Trump admin won’t tolerate antisemitism in schools, says Leo Terrell as NYC schools under microscope

FIRST ON FOX: In a Jan. 29 executive order, President Donald Trump directed additional measures to fight antisemitism, noting that Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel spawned “an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.”

Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights who is heading up a new Justice Department Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, told Fox News Digital that the president has directed his task force “to use every tool in our toolbox as Department of Justice to stop this antisemitic behavior.”

He added that Attorney General Pam Bondi “has been following President Trump’s directive. … She has given me the green light to do everything possible and use the power of the federal government to stop this.”

Terrell said that since Oct. 7, the country “has turned its back on Jewish Americans at schools in day-to-day life,” with Jewish Americans not being “protected like other citizens,” including at colleges and in K-12 schools.

Antisemitic prejudice appears to be thriving within New York City Public Schools. A pressure group called the New York Public Schools Alliance, a network of concerned teachers, students and administrators led by co-founder Karen Feldman, undertook an investigation into alleged anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-American prejudice within the city’s public schools in October 2024.

The group said its findings demonstrate a failure to protect teachers and students against discrimination, the presence of implicitly and explicitly biased materials in education and curriculum development, and an atmosphere of political activism in schools that has “deepened divisions.”

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Anti-Israel protesters stand outside the Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island. (Ary Weiss/Staten Island Shomrim)

Multiple sources who spoke to Fox News Digital noted with particular concern the atmosphere of antisemitism at the Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island, which was the subject of a Fox News Digital report last spring.

New York City Council member David Carr told Fox News Digital that many parents of Susan E. Wagner students contacted him with concerns about what they perceived as hatred on display at the school’s International Festival in January. Carr said the event is typically a “wonderful celebration” by the school’s “incredibly diverse student body,” but this year there were people in the audience who shouted “Free Palestine” as the Israeli Student Club finished each of its three performances.

Carr said there were additional antisemitic remarks made about the students before they took the stage during their final performance. Carr said the spectators “were escorted out of the venue and … have been banned from returning for future events.”

A student from Susan E. Wagner High School who spoke on condition of anonymity told Fox News Digital that the students who were removed from the building called out “stinky Jews” as dancers with the Israeli Club made their way to the stage. The student was not aware of the repercussions for the audience members but said that school personnel apologized to offending audience members while escorting them from the facility.

Leo Terrell (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Carr said he has “spoken to the school leadership, and we’re going to be talking again” with the goal of creating “an atmosphere where everybody feels comfortable.” He added that “it clearly needs to be an ongoing conversation.”

“It’s unacceptable that students be subjected to hate speech,” Carr said. “Antisemitism is the most pernicious form of hate, I think, in human history,” he explained. “It needs to be stood up to whenever it rears its ugly head.”

The Susan E. Wagner student who shared their concerns with Fox News Digital said students have not only endured hate speech in their school, but multiple staff members have worn pro-Palestine paraphernalia. Though some teachers “never said anything” discriminatory, the student said that “you still know what they think.” 

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Wagner administrators have also allegedly participated in programming that promotes a one-sided interpretation of the Israel-Gaza conflict. In April 2024, the Wagner Arab Student Association posted on Instagram that it hosted a “survivor of the ongoing genocide in Gaza” to speak to students, with teachers and Principal David Cugini present.

The student said that in an environment of anti-Israel sentiment, “[N]obody wants to say anything, because they’re so sure that nothing will get done. That’s what the school has done. It has pretty much shown these kids that no matter what you do … Jewish kids are just going to be at the bottom of the food chain.”

Fox News Digital obtained a photograph of the pro-Hamas slogan “Free Palestine. From the River to the Sea” scrawled on a teacher’s blackboard at the Susan E. Wagner High School. (Fox News Digital)

Part of this silencing also appears to involve mislabeling reported incidents of antisemitic hate.

The New York City Public School Alliance showed Fox News Digital five New York City school occurrence reports that described acts of alleged anti-Israel or antisemitic hate reported by staff and students at a variety of public schools. Each was recorded as not being bias-related. 

Fox News Digital asked interim Superintendent Roderick Palton and Cugini about a number of the aforementioned incidents, the methods of recording antisemitic incidents and whether Jewish students have a safe learning environment at the Susan E. Wagner High School. They did not respond.

A New York City Department of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital that New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) were taking part in training and workshops to “foster respectful and empathetic classroom conversation on difficult topics.” The spokesperson mentioned that “our Hidden Voices curricular resources highlight the diverse communities and experiences of New Yorkers, including the AAPI community, LGBTQ community, Americans with Disabilities, and the Global African Diaspora. To meet this moment across our city, we are currently expanding Hidden Voices to include both the Jewish American and Muslim American communities.”

The NYCPS Alliance report cites the Hidden Voices curriculum as containing lessons that “emphasize resistance to colonialism, oppression, and marginalization.” The report says “the tendency to present incomplete or one-sided narratives may contribute to biased worldviews, potentially fostering a hostile learning environment for Jewish students. These materials raise concerns about whether the school is meeting its obligations to provide a harassment-free and inclusive environment for all students.”

A pro-Israel supporter holds a sign during the March for Israel on the National Mall in Washington on Nov. 14, 2023. (Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

According to the schools’ spokesperson, “[R]eligious bias incidents in our schools [are] down by 46% so far this year.” The spokesperson explained that “we are working closely with this school to ensure that reports of anti-Semitism or other bias are swiftly investigated and consequences are imposed for any violations of our policies so that every student feels safe and respected in their school.”

Feldman questioned the findings. “I find it interesting how they could assess [a] 46% decrease when they’re not even logging the incidents of Jewish hate properly. They’re not even logging it as biased incidents,” she told Fox News Digital.

Feldman also expressed alarm at the environment at Susan E. Wagner, where administrators are “witness to the indoctrination and the twist of history” and the “fear, intimidation, [and] silencing tactics” that allow incidents to “go unreported or unresolved.” 

“These kids are being guided poorly by their school. They’re not being supported. They feel alienated. They feel threatened,” she said. While “it’s showing up as antisemitism now,” Feldman warned that anti-Jewish prejudice is “an alarm system. It’s a warning sign that something is rotten in society.”

Terrell noted several coming changes that will protect Jewish students and teachers who feel they are not being heard by their own schools. These include a “complaint number that is going to come directly to the task force” for victims of antisemitic prejudice.

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“Help is on its way,” Terrell said.

Fox News Digital reached out to New York City Mayor Eric Adams about the atmosphere of antisemitism in the city’s public schools but received no reply.