Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent Thomas Taylor has acknowledged a communication failure over a swastika found at Walter Johnson High School and promised Jewish leaders a programme of “repeat, collaborative dialogue” to tackle antisemitism in the district.
Dr Taylor’s response came after more than 40 rabbis and cantors wrote to MCPS officials on Monday, warning that antisemitic incidents in schools had “skyrocketed” over the past three years.
The letter followed a series of reports in Montgomery County, Maryland, including a swastika discovered on a classroom desk at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. Police also recorded an antisemitic symbol in a high-school locker room, another swastika beneath a desk and racial and antisemitic graffiti on a bathroom wall.
In his reply, Dr Taylor said antisemitism, like all forms of hatred and bias, had no place in the school system. He accepted that the message sent to the Walter Johnson community should have explicitly described the swastika as an antisemitic symbol and addressed the harm it caused more directly.
“Language matters, particularly when responding to hate and bias,” he wrote. “We can and will do better more consistently in this regard.”
Montgomery County police recorded 291 school-related bias incidents in 2024, according to the department’s annual report. Sixty of those incidents, or 21 per cent, involved an image of a swastika.
Dr Taylor said the number of reported incidents was “deeply concerning”, but added that increased reporting could partly explain the rise. He said MCPS had worked to improve awareness of antisemitism and the process for reporting hate-bias incidents.
The Jewish leaders called for substantive antisemitism training for teachers, experiential learning on Jewish identity and the Holocaust, and clearer rules governing harmful social-media behaviour connected to school life.
Dr Taylor said mandatory staff compliance training now included antisemitism awareness, while voluntary courses were available for employees seeking a deeper understanding. He also said the district welcomed speakers and peer-led programmes that could help pupils confront antisemitism.
He said MCPS codes of conduct gave the district authority to act when online behaviour affected the school environment, the school day or school-sponsored activities.
Rabbi Adam Raskin, of Congregation Har Shalom, and Rabbi Sue Shankman, of Washington Hebrew Congregation, said they had hoped the letter would lead to a face-to-face meeting with the superintendent. They added that Jewish community organisations had programmes which MCPS could introduce immediately at no cost.
“We want to be collaborative, we want to work with educators and school leaders, but we also want to see change happen in the near term because our kids and our families don’t have the luxury to wait,” Rabbi Raskin said.
Rabbi Shankman said members of the community had come forward with additional accounts of antisemitism after the letter was circulated, including incidents reported during the current school year.
Dr Taylor has asked Nyah Hamlett, MCPS’s chief equity and organisational development officer, to lead further discussions with Jewish leaders, with his direct involvement. He said the district would focus on prevention, education, reporting, support for affected pupils and accountability.
“More must be done, and on that we agree,” Dr Taylor wrote. “We may not agree on every issue or every proposed solution, but I do believe there are steps we can take together.”
