Educators in their own words

“ Jewish staff and students are not safe in XDSB schools. They are certainly not safe to disclose their Jewish identities, especially if they do not outright condemn Israel’s existence or any connection to Israel. We talk about being proud of one’s ancestry and ethnicity in XDSB schools, but that only applies to some. Not all students are protected, and many Jews are targeted. “

“The school board with the largest population of Jewish students and staff has no Jewish superintendents or senior staff. Policies that affirm

Jewish identity cannot be made without the proper education on Jewish identity and contemporary antisemitism. Otherwise Jewish staff and students are left vulnerable and unprotected from the realities of their lives experience.”

“When an Associate Director of

“Equity” says that training about antisemitism isn’t needed because Jewish students graduate, we know the system isn’t set up to be equitable and actually provide a safe learning environment for Jewish students and staff”

“ Both staff and students in the XDSB post, share and circulate vile antisemitic materials online, under the masks of pseudonyms, and in the name of anti-Zionism.  When their antisemitism is challenged online by Jewish staff and students, they are blocked. This happens on the ground in schools as well. So many students and staff lost their friends quickly after October 7. There is a pattern of social exclusion, that is nothing short of a social apartheid.”

“ Antisemitism is colliding with a literacy crisis, and a total lack of research skills for both staff and students. Without checking sources, without consulting real community that exists outside of limited echo chambers, staff buys into propaganda, revisionist history that erases Jewish history, ancestry and indigenaeity, and parrots antisemitic accusations. Teachers go on to teach students a one-sided , second-hand view that vilifies Jews and Israelis. The impact is real harm, to real people.”

“What do we do when even the Board’s Equity leads have not been properly trained in contemporary antisemitism and believe that Israel is political and the Star of David can’t be used to represent the Jewish people?”