Mass. commission hears school strategies after students and educators report rising antisemitism

The Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism met to examine how Massachusetts K–12 schools detect, respond to and prevent antisemitism, with district leaders, a college freshman who testified about harassment she experienced in school, and nonprofit and faith‑based groups laying out rapid‑response programs.

Peter Light, superintendent of the Acton‑Boxborough Regional School District, told commissioners the district formed a Leadership Coalition in 2023 to address hate and bias and rewrote staff training so antisemitism is explicitly covered. "I will start by saying unequivocally that our schools do not tolerate antisemitism or any form of hate in our schools, and district," Light said, describing steps that include faculty training, student affinity‑group check‑ins and a planned incident dashboard intended to increase transparency.

Light described a shift away from checklist responses toward interrupting hateful language in the moment and prioritizing student safety and support. He described using restorative justice when both parties agree and acknowledged limits set by staffing and budget: the district has relied on short‑term grant funding to seed programs and must find ways to sustain them after grant awards expire.

Student testimony illustrated the stakes. Maddie Katzen, a Jewish freshman at UMass Lowell and former co‑chair of a teen antisemitism task force, recounted incidents dating to elementary school, including a classmate who she said told her, “give me the pen or I'll gas you.” Katzen told the commission those encounters and social‑media harassment left her hiding Jewish symbols and feeling unsafe in class discussions after October 7.

Nonprofit and faith‑based presenters described classroom tools and community programs. Debbie Colton, president and executive director of the Lappin Foundation, described a short film and discussion guide on the swastika’s meaning used in assemblies and a Holocaust symposium for teens developed after a well‑publicized local athletic scandal. Colton urged proactive, curriculum‑integrated programs and law‑enforcement training that brings officers to Holocaust‑education sites.

Rabbi Noah Kosovsky, head of a Jewish day school in Longmeadow, recounted incidents ranging from graffiti to hostile remarks shouted from passing cars and described using a Homeland Security grant to install privacy fencing to shield children at outdoor play. School officials and nonprofit partners reported that assemblies with survivor testimony, student leadership ownership and clear communications for parents produced measurable engagement and parental endorsement.

Commissioners pressed for clarity about when educators should report incidents, what constitutes a threshold for formal investigation and how to balance teaching about current events with maintaining students’ emotional safety. An official from the attorney general’s office highlighted recent statewide guidance created with the governor’s office and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education explaining legal obligations and the line between protected speech and unlawful conduct.

The commission said it will work to make resources — including slides, videos and guidance documents — broadly available through a landing page and to continue the conversation in January. The meeting concluded with routine procedural votes and adjournment.

What’s next: commissioners signaled plans to collect best practices for curriculum and reporting thresholds, expand outreach to superintendents statewide, and include more schools and student voices in future hearings.