Under the rules and the laws, if parents contact a school district and the school district doesn't respond, the plaintiffs have the right to file a complaint with the State Superintendent's office, OSPI. OSPI can't really do anything unless they receive a complaint with evidence that they contacted the school district. Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a zoom meeting that OSPI can investigate complaints about conduct enforcement in the schools and about certificated teachers. The OSPI doesn't have power over non-certificated non-employees, such as consultants.
There is a web of state laws that have taken power and responsibility out of OSPI and transferred it to the State Board of Education, the PESB and various committees.
Thank you Emily and Linda for this quite a timely article.
I would suggest that the current form of Jew hatred goes back much further than 2016, Our American Universities have been pushing this for over two decades. Just look at the past few years at our own UW Jewish Studies / Jackson School programs for some context. It's less about not caring than it is about pushing this awful hateful agenda.
In K-12, where do you think grade school kids come up with this hatred? Just look at the next PTA and parent conference meetings.
Rather than wring our hands there is one practical thing we can do as early as Nov. Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal and Attorney General Bob Ferguson are on the ballot. Ferguson has been ignoring this issue for his entire 2 terms as AG and now wants to ignore it as Governor. And Rykdal is seeking another term. What they do matters way more than their lip service. Let them know this will sway the way you vote.
And by the way...the Chair of the State Senate Committee on Education is our own Lisa Wellman. I am always amazed that when we bring these issues up to her...she always seems surprised, but she promises to look into it.
We had a grassroots call with Chris. I encourage you talk to him. I think he is in more agreement than you think. He viewed the school incidents as in violation of the rules. But his office can do something only if the parents or students file a complaint. His office can't investigate consultants and contractors. There is also a series of RCWs that take authority away from OSPI and spread it out into various boards and commissions. Listen to the September 5 meeting of the State Board of Education on TVW. They voted to make a budget request that moves even more out of OSPI and to the Borad of Education and various unspecified other committees. Chris Reykdal wasn't at the meeting, where they voted by a large margin to tale authority away from his office in the budget request. Right now education policy is not centralized, and is spread out over a range of boards, commissions and consultants. This is the mess that people concerned about antisemitism are up against. That is definitely a question for Bob Ferguson. He is not antisemitic. He has run the AGs office based on the need to win settlements and fund the state government because of regressive tax system that doesn't include an income tax. Chris said on the zoom call that he generally opposes an increase in graduation requirements. He favors a decrease in favor of electives. Students should have a choice of electives based on school needs. The State Board of Education is embarking on its biennial evaluation of graduation requirements, and they are looking at increases. We have the right to testify at their meetings and send them e-mail testimony in favor of reducing the number of requirements and other issues. They created a matrix stating in their strategic plan saying that the schools must support student well-being and a supportive learning environment. It is one of their foundational priorities. Numerous people need to watch this process over the next few weeks and months and look at the bills they introduce into the legislature. *** One thing our community lacks is the presence of lawyers, not from the formal organizations which don't represent us individuals, who are able to represent Jews, or a legal organization specifically designed to actually represent Jews who experience antisemitism or discrimination. The Muslim community has legal organizations locally and nationally to represent individuals. I would recommend that people send communications to the State Board of Education and publicize the issue of opposing an increase in graduation requirements and, instead, lowering the number of graduation requirements, which is Chris' opinion. This doesn't make it a specifically Jewish issue. There are numerous reasons why people want more school choice, and it could exist if the public communicates in favor of it. The content of ethnic studies is another area discussed at the end of the Sept 5 meeting. I encourage as many people as possible to get together and have these conversations with candidates rather than make assumptions.
I did not imply by any stretch that Bob Ferguson has any animus toward Jews, he was just not effective "in this specific area" as he could be. Same holds for Reykdal. The buck has to stop somewhere. BTW Stand With Us can help with legal matters. By all means let's have more meetings. They seem very responsive.
The buck stops with any parents or students who didn't file a complaint with his office if the school district did not resolve their problem. Those who hold public office can't just step in and do whatever they want. Their jobs are very regulated. And over the decades, the role of the OSPI has been shrunk by means of new state laws, and on September 5 at the State Board of Education meeting, they voted to move even more authority onto separate committees that are not part of the OSPI. The buck also stops with our local Jewish organizations and leaders who do not stand up for us and who don't engage in all-inclusive grass-roots community organizing. Taking down Chris Reykdal as superintendent could make the problems much worse, rather than better. When the other side has hundreds of people sending messages to elected officials, then our community has to do better at building our own inclusive and effective community. Our community needs to have at least 1000 people willing and able to serve on all kinds of local boards and commissions, including education, not just a few people. Especially the middle aged and younger generation. Stand With US is doing a great job on some legal matters. No mainstream Jewish organization did anything for me when antisemitic comments were made in a video played at a King County commission meeting in 2022. Zero. A Muslim would have received support from their community if they had complained. In fact, the ADL and JF send a formal letter stating that they don't represent the person. They wrote that a community member made "allegations" and that the "allegations" could not be proven. The fact was that I didn't make allegations. I asked them for help in mediating the issue and coming to an understanding. Also, there weren't any allegations and there was proof of everything. Everything was on video, zoom chat records and e-mail. Also the letter was sent by them to the county without my knowledge beforehand, and without my consent. They made everything escalate from bad to worse. They made things worse. We can't control what others do. Sometimes we can convince others of something. But we have control over what we do, and our community is failing in all-inclusive, grassroots community organizing. I need a lawyer now, not because of an individual experience, but because of some ordinances that are about to passed, and there is no organization locally that seems to be able to offer this.
