55 Fall 2026 K-12 A. Overview of the Problem Some of the most grotesque antisemitic indoctrination, harassment, and even violence is being directed at our most vulnerable population — children in kindergarten through high school. We are seeing this phenomenon not only in the public-school systems, from California to Pennsylvania, but also in private schools across the country. Public school teachers’ unions (many of which are vehemently “woke” and anti-Zionist) have substantial sway over curriculum and have used their power to hijack the contents of social studies courses. To make matters worse, they often surreptitiously bypass state-mandated procedures for the adoption of course materials.4 And all too often, school principals, school boards and state agencies fail to address these issues when brought to their attention.5 One reason that tackling this problem is so challenging is that there are over 13,000 public school districts, and over 99,000 public schools in the U.S., subject to the widely diverse laws of the 50 states. And there are another 30,000 private schools, which are not covered by Title VI of the federal civil rights laws, except in the rare instance that the school receives federal funding. How can a small but mighty civil rights law firm like the Brandeis Center even begin to deal with such an immense and sprawling problem in an impactful and cost-effective way? I have often heard it said, with a mixture of disparagement and despair, that lawsuits are just a game of “whack-a-mole,” with the implication that lawsuits directed at individual schools or school districts are futile. Therefore, I start by explaining why “whack-a-mole” is actually an indispensable element of an effective litigation strategy. Such lawsuits can result in impactful judicial decisions that set important precedents and sometimes establish new legal principles that can be cited to and in turn affect behavior, prompting schools to revise their policies for fear of legal liability. Citing such precedents in a pre-lawsuit demand can make those demands more credible. Such lawsuits can also result in meaningful settlement agreements that can be cited in negotiations with similar institutions. As a practical matter, it is insufficient to respond to a victim of antisemitic harassment who calls on us for legal help by saying, “We sympathize, but we don’t take cases that are just a game of whack-a-mole; please wait until we come up with a unified national lawsuit that will address all issues across the country.” Below is a concrete illustration of how a lawsuit against an individual school can play out. B. Nysmith School In our recent suit before the Virginia Human Rights Commission against the Nysmith School outside D.C.,6 our clients were the Israeli parents of twin sixth grade girls and a boy in second grade.7 The children had never attended any other school, and the headmaster had only recently written a letter to the parents extolling their contributions to the school community. But the girls started to experience merciless bullying because they are Israelis, including being called “baby killers” by their classmates. When the parents went to see the headmaster, he told them that their daughters needed to “toughen up” and he did nothing to address the problem. The school then cancelled its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day event, ostensibly because it was “too political” and the next day hung a Palestinian flag in the auditorium, which predictably caused the bullying to intensify. 4. “‘Jewish Students Are Segregated’: Parents Sue California State Education System in First-of-Its-Kind Complaint Over ‘Anti-Semitic Propaganda’ and Harassment” (Feb. 26, 2026), available at https://brandeiscenter.com/jewishstudents-are-segregated-parents-sue-california-state-education-system-in-first-of-its-kind-complaint-over-anti-semiticpropaganda-and-harassment-the-washington-free-beacon/ 5. Id. 6. Complaint, Vazquez v. Nysmith Sch. for the Gifted, Virginia Office of Civil Rights (June 30, 2025), available at https:// brandeiscenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Nysmith-Complaint.pdf 7. “Virginia private school reaches settlement with Jewish parents over antisemitic harassment” (Nov. 18, 2025), available at https://brandeiscenter.com/virginia-private-school-reaches-settlement-with-jewish-parents-over-antisemitic-harassmentjewish-insider/
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