Beacon Hill has recommendations for tackling antisemitism in the classroom. Will they work?

With the start of a new school year just days away, a state panel charged with tackling antisemitism in the classroom has rolled out a preliminary suite of recommendations aimed at better classroom instruction, more anti-bias training, and promoting community bonding.

“There has been so much reach-out on this. Folks obviously feel very strongly on this,” the commission’s co-chairperson, state Sen. John Velis, D-Hampden/Hampshire, said of the recommendations for the state’s K-12 public schools.

The Westfield Democrat made his comments during a public meeting at the State House that was punctuated by outbursts from those who opposed the report.

“There is a whole breadth of opinions, thoughts on this, and there have been, quite literally, hundreds of meetings that have taken place on this topic — meeting with people that some folks agree with, don’t agree with, are indifferent to,” Velis continued.

“It’s been a process, and I think we’re just grateful. We’re grateful for everyone [who] has weighed in … and will, as we know, continue to weigh in on this conversation that is very robust, very expansive,” he said.

The commission recommends that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education create an Advisory Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education within the next six months.

It would be tasked with monitoring the development and availability of curriculum for students. A 2021 law requires that middle and high schools offer genocide education, though the commission learned not all districts are teaching about the Holocaust.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is urged to create “model curricula” and “best practices/resources” for teaching about antisemitism and Jewish identity, and to provide resources “that are appropriate for classroom instruction at various grade levels to teach about Ancient Israel, Palestine, the modern State of Israel, and related conflicts in the Middle East that align and relate to the Content Standards for History and Social Science,” according to the report.

Public school committees should have mandatory anti-bias training for school committees, plus K-12 faculty and administrators, that includes antisemitism, the commission recommends.

Schools and districts should also develop programming for Jewish American Heritage Month in May and “treat JAHM in an equivalent fashion to other history, identity and heritage months recognized by the schools throughout the year,” the report says.

New DESE Commissioner Pedro Martinez told the commission Thursday that his department “would support the implementation of these recommendations.” DESE this fall plans to release a rubric to establish basic standards for teaching antisemitism, the report notes.

“We’re on board to (make) sure our children feel safe and protected,” Martinez said.

The topic of how to teach the Holocaust, antisemitism, and the Israel-Hamas war has been a hotly contested one.

Late last year, one of the nation’s preeminent Jewish organizations accused the Massachusetts Teachers Association of attempting to “politicize” classrooms by wading into debates on the Israel-Hamas war and developing lessons on the conflict it says are biased against the Jewish state.

In a report, the American Jewish Committee said the union representing 117,000 educators across Massachusetts had hosted workshops and forums that presented “an extreme, one-sided narrative about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The report also asserted that some union members’ animosity toward Israel had seeped into curriculums they were developing to help teachers understand the war and its historical roots.

Ahead of the vote this week, advocates with Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff (CJFS-B) and Together for an Inclusive Massachusetts (TIM) asked the commission to delay its vote.

“Due in part to the Commission’s lack of transparency and exclusionary process, the flawed and partisan recommendations are unlikely to effectively address antisemitism and will undermine safe learning and working environments for students and teachers alike,” the groups said.

The groups also warned that the “recommendations would seriously threaten free speech, erode civil rights and compromise student learning in the Commonwealth, effectively mandating a ‘Don’t Say Palestine’ rule in Massachusetts schools.”

The preliminary report details all of the experts and advocates that have testified at commission hearings.

Antisemitic hate crime incidents in Massachusetts rose by more than 20% in 2024, and antisemitism in K-12 public schools “is a pervasive and escalating problem, with a large number of reported incidents of hate, bullying, harassment and discrimination experienced by families and teachers,” according to the report.

The Israel-Hamas War has led to a surge in antisemitic incidents, and the commission found “[m]any Jewish students in Massachusetts schools are scared to publicly display their Judaism or let others know they are Jewish for fear of disparate treatment or bullying.”

To improve safety and security for Jewish communities, the commission says Massachusetts should establish a statewide bias reporting program that explicitly counts antisemitism as a form of bias, starting with a pilot within the next school year.

Schools should have a “clear, transparent, and publicly available” protocol for community members to report incidents to administrators. School counseling departments should also expand resources for Jewish students who are experiencing antisemitic bullying or harassment, the report states.

To “reverse the normalization of antisemitism” and tackle discrimination, the commission wants school officials to adopt communication standards for handling antisemitic incidents and awareness.

When an incident occurs, school officials should “speak out clearly, forcefully, and with specificity as to the type of hate, rather than using vague language around all forms of hate,” the report says.

DESE and state Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office should also coordinate guidance around the First Amendment, including students’ right to free expression.

The commission also wants DESE to create a system for reporting “problematic curriculum,” including materials that prompt bias, bigotry or discrimination.

Aiming to build “cross-communal solidarity” and “collective action” to reduce hate, the commission suggests schools promote and invest in after-school programs and clubs that help with bonding and shared experiences.

In a statement, state House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, thanked the commission and co-chairs for “working tirelessly to ensure that every student in Massachusetts feels safe, supported, and seen.”

“The preliminary K–12 recommendations issued by the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism mark a critical step forward in response to the alarming rise in antisemitism in our schools,” Mariano said. “The Commission’s commitment to this work—and the strong support it has received from state leaders—reflects exactly the kind of leadership this moment demands.”

But critics of the report say they “deserve better.”

“From the outset, TIM and CJFS-B have urged the Commission to address antisemitism in a way that does not pit some Jewish students against other marginalized populations, including other Jewish students,” the groups said. “The current K-12 education recommendations fail that critical test.”

The commission’s final report is due Nov. 30. Unlike that product, the preliminary report will not be filed with the House and Senate clerks, co-chair Rep. Simon Cataldo, D-14th Middlesex, said.

“The reason we did this on this timeframe is based on encouragement from major stakeholders to distribute our recommendations prior to the beginning of the school year, the K-12 school year, on K-12 education,” Cataldo said.

“So that is why we are not waiting until the end of our commission. But this will be folded into the final report, and the commission still has the option of making additions or changes,” Cataldo said.