November 11, 2026
This piece originally appeared in Washington Jewish Week.
Most students go to school thinking about an upcoming test, making a team, or getting a story into the school newspaper. Jewish students are no different.
Yet for some, an ordinary school day can include being singled out during a conversation about Israel, expected to explain or defend the actions of a government thousands of miles away, or confronted with antisemitic stereotypes.
These are not hypothetical concerns. They are challenges schools are already navigating.
As a former classroom teacher and department chair, I know how quickly difficult classroom moments can turn into a larger issue for schools. A student asks an unexpected question, a discussion takes a troubling turn, or a teacher hears something concerning and has seconds to decide how to respond. Even experienced educators don’t always have the right words.
I also know most educators want to get it right because they care about their students and are willing to learn. What they often lack is the time or space to grapple with these questions alongside colleagues. To help meet this need, American Jewish Committee’s Center for Education Advocacy brought together more than 50 independent school educators and administrators last month for the AJC Independent School Summit on Confronting Antisemitism Across the DMV.
Too often these conversations are happening only in Jewish communal spaces — instead, what educators need is a space for open dialogue for teachers and administrators alike, from all backgrounds, who share one goal: the well-being of their students.
We cannot and should not expect teachers to have all the answers. Instead of debating Israeli policy, we should be discussing how educators can ensure students are able to participate in discussions about multifaceted, complicated issues without being singled out because of their identity.
Teachers are not responsible for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But they are obligated to recognize when legitimate criticism of a government becomes an accusation directed at a Jewish student. We also must be cognizant not to create environments in which educators avoid teaching difficult history out of fear that students might disagree or that controversy will follow. Our collective responsibility is to create brave classrooms where those disagreements can happen without making any student feel as though they must defend their identity and where every student feels intellectually, emotionally and physically safe.
That work also means looking beyond individual incidents. Schools should examine how Jewish history and identity appear in their curricula, whether teachers have the appropriate training to skillfully navigate tough subjects and conversations, and if and how students are taught to disagree respectfully.
Before the summit, we asked registrants about the challenges their schools were facing. While 82% of respondents felt confident supporting Jewish students, only 48% felt confident teaching contested issues — the gap there matters because good intentions alone aren’t enough.
These findings suggest that educators across the board could benefit from more guidance on responding to antisemitic incidents. Educators want to recognize concerns, facilitate difficult conversations and better support their students before problems escalate. Knowing your subject matter and knowing how to respond when a difficult conversation arises are not always the same thing.
These principles informed the summit’s program. Participants explored antisemitism in classrooms, school policy and incident response, and approaches to teaching Jewish history, Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They heard from educators, school leaders and a Jewish high school student.
Dr. Desmond K. Blackburn, president and CEO of Facing History & Ourselves, told the summit that it was vital to help students think critically about difficult issues rather than telling them what to think. He emphasized the value of talking sooner, engaging with an open mind and doing it with colleagues willing to listen.
The summit also reinforced another key tenet: Allies have a responsibility to help build other allies. Most, if not all, attendees were already committed to supporting Jewish students. The real work begins when they return to school and help a colleague recognize a stereotype, reconsider how Jewish history is taught, or listen to a colleague whose experience differs from their own.
The summit concluded with educators identifying one concrete action to bring back to their schools, who would be responsible for it and the first conversation needed to move it forward. The goal was not to solve everything in one day, but to identify where to begin.
Working together — administrators, teachers, parents and community partners — we can ensure that schools are places where students encounter complicated history, debate ideas and engage in productive struggle. Finding common ground can require compromise but should never compromise a student’s identity or their right to belong.
