A diverse coalition of educators, faith organizations, labor unions and civil rights advocates are raising concerns about planned legislation establishing an antisemitism working group, which they said would have “significant influence over school policies without sufficient safeguards for academic freedom.”
Lawmakers proposed HB 7009 last year establishing the working group, but the legislation failed to pass the Senate.
The Connecticut Freedom to Learn Coalition sent a letter to Senate and House leadership this week including the co-chairs of the Education Committee, Rep. Jennifer Leeper and Douglas McCrory.
Gov. Ned Lamont was also included in the letter, which also highlighted concerns that an antisemitism working group would not address other forms of discrimination including Islamophobia.
Leeper and McCrory did not return several requests for comment for this article. Lamont’s office also did not return an email for comment.
Referring to Section 7 of HB 7009, which references the working group’s duties including working with boards of education to amend school district policies and assisting in the creation or provision of curriculum materials relating to antisemitism, Jewish heritage and Holocaust and genocide education, the coalition said, “without clear guardrails, the framework risks chilling classroom discussion, narrowing curriculum and politicizing education spaces rather than improving student safety.”
“The Trump administration is using antisemitism as a weapon to defund our public schools and to censor educators and students,” said Megan Fountain, member of Mending Minyan Synagogue and Jewish Voice for Peace, two organizations who were included in the letter.
“Our coalition is uniting educators, Jews, Palestinian Americans and Muslims here in Connecticut because we don’t want to be divided,” Fountain said. “We are safer together and that is why we are calling on the legislature to create a joint working group that addresses antisemitism, anti Palestinian racism and Islamophobia because we are all together and we are safer when we are united not divided.”
But David Waren, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, who is advocating for the antisemitism working group, said in an email that he strongly disagrees with how the coalition’s letter characterizes the working group.
He said that the claim that the framework would “chill classroom discussion” or “narrow curriculum” is incorrect.
“The purpose is not to censor classrooms or restrict discussion about Israel/Palestine, or anything else,” Waren said. “The goal is to equip educators with practical tools to respond when antisemitism shows up in hallways, classrooms, and school culture, and to support respectful dialogue rather than harassment and intimidation.”
Waren said he does expect legislation to move forward again this session and that schools are confronting “real incidents of antisemitism.”
He said further that “this is a support framework, not a mandate.
“The working group is designed to provide guidance and recommendations – professional development options, model policies and resources – so districts have help addressing a problem they are already encountering,” he said. “It does not take away local control and it does not impose a state curriculum.”
Carol Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, said the HFT certainly supports classrooms that are safe and supportive of all beliefs and all peoples.
“HFT would not want to see the state legislature or other groups that are non educators directing our teachers as to what they can say and teach in their classrooms,” Gale said. “That is where the concern comes from. We don’t want our members to be at all silenced in their classrooms.”
Audra King, CT Civil Liberties Defense & CSU AAUP Palestine Solidarity Working Group, said that many organizations referring to the American Bar Association, “recognize that antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism are interconnected and must be addressed through a human rights framework.
“Section 7 does the opposite,” she said. “It creates a working group focused solely on antisemitism, without addressing overlapping forms of discrimination and without defining the term that will guide policy and training.”
Rising levels of antisemitism
Waren said the working group is not theoretical and that the state has seen a “disturbing level of antisemitic incidents- including incidents specifically in K-12 settings.
“And nationally, FBI hate crime reporting has long shown that Jews are disproportionately targeted in religion-based hate crimes,” he said.
He said a new American Jewish Committee survey “underscores the broader climate that many Jewish students report experiencing antisemitism and a large majority of parents of Jewish high school students say reports of antisemitism are affecting their family’s decisions about where their children will attend school after graduation.”
Stacey Sobel, regional director of ADL Connecticut, said in Connecticut “18.9% of the 2024 antisemitic incidents occurred in K-12 schools.”
Sobel said ADL Connecticut is in support of the antisemitism working group.
She said ADL data shows “antisemitic incidents in K-12 schools have increased significantly, which leaves many Jewish students feeling unsafe and unable to focus on their education.”
Sobel described several incidents of antisemitism that have occurred over the last few years including a 12-year-old Jewish boy in Oxford who she said was subjected to antisemitic bullying on a school bus.
In East Hartford she said a 14-year-old Jewish boy walked to his desk to find swastikas with a message to “kill all Jews including him.”
And in a third incident in western Connecticut, Sobel said a 15-year old found a swastika etched into his locker.
Waren said addressing antisemitism is “urgent in its own right and it is not ‘siloed’ from broader efforts to build inclusive school environments.
He said in Massachusetts, educators have advanced a statewide effort focused on K-12 antisemitism, “generating findings and recommendations that help districts and educators respond constructively.”
Islamophobia
Farhan Memon, Cair Connecticut chairman, said if there is a committee established to address antisemitism there should also be one to examine anti Muslim bias.
“It would be preferable if our schools addressed racism in the classroom in a comprehensive manner so we can examine and look at the variety of ways that all of our students face difficulties of prejudice and bias,” he said.
Memon said CAIR receives calls all the time “because of kids being harassed in schools because of their faith.”
He said Muslim children have been called terrorists and “feel silenced in their advocacy against the genocide that is happening in Israel.
“At best they feel silenced, at worst they are called to the carpet for wearing or expressing solidarity,” he said.
Memon said in Waterbury two girls, who were refugees from Egypt, were assaulted by a group of classmates and had their hijabs pulled off.
Memon said the girls were out of the classroom for weeks and that a 12-year-old was charged with a hate crime.
Fountain said classrooms must be “places where all students are included and where teachers are not afraid to teach different viewpoints.”
The Education Committee voted Wednesday to raise a concept to establish a working group to address Islamophobia in schools. There was no discussion concerning the working group.