Tim O’Brien, the daddy of a senior at Berkeley Excessive Faculty in California and a supporter of the Palestinian trigger, watched the congressional listening to on antisemitism on Wednesday involving the varsity district’s superintendent, Enikia Ford Morthel. In his eyes, she was “a rock star.”
Three thousand miles away on Capitol Hill, one other Berkeley Excessive mother or father, Ilana Pearlman, who’s Jewish, watched the identical testimony in particular person and couldn’t imagine her ears, notably the half the place Ms. Ford Morthel mentioned that antisemitism is “not pervasive” within the college district.
Republican lawmakers accused the leaders of college districts in Berkeley, New York Metropolis and Montgomery County, Md., of responding inadequately to antisemitism in public faculties whereas the directors fiercely defended themselves and their insurance policies. Afterward, native response to the listening to appeared to hinge on one’s views stepping into, with few minds modified and a few questioning whether or not the continuing had been definitely worth the time.
Mr. O’Brien, who watched the listening to over espresso and muffins with about 10 different pro-Palestinian dad and mom in a classroom on the College of California, Berkeley, disapproved of the listening to normally however thought Ms. Ford Morthel had weathered it nicely.
“It was just like the Salem witch trials,” he mentioned, including that the hearings have been a distraction from the devastation in Gaza. However he mentioned it was proper for educators to show their college students in regards to the battle with Israel and the significance of Palestinian liberation. And he thought Ms. Ford Morthel had conveyed that message successfully.
“We have been all hoping that her persona and attraction and compassion and intelligence would by some means discover a solution to come by in that type of noxious setting, and he or she didn’t disappoint,” he mentioned.
Ms. Pearlman, a mother or father behind a federal civil rights grievance alleging “extreme and protracted” antisemitism within the Berkeley college district, mentioned she appreciated that the listening to had been held however was dissatisfied within the superintendent’s testimony.
She notably blanched at Ms. Ford Morthel’s opening assertion denying that antisemitism was a significant downside within the district.
Ms. Pearlman, who watched the proceedings with different Jewish moms within the listening to room, mentioned she had approached Ms. Ford Morthel after the listening to.
“I mentioned, ‘Why don’t you imagine us?’” Ms. Pearlman recounted. “She cupped my arms. I needed to throw up. And he or she mentioned, ‘I do imagine you, I do.’ I mentioned, ‘No, you don’t.’”
Ms. Pearlman has mentioned her son, a freshman, noticed his artwork trainer current a picture of the Star of David being punched with a fist and heard one other trainer name Israel a settler colony. She mentioned he now retains his Jewish heritage quiet.
Ms. Ford Morthel declined to present an interview after her testimony.
Shortly after the listening to, issues grew much more sophisticated within the Berkeley faculties. The Bay Space chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations joined the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in submitting a federal grievance on behalf of college workers members and fogeys alleging “extreme and pervasive anti-Palestinian racism” within the district.
Whereas largely supporting Ms. Ford Morthel, the group mentioned particular person principals had not appropriately addressed incidents together with college students’ taunting of their Arab and Muslim classmates with chants of “terrorists” and “9/11.” In one other incident, the grievance mentioned, a pupil ripped off a classmate’s hijab.
Molly Sampson, who has a half-Palestinian daughter within the Berkeley faculties, mentioned that she thought the accusations of antisemitism had been overblown and that the listening to had been a waste of time.
“That is our city, our district, and then you definately see the way it’s portrayed on the nationwide stage and you are feeling such as you’re residing in upside-down world,” she mentioned. “I assumed our superintendent had unimaginable grace and poise in coping with that.”
Professional-Palestinian rallies befell in Berkeley and New York after the listening to, with dad and mom, academics and different contributors discussing the significance of educating about Palestinians in public faculties.
Muhammad Delgado, a senior at Berkeley Excessive Faculty, mentioned he watched the listening to earlier than attending the rally and mentioned he appreciated Ms. Ford Morthel standing up for the district.
“I assumed our superintendent did nicely in defending and pushing again in opposition to this narrative that our educators and our college students are antisemitic,” he mentioned. “My expertise has been certainly one of cooperation and fraternity.”
Like Ms. Ford Morthel, the chancellor of New York Metropolis’s faculties pushed again laborious in opposition to Republican lawmakers’ rivalry that his college district had not finished sufficient to cease antisemitism. The official, David C. Banks, acknowledged some instances of antisemitism, however he mentioned that he and the district had addressed them with applicable measures and that the Republicans have been merely searching for “gotcha” moments relatively than sensible options.
Leah Wiseman Fink, the mom of two kids in a Brooklyn public college, attended the listening to and mentioned she felt it had coated some essential antisemitic incidents in New York faculties however had ignored others.
For instance, she mentioned, she was blocked by her college board’s official Instagram account and never allowed into video conferences after complaining about antisemitism in faculties. She joined different native dad and mom in submitting an official grievance in regards to the college board’s therapy of Jewish dad and mom, however that didn’t come up on the listening to.
“I’m completely satisfied elements of the story bought advised,” she mentioned. “However there are huge elements of the story that bought not noted.”
Karla Silvestre, the varsity board president in Montgomery County, Md., exterior Washington, acknowledged stories of “antisemitic imagery, language and vandalism” in county faculties and conceded that “we haven’t gotten it proper each time.” However like Mr. Banks, Ms. Silvestre mentioned that her district would quickly roll out new coaching packages and curriculums to deal with antisemitism.
Rachel Barold, a highschool sophomore in Montgomery County, attended the listening to on Wednesday and got here away underwhelmed.
Earlier than the listening to, she had submitted a letter to the workplace of Consultant Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and the chairwoman of the Home Committee on Training and the Workforce, saying that Montgomery County faculties had not labored shortly sufficient to reply to a surge in antisemitism.
Ms. Barold mentioned in a textual content message that she had discovered the listening to “fairly ineffective” as a result of Ms. Silvestre spoke so little in contrast with Ms. Ford Morthel and Mr. Banks.
Adam Zimmerman, who has two kids within the Montgomery County faculties and teaches Holocaust schooling to center schoolers at an area synagogue, had not anticipated that the listening to can be a pivotal second, and he mentioned afterward it fairly clearly had not been.
“This isn’t an issue a listening to may ever clear up by itself,” he mentioned. “My hope,” he added, is that faculty leaders there “perceive that we nonetheless face a really important downside.”
Coral Murphy Marcos contributed reporting from Berkeley, Calif., and Troy Closson contributed reporting from New York.