Nonprofit and schools outline rapid‑response tools and survivor‑anchored education to counter antisemitism

Nonprofit and faith groups told the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism that readily deployable programs — short films, survivor testimony, teacher cohorts and law‑enforcement training — are effective tools to educate students and to respond when swastikas or other antisemitic incidents are discovered in schools.

Debbie Colton, president and executive director of the Lappin Foundation, described a short educational film on the swastika and accompanying discussion guide that is less than eight minutes long and designed to be used either proactively in curriculum or reactively in assemblies when a symbol is found. "Students are provided with the knowledge about what the swastika is and why it's dangerous and an offensive symbol of hate," Colton said. The foundation also runs a Holocaust symposium built in response to a multi‑year athletics‑related incident; the program combined classroom education with a museum trip and student leadership components.

Presenters urged schools to adopt the IHRA working definition as a symptom‑checking tool and noted the national strategy to counter antisemitism as implementation guidance. Law‑enforcement training that includes museum visits and survivor‑centered programming was presented as a complement to school education so officers better understand historical context and trauma responses.

School leaders cited examples where acting quickly to educate — convening assemblies with survivor testimony and involving the school resource officer to explain legal consequences — produced community buy‑in and student engagement. Nonprofits offered free teacher guides and said they will share digital resources with the commission for broad public access.

The commission asked staff to host these resources on a public landing page ahead of the next meeting and to invite a broader cohort of superintendents to share replicable practices.