This article, originally published at 5:52 p.m. on May 3, 2024, was updated at 12:10 p.m. on May 6, 2024, to clarify that the hearing will be held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education which is chaired by Florida Rep. Aaron Bean (R).
Montgomery County Board of Education President Karla Silvestre is set to testify Wednesday at a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Workforce hearing on “confronting pervasive antisemitism in K-12 schools.”
The hearing will be held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education at 10:15 a.m. and will be live-streamed on the committee’s YouTube page.
“Antisemitic incidents have exploded in K-12 schools following Hamas’ horrific October 7 attack,” said Florida Rep. Aaron Bean (R), who chairs the subcommittee, in a press release. “Jewish teachers, students, and faculty have been denied a safe learning environment and forced to contend with antisemitic agitators due to district leaders’ inaction.
“This pervasive and extreme antisemitism in K-12 schools is not only alarming—it is absolutely unacceptable,” Bean said in the release posted on the committee’s website. “This hearing will allow committee members to hold the leaders of the most embattled school districts accountable for their failure to keep Jewish students and teachers safe.”
New York City schools Chancellor David C. Banks and Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel of the Berkeley Unified School District in California are also scheduled to testify on the topic, according to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Silvestre’s upcoming testimony comes as Montgomery County Public Schools faces a federal Title VI investigation into the way the district has handled antisemitism in schools, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in February. A second Title VI complaint also was filed against MCPS by the Zionist Organization of America in mid-April, which alleges that the district has failed to address “severe, persistent and pervasive antisemitism in schools.”
When contacted, Silvestre said this week she could not respond to MoCo360’s inquiries about the upcoming hearing because she was still preparing her testimony.
In recent years, MCPS has grappled with numerous antisemitic incidents in schools at all levels, including reports of students drawing swastikas on desks and school property and being seen giving an antisemitic “salute.”
In addition, four district teachers were reprimanded and placed on administrative leave for allegedly sharing pro-Palestinian views on social media and in email signatures that MCPS and some in the county’s Jewish and Israeli communities called antisemitic. The teachers were placed on leave in November and December 2023 and were reinstated earlier this year but at different schools.
Christie Scott, the school board’s communications coordinator, said in a statement in April that Silvestre was “invited to testify” at Wednesday’s hearing and “looks forward to sharing how Montgomery County Public Schools responds to incidents rooted in antisemitism and promotes a culture of tolerance and respect.
“The Montgomery County Board of Education is committed to fostering a safe and welcoming learning environment that supports all students,” Scott said.
The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce has held other hearings this past year following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, grilling leaders of higher education institutions such as Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on their approaches to addressing antisemitism on campus.