Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers (UJT), recently told "Washington Watch" that the rampant and unchecked surge in antisemitism in New York City Public Schools is leaving Jewish students and educators targeted.
"Since Oct. 7, students, teachers — it's been open season on them when it comes to hate against Jewish people," he said. "We actually saw an uptick since Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City, which is quite interesting."
The report, which documents 250 specific incidents, has been sent to Mayor Mamdani and to schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.
Spern said the greatest failure lies in how school leadership is handling the crisis.
On May 1, a student at Townsend High School in Queens was harassed for joining the Israel Defense Force upon graduation.
On May 28, a flyer in the hallway at Flushing High School, Queens, had a Nazi symbol and referred to Israel as an apartheid state.
On Jan. 27, a swastika was carved into a blackboard at Brooklyn Tech High School.
Last November, a teacher at Manhattan's Heritage High School attended a disruptive anti-Israel protest outside Park East Synagogue.
School or district leadership showed limited or no effective follow-through in these cases.
"Administrators, whether they be superintendents or principals, failed to act appropriately," Spern relayed. "When swastikas are drawn in schools, they fail to … actually investigate and track these hate crimes. Oftentimes they erase, they cover, and they ignore swastikas and other forms of hate."
The majority of documented cases involve direct acts of harassment, vandalism, and threats, including antisemitic tropes, Holocaust references and "eliminationist language" directed against Israeli Jews. Significant shares also involve biased curriculum and instructional materials, as well as disruptive events such as walkouts and protests.
"These incidents have created hostile learning and working environments across the system," UJT states.
Alongside the report's release, Spern shared an accompanying video on social media which documented the climate inside schools.
"The goal is for accountability and how to counteract the rising tide of antisemitism," he said in the video. "We want to make sure that every Jewish student, faculty, and parents feel supported."
Spern's organization, which describes itself as a "strong, organized voice for Jewish educators and staff in NYC public schools," is calling on the Department of Education to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to give administrators clear guidance and to enforce concrete accountability.
"We have to educate school leaders of how to identify and how to act," he told "Washington Watch." "Most importantly, students need to be held accountable. Teachers need to be held accountable. You can't just allow Jews to be isolated and targeted in these schools."
NYC schools do not report hate episodes based on certain religions.
