The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today the resolution of a complaint alleging antisemitic harassment of students at a school in the Carmel Unified School District in California. The district entered into an agreement to ensure its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including antisemitic harassment of its students.
OCR’s investigation determined that in the 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 school years, the district had notice of fifteen instances involving swastikas or other vandalism or harassment at the school that created a hostile environment for students based on their race, color, or national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry. OCR found that during the 2021-2022 school year, school administrators knew of nine incidents involving the use of swastikas and/or the n-word, including graffiti in a bathroom, swastikas written or etched on two classroom desks, the “SS” symbol drawn on a classroom desk, a swastika on a ruler handed out to students in class, and a swastika visible on the skin of a student. In the 2023-2024 school year, school administrators received reports of more swastikas in the school and a student expressing wanting “to kill all Jews and burn them in their homes,” among other incidents.
While the district responded to these incidents by attempting to identify the responsible individuals and discipline them when appropriate, OCR found that the district violated Title VI by failing to take effective steps reasonably calculated to eliminate the known hostile environment and prevent its recurrence. OCR found that in some instances the district failed to evaluate whether a hostile environment existed for affected students and if they needed remedies to address the effects of that environment. OCR also identified a compliance concern that the district appears not to have met its Title VI obligation to maintain records related to its responses to notice of antisemitic harassment.
To resolve these violations and compliance concerns identified by OCR, Carmel Unified School District agreed to:
- Review specific incidents regarding students subjected to harassment based on race, color, or national origin in recent school years.
- Review, revise, and disseminate districtwide policies and procedures for responding to reports of harassment.
- Issue written guidance to staff on updated harassment policies.
- Implement new forms for tracking reports of harassment.
- Notify all students and parents about prohibitions against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin.
- Implement an educational plan about reporting harassment.
- Conduct an assessment of school climate specifically regarding antisemitism.
- Train all administrators, faculty, and staff on new policies.
- Train administrators responsible for handling complaints about how to investigate and document them.
- Report responses to reports and complaints during upcoming school years.
“Carmel Unified School District has committed to ensure that all of its students, including its Jewish students, can learn safely and without discriminatory harassment in its schools,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “OCR will work with the district in the coming years to protect students’ federal civil rights."
The letter addressed to Carmel Unified School District along with details about this resolution agreement are available on OCR’s website.
