn't expect better? It's not a binary.
Fourth, antisemitism is discrimination.

Antisemtisim, at Least for me, is a form of hate that is unacceptable. So I have the genuine question on what’s the best way to address and assess it. There is a lot of hate in the society against many different groups and normally hate speech discrimination and agressive behavior requires an assessment of the actual actions not only the perceptions. There could also be discrimination against Jews, but many times that is influenced by antisemitism. So the two are not unrelated, in case you want to understand the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

This is very helpful info that OP either didn’t have or didn’t share. Seems like the school is doing the right thing and OP just doesn’t want to admit there’s an issue.

The issue that I wanted to discuss is that I see a big disconnect between the assessment and the conclusion. Maybe the school did the right thing but didn’t communicate how do you go from the assessment to the conclusion. It’s not about condoning or promoting antisemitism. My question is more about the process. Can you say there is antisemitism just because people believe so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

This is very helpful info that OP either didn’t have or didn’t share. Seems like the school is doing the right thing and OP just doesn’t want to admit there’s an issue.

The issue that I wanted to discuss is that I see a big disconnect between the assessment and the conclusion. Maybe the school did the right thing but didn’t communicate how do you go from the assessment to the conclusion. It’s not about condoning or promoting antisemitism. My question is more about the process. Can you say there is antisemitism just because people believe so?

You can say there is antisemitism because multiple Jewish teachers expressed that they had experienced it, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the report wasn't intended to punish a specific incident, it was to understand long standing and pervasive sentiments among many Jewish members of the community about what they experienced. From that, the school can figure out how to address it. It focused on faculty because there has been a lot of Jewish faculty leaving the school recently (6 of those were interviewed) but the problem goes well beyond the faculty. The report was damning and unrelated to a specific incident (although there were multiple and they continue to occur), however, it uncovered a pervasive attitude directed toward Jewish faculty members. If the adult faculty feel that they cannot be their authentic self (one of the key findings), how do you think the Jewish children feel?

For an example, if you interviewed 12 African American faculty members, 11 of whom said that they experienced racism at a school, you'd expect the school to take action to correct the atmosphere that allowed it to continue. Whether or not it was intentionally a racist environment, the result (in this hypothetical) is that AA faculty were uncomfortable and they would deserve the school to investigate the issue.

In the specific case you are describing, the report also indicated that a majority of the former faculty members left because of the anti-semitism. That seems like a significant finding for the school to understand why they are losing faculty (and frankly students).

I can tell you for a fact there is antisemitism at the school and I can also tell you that my non-Jewish parent friends were shocked when I mentioned it to them in the aftermath of the report. Don't assume that because there are Jewish families at the school and they never told YOU that there isn't an issue.

The disciplinary actions that result from any specific incident should be a fact based assessment, but this report was not intended for that purpose. Also, in addition to specific incidents, there is a general attitude among some at the school of not respecting Jewish students opinions and beliefs and the students not feeling comfortable openly expressing their beliefs or celebrating their identities. That is not a specific incident to be addressed but a culture that has to be changed.

To be honest, while you say that you are sincerely asking the question, you are either extremely naive about how anti-semitism presents or deliberately obtuse. With the dramatic rise in anti-semitism in this country, I'm actually shocked that there could be any pushback against a school wanting to understand more about how it is presenting in their community and affecting their students and I'm deeply disappointed that the community's reaction isn't to more forcefully demand quick action on the part of the administration to help the Jewish members of the community (faculty and students) feel as valued as other members.

This is very helpful info that OP either didn’t have or didn’t share. Seems like the school is doing the right thing and OP just doesn’t want to admit there’s an issue.

The issue that I wanted to discuss is that I see a big disconnect between the assessment and the conclusion. Maybe the school did the right thing but didn’t communicate how do you go from the assessment to the conclusion. It’s not about condoning or promoting antisemitism. My question is more about the process. Can you say there is antisemitism just because people believe so?

You can say there is antisemitism because multiple Jewish teachers expressed that they had experienced it, yes.

I respect your opinion. Just saying that if a group of African American teachers say there is racism, according to out legal system, you cannot say there is racism unless it is proven there is racism with a email, recording or witness. So why for antisemitism is different ? Why the opinion of one affected party is enough to determine a violation in the code of conduct.