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Updated at 9:03 a.m., Aug. 24

As children head back to the classroom, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond met virtually Wednesday with Jewish leaders from across the state to discuss ways to combat antisemitism and hatred in schools.

“I think that what we’re seeing now, with you putting this on the agenda, is that we have the spine to be morally courageous on this issue,” Anita Friedman, executive director of S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services, told Thurmond during the meeting.

The livestreamed event was watched by about 350 viewers, according to the Department of Education. Speakers before and after the panel included Jewish politicians: state Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, Josh Becker of Menlo Park and Henry Stern of Calabasas, as well as state Assemblymembers Laura Friedman of Los Angeles and Jesse Gabriel of Encino. Wiener and Gabriel are co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus.

“It is no secret if you are Jewish or if you have Jewish friends or interact with Jewish students or folks in the community, the tremendous levels of anxiety that our community is feeling at this moment [is] really unprecedented for my lifetime,” Gabriel said.

Friedman, whose parents are Holocaust survivors and whose half-siblings and many other family members didn’t survive, spoke about the importance of making sure teachers understand what antisemitism really means.

“It’s not only swastikas and ‘We hate Jews,’” she said. “It’s also negating the Jewish experience.”

Friedman, who co-chairs the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education, advocated for teacher training and what she called a “culturally competent classroom” where differences and similarities are explored and celebrated. She added that Holocaust education has a place in the classroom beyond the story of the Jewish people.

“Holocaust education and genocide education [are] important in terms of teaching the lessons of what happens when people start to be pitted against each other,” she said.

Also on the panel were Rabbi Meyer May, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and Sarah Levin, head of San Rafael-based nonprofit JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa). Steve Zimmer, state deputy schools superintendent, facilitated the event.

Levin concurred with Friedman that teaching a fuller view of the Jewish story is crucial and said that the depiction of Jews is a problem, beyond traditional Aryan supremacy conspiracies.

“Jews are now being labeled as privileged, colonial usurpers in the region that we are indigenous to — as upholders of white supremacy, which is just absolutely ridiculous,” she said.

Asked how he sees antisemitism today, May was blunt.

There are tremendous levels of anxiety that our community is feeling at this moment.

“The trauma today is nothing less than personal security,” the rabbi said. “I can’t go into any synagogue without a guard standing in front.”

A topic that came up repeatedly in the discussion was the state’s model curriculum for ethnic studies that drew sharp criticism when it was first unveiled in 2019.

“The original draft of the curriculum had some despicable language that was just straight-up antisemitic,” Wiener said.

Although the final, approved version was tempered after heavy lobbying from Jewish groups, Wiener said that some school districts are being pressed to use an older draft of the curriculum, putting them “in violation of state law.”

“We are now seeing the people who wrote that antisemitic curriculum — they are now shopping their services, school district by school district, as so-called liberated ethnic studies,” he said.

Wiener challenged Thurmond on the nature of a letter sent to school districts on the subject, while Thurmond pushed back.

“We’ve actually sent numerous letters to school districts reminding them that there are guardrails in law, that ethnic studies should not create anything that might be antisemitic and should not harken back to any previous version of the model curriculum that was not approved,” Thurmond said in response.

Thurmond added that when parents, educators or organizations hear about antisemitism in schools, they should pick up the phone to his office.

“We’d like to get that phone call,” he said.

Friedman noted that antisemitism is more than a problem for Jews and reflects the very fabric of American society — which is something to be worried about.

“It’s a signal, like the canary in the coal mine, that something is not right and needs to be fixed,” Friedman said.