Jewish families at Prospect Sierra, a politically progressive, private school in the East Bay, were taken aback earlier this school year when the middle school’s annual overnight trip to a Jewish summer camp became a flashpoint for fierce debates about Israel.
Starting in May 2023, the El Cerrito school began bringing students in seventh and eighth grades on a four-day trip to Camp Tawonga, the century-old Jewish summer camp near Yosemite National Park. The tradition continued two more times, most recently in October 2025.
During these ecology-focused trips, students slept in Tawonga’s cabins, hiked through trails, tie-dyed T-shirts, performed in plays and learned to play gaga, Israeli dodgeball. Nights were spent around cozy campfires, according to the school website and Facebook posts.
Last fall, as preparations were in motion, there was pushback from a group of middle-school families who objected to the school’s use of the Tawonga site and petitioned organizers for a new location.
It wasn’t the gaga that upset them.
During its summer sessions, Tawonga employs shlichim (emissaries), Israeli young adults who work as camp counselors and share aspects of Israeli culture and identity with campers. Many are fresh out of their military duty. The camp also welcomes Israeli campers. In early 2024, when Tawonga faced pressure from campers, parents and staff to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the camp leadership abstained from making any political statement about the war.
Despite parent and student complaints, the October trip to Tawonga went forward as planned, though some families reportedly kept their kids home, and some faculty opted out of the trip, too.
The outcry from families about the school’s relationship with Tawonga grew more intense in the months that followed. In January, senior administrators at the 450-student school issued a message to all seventh- and eighth-grade families, saying Prospect Sierra had decided to end its relationship with Tawonga and had found a new site for next year.
The school also determined that use of the Tawonga site had a negative impact on students’ “identity safety,” which it defined as “the sense of belonging and security necessary to fully engage in a learning experience.”
“We recognize that the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Israel and Gaza weigh heavily on many members of our community,” Prospect Sierra head of school Nisa Frank