The door is always open for the ADL and JF to care about what happened to me and represent me and obtain a positive outcome, but they have never taken it. The door is always open to the ADL and JF to correct what they did to me and stand up for my right to serve on a board and commission, whose work I supported, without having to listen to hostile comments about the Holocaust in a video in a county commission meeting.
The UW Board of Regents is now permitting loud and disruptive expressions of antisemitism at its own meetings. They are essentially promising us that however bad the 2023-2024 academic year was, the 2024-2025 academic year will be worse.
Just found this in the Open Public Meetings Act. Wonder if the Regents will use it.
RCW 42.30.050
Interruptions—Procedure.
In the event that any meeting is interrupted by a group or groups of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible and order cannot be restored by the removal of individuals who are interrupting the meeting, the members of the governing body conducting the meeting may order the meeting room cleared and continue in session or may adjourn the meeting and reconvene at another location selected by majority vote of the members. In such a session, final disposition may be taken only on matters appearing on the agenda. Representatives of the press or other news media, except those participating in the disturbance, shall be allowed to attend any session held pursuant to this section. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the governing body from establishing a procedure for readmitting an individual or individuals not responsible for disturbing the orderly conduct of the meeting. Nothing in this section prohibits the governing body from stopping people from speaking to the governing body when not recognized by the governing body to speak.
Voting Republican and thereby seriously and severely damaging the lives of American Jews who aren't wealthy with respect to US domestic policy is not a substitute for the time-consuming and hard work of filing complaints, making phone calls to elected officials, applying to and serving on boards and commissions, effective and all-inclusive Jewish community organizing and the studies and work it entails to dispute and refute misinformation.
Under the rules and the laws, if parents contact a school district and the school district doesn't respond, the plaintiffs have the right to file a complaint with the State Superintendent's office, OSPI. OSPI can't really do anything unless they receive a complaint with evidence that they contacted the school district. Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a zoom meeting that OSPI can investigate complaints about conduct enforcement in the schools and about certificated teachers. The OSPI doesn't have power over non-certificated non-employees, such as consultants.
There is a web of state laws that have taken power and responsibility out of OSPI and transferred it to the State Board of Education, the PESB and various committees.
Thank you Emily and Linda for this quite a timely article.
I would suggest that the current form of Jew hatred goes back much further than 2016, Our American Universities have been pushing this for over two decades. Just look at the past few years at our own UW Jewish Studies / Jackson School programs for some context. It's less about not caring than it is about pushing this awful hateful agenda.
In K-12, where do you think grade school kids come up with this hatred? Just look at the next PTA and parent conference meetings.
Rather than wring our hands there is one practical thing we can do as early as Nov. Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal and Attorney General Bob Ferguson are on the ballot. Ferguson has been ignoring this issue for his entire 2 terms as AG and now wants to ignore it as Governor. And Rykdal is seeking another term. What they do matters way more than their lip service. Let them know this will sway the way you vote.
And by the way...the Chair of the State Senate Committee on Education is our own Lisa Wellman. I am always amazed that when we bring these issues up to her...she always seems surprised, but she promises to look into it.
Sorry folks this is not business as usual.
We had a grassroots call with Chris. I encourage you talk to him. I think he is in more agreement than you think. He viewed the school incidents as in violation of the rules. But his office can do something only if the parents or students file a complaint. His office can't investigate consultants and contractors. There is also a series of RCWs that take authority away from OSPI and spread it out into various boards and commissions. Listen to the September 5 meeting of the State Board of Education on TVW. They voted to make a budget request that moves even more out of OSPI and to the Borad of Education and various unspecified other committees. Chris Reykdal wasn't at the meeting, where they voted by a large margin to tale authority away from his office in the budget request. Right now education policy is not centralized, and is spread out over a range of boards, commissions and consultants. This is the mess that people concerned about antisemitism are up against. That is definitely a question for Bob Ferguson. He is not antisemitic. He has run the AGs office based on the need to win settlements and fund the state government because of regressive tax system that doesn't include an income tax. Chris said on the zoom call that he generally opposes an increase in graduation requirements. He favors a decrease in favor of electives. Students should have a choice of electives based on school needs. The State Board of Education is embarking on its biennial evaluation of graduation requirements, and they are looking at increases. We have the right to testify at their meetings and send them e-mail testimony in favor of reducing the number of requirements and other issues. They created a matrix stating in their strategic plan saying that the schools must support student well-being and a supportive learning environment. It is one of their foundational priorities. Numerous people need to watch this process over the next few weeks and months and look at the bills they introduce into the legislature. *** One thing our community lacks is the presence of lawyers, not from the formal organizations which don't represent us individuals, who are able to represent Jews, or a legal organization specifically designed to actually represent Jews who experience antisemitism or discrimination. The Muslim community has legal organizations locally and nationally to represent individuals. I would recommend that people send communications to the State Board of Education and publicize the issue of opposing an increase in graduation requirements and, instead, lowering the number of graduation requirements, which is Chris' opinion. This doesn't make it a specifically Jewish issue. There are numerous reasons why people want more school choice, and it could exist if the public communicates in favor of it. The content of ethnic studies is another area discussed at the end of the Sept 5 meeting. I encourage as many people as possible to get together and have these conversations with candidates rather than make assumptions.
