The Tamalpais Union High School District mishandled an investigation into alleged antisemitic speech by a teacher, state officials said.
The California Department of Education said the district should have indicated there was unlawful discrimination under the state education code. The department issued its decision on Friday in response to an appeal by a parent.
The investigation involved remarks a Spanish teacher at Redwood High School allegedly made on Oct. 11 during the Jewish holiday season, specifically during the observance of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.
“Isn’t it weird that we have a day off for a Jewish holiday and not for Indigenous Peoples Day?” the teacher said to her class, according to the state decision. “That’s because we have too many Jews in the district.”
Some students gasped when they heard the remarks, according to the state, which did not name the teacher. A parent of one of the students filed a complaint.
The district investigated the complaint and issued its report on Nov. 12. The investigation report, or IR, determined that the complaint was “not sustained.”
The parent appealed the finding to the California Department of Education in March.
The department’s decision said the district erred in following a “complaint against a teacher” policy. Instead, the district should have used a “uniform complaint policy” process, or UCP. The latter would have been the appropriate vehicle to address allegations of “unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying based on religion,” the state said.
“Consequently, instead of advising the appellant how to timely appeal to CDE, the IR did not advise appellant of the right to appeal to CDE at all, which the appellant argues caused confusion and delay,” the state said.
“CDE has reviewed the entire investigation file provided by the district and concludes that, contrary to the IR’s ultimate resolution, the bulk of the evidence in the file, coupled with the district’s factual findings, amounts to a violation warranting corrective action,” the state said.
“The fact that the teacher’s personal social media profile pictures contained ‘Free Palestine’ images was protected speech and ‘not under the jurisdiction of the school district,’” the education department added.
Tara Taupier, the Tamalpais Union superintendent, denied the parent’s claim that the district tried to cover up the initial incident.
“The CDE found that we should have used the Uniform Complaint Policy while conducting the investigation, which may have led to a different conclusion,” Taupier said in an email. “We acknowledge and respect the CDE’s findings and will comply fully with the required corrective actions.”
Marc Levine, regional director for the American Defamation League, said, “This kind of rhetoric does the exact opposite of what educators are meant to do: create a safe and collaborative learning environment for their students.”
“We urge the district to ensure that the required training from this incident meaningfully addresses ways to prevent antisemitism from entering the classroom,” said Levine, formerly Marin’s representative in the state Assembly.
Taupier said corrective actions will include mandatory training for all high school teachers by Sept. 30 on “students’ rights to be free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying on the basis of protected characteristics.”
The training will also include “students’ rights to be protected from retaliation for filing complaints alleging such conduct,” Taupier said.
“We want to be clear that we take all allegations of antisemitism — and any form of discrimination — very seriously,” Taupier said. “We are committed to creating safe, respectful and inclusive learning environments for all students.”
She declined to comment on potential disciplinary actions.
“Our focus remains on supporting students, upholding our values and ensuring that every classroom reflects a culture of respect,” Taupier said.
The state decision is the third this spring involving alleged incidents of antisemitism in Bay Area school districts. Last month, the state education office ordered two South Bay school districts to provide anti-bias training after finding that teachers discriminated against Jewish students by providing lessons slanted against Israel when teaching about the war with Hamas in Gaza.
In one case, the state found that two ethnic studies teachers in the Campbell Union High School District discriminated against Jewish students and violated state education code by describing Israel as a settler-colonial state and its war against Hamas as genocide against the Palestinian people.
In the other, the state said Jewish students at a school in the Santa Clara Unified School District experienced discrimination when a history teacher took a “clear” pro-Palestinian stance during class. Also, another teacher told a student it would be “a bad look” to invite an Israeli speaker to campus.
The Bay Area News Group contributed to this article.