U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Reaches Agreement to Address Antisemitic Harassment in Carmel Unified School District in California

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today the resolution of a complaint alleging antisemitic harassment of students at a school in the Carmel Unified School District in California. The district entered into an agreement to ensure its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including antisemitic harassment of its students.

OCR’s investigation determined that in the 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 school years, the district had notice of fifteen instances involving swastikas or other vandalism or harassment at the school that created a hostile environment for students based on their race, color, or national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry. OCR found that during the 2021-2022 school year, school administrators knew of nine incidents involving the use of swastikas and/or the n-word, including graffiti in a bathroom, swastikas written or etched on two classroom desks, the “SS” symbol drawn on a classroom desk, a swastika on a ruler handed out to students in class, and a swastika visible on the skin of a student. In the 2023-2024 school year, school administrators received reports of more swastikas in the school and a student expressing wanting “to kill all Jews and burn them in their homes,” among other incidents.

While the district responded to these incidents by attempting to identify the responsible individuals and to discipline them when appropriate, OCR found that the district violated Title VI by failing to take effective steps reasonably calculated to eliminate the known hostile environment and to prevent its recurrence. OCR found that in some instances the district failed to evaluate whether a hostile environment existed for affected students and if they needed remedies to address the effects of that environment. OCR also identified a compliance concern that the district appears not to have met its Title VI obligation to maintain the records related to the district’s responses to notice of antisemitic harassment.

To resolve the violations and the compliance concern that OCR identified, the district agreed to:

Review specific incidents regarding students subjected to harassment based on race, color, or national origin in the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 school years to determine what further action is needed to equitably resolve these incidents for students;
Review, revise, and disseminate districtwide policies and procedures for responding to reports of harassment and maintaining related records to ensure they satisfy Title VI;
Issue written guidance to staff on the updated harassment policies and procedures;
Implement new forms for tracking reports of harassment and the district’s responses;
Notify all students and parents that discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including shared ancestry, is prohibited in the district and how to report harassment on these bases;
Implement a plan to educate students and parents about reporting harassment;
Conduct a districtwide assessment of school climate, including specifically regarding antisemitism, with an emphasis on harassment and submit any proposed responsive action to OCR for review and approval;
Train all administrators, faculty, and staff on the new policies, procedures, and forms;
Train all school administrators who are responsible for processing, investigating, and/or resolving complaints of discrimination on how to investigate and document them; and
Report to OCR the district’s responses to reports and complaints of harassment based on race, color, and national origin during the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years.
“Carmel Unified School District has committed to ensure that all of its students, including its Jewish students, can learn safely and without discriminatory harassment in its schools,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “OCR will work with the district in the coming years to protect students’ federal civil rights.”