I did not imply by any stretch that Bob Ferguson has any animus toward Jews, he was just not effective "in this specific area" as he could be. Same holds for Reykdal. The buck has to stop somewhere. BTW Stand With Us can help with legal matters. By all means let's have more meetings. They seem very responsive.
The buck stops with any parents or students who didn't file a complaint with his office if the school district did not resolve their problem. Those who hold public office can't just step in and do whatever they want. Their jobs are very regulated. And over the decades, the role of the OSPI has been shrunk by means of new state laws, and on September 5 at the State Board of Education meeting, they voted to move even more authority onto separate committees that are not part of the OSPI. The buck also stops with our local Jewish organizations and leaders who do not stand up for us and who don't engage in all-inclusive grass-roots community organizing. Taking down Chris Reykdal as superintendent could make the problems much worse, rather than better. When the other side has hundreds of people sending messages to elected officials, then our community has to do better at building our own inclusive and effective community. Our community needs to have at least 1000 people willing and able to serve on all kinds of local boards and commissions, including education, not just a few people. Especially the middle aged and younger generation. Stand With US is doing a great job on some legal matters. No mainstream Jewish organization did anything for me when antisemitic comments were made in a video played at a King County commission meeting in 2022. Zero. A Muslim would have received support from their community if they had complained. In fact, the ADL and JF send a formal letter stating that they don't represent the person. They wrote that a community member made "allegations" and that the "allegations" could not be proven. The fact was that I didn't make allegations. I asked them for help in mediating the issue and coming to an understanding. Also, there weren't any allegations and there was proof of everything. Everything was on video, zoom chat records and e-mail. Also the letter was sent by them to the county without my knowledge beforehand, and without my consent. They made everything escalate from bad to worse. They made things worse. We can't control what others do. Sometimes we can convince others of something. But we have control over what we do, and our community is failing in all-inclusive, grassroots community organizing. I need a lawyer now, not because of an individual experience, but because of some ordinances that are about to passed, and there is no organization locally that seems to be able to offer this.
The door is always open for the ADL and JF to care about what happened to me and represent me and obtain a positive outcome, but they have never taken it. The door is always open to the ADL and JF to correct what they did to me and stand up for my right to serve on a board and commission, whose work I supported, without having to listen to hostile comments about the Holocaust in a video in a county commission meeting.
The UW Board of Regents is now permitting loud and disruptive expressions of antisemitism at its own meetings. They are essentially promising us that however bad the 2023-2024 academic year was, the 2024-2025 academic year will be worse.
Just found this in the Open Public Meetings Act. Wonder if the Regents will use it.
RCW 42.30.050
Interruptions—Procedure.
In the event that any meeting is interrupted by a group or groups of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible and order cannot be restored by the removal of individuals who are interrupting the meeting, the members of the governing body conducting the meeting may order the meeting room cleared and continue in session or may adjourn the meeting and reconvene at another location selected by majority vote of the members. In such a session, final disposition may be taken only on matters appearing on the agenda. Representatives of the press or other news media, except those participating in the disturbance, shall be allowed to attend any session held pursuant to this section. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the governing body from establishing a procedure for readmitting an individual or individuals not responsible for disturbing the orderly conduct of the meeting. Nothing in this section prohibits the governing body from stopping people from speaking to the governing body when not recognized by the governing body to speak.
[ 2022 c 115 s 7; 1971 ex.s. c 250 s 5.]
Voting Republican and thereby seriously and severely damaging the lives of American Jews who aren't wealthy with respect to US domestic policy is not a substitute for the time-consuming and hard work of filing complaints, making phone calls to elected officials, applying to and serving on boards and commissions, effective and all-inclusive Jewish community organizing and the studies and work it entails to dispute and refute misinformation.
Oh my goodness! Thanks for this reporting, Linda and Emily! My fiancée is due for a new semester at UW soon and this is alarming to us.