Rabbis urge Montgomery County schools to confront rising antisemitism

Rabbi Adam Raskin of Congregation Har Shalom, representing a community of 750 families, delivered a petition to Superintendent Thomas Taylor and the school board asking Montgomery County Public Schools to address what they describe as a surge in Jew-hatred. The petition points to 600 recorded hate-bias incidents for 2025-26, up from 253 the prior year, and highlights that Montgomery County accounts for 84% of Maryland’s school antisemitic reports.

Signatories demand teacher and administrator training, curriculum on Jewish identity and the Holocaust, enforceable social-media harassment policies, and measurable progress reports. They also criticize the district’s limited participation in a Jewish Community Relations Council training program, noting only 2% of attendees were county educators. Families say students face hostility and physical threats, leading some to leave public schools, while teachers report bigoted comments from peers and students.