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Parents of Jewish children in Oakland public schools have started to organize in hopes of heading off a potential school board resolution condemning Israel in its current war with Hamas.

“The big action step that we’re asking everyone to take right now is to contact your school board representative and to ask them not to pass [a] resolution,” said a Jewish parent who helped run an online meeting with about 100 parents and several teachers on Wednesday night.

Their meeting followed the release of a public statement on Friday from the executive board of the Oakland Education Association, the teachers union, that condemned Israel.

The parents, however, were looking ahead and responding to the possibility that the Oakland Unified School District board might adopt a public statement — similar to the teachers union statement or recent resolution adopted Oct. 25 by the Richmond City Council — that could make Jewish children feel unsafe in school.

The Oaklandside reported that board president Mike Hutchinson said he expects the board to bring forward a resolution on Nov. 8.

“Our concern is that it’ll be divisive, and then it will continue to create more antisemitic and hate incidents on campus,” the parent said.

The Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and hostage-taking and Israel’s subsequent war and bombing campaign in Gaza have ignited antisemitism both worldwide and close to home, including on Bay Area campuses. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. are up nearly 400% since Oct. 7, compared with the same period a year ago.

It’ll be divisive and will continue to create more antisemitic and hate incidents on campus.

The Oakland Education Association’s statement on Friday upset many Jewish families and Israel supporters, as well as some union members who said they hadn’t been consulted.

One teacher attending Wednesday’s meeting, who identified herself as a union member, said she had reached a member of the union’s executive board who acknowledged that protocol wasn’t followed for the statement, which condemned the “75 year long illegal military occupation of Palestine.” The statement was released without the approval or knowledge of regular union membership, the teacher said.

“And they know that, and they know that harm was done,” she said.

Regarding the possible school board resolution on Israel and Gaza, Adriana Lombard, director of public education at the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, told parents at the meeting that a resolution introduced on Nov. 8 could be voted on after the Thanksgiving break.  

According to the Oaklandside, at the Oct. 24 meeting student members of the school board asked for more education in classrooms about the Israel-Palestine issue, noting: “We must engage in inspiring conversations and work against the oppression of Palestinians, Arab, and Muslim communities. No person, religion, race, or nation is above the other.”

The students also handed out a book that accuses Israel of “settler colonial conquest.”

“JCRC’s position is that school boards and city councils — that’s not necessarily the place for some of those conversations about international politics and things like that,” Lombard told the parents. “And not only is it not the place, but also those people aren’t the experts on it.”

Parents on the Zoom call organized into groups by school to discuss issues and created a leadership group to coordinate future action. Many seemed relieved to have a game plan.

“You know, having you all step up and organize this and bring so many people together is just amazing,” one parent said. “And such a comfort in itself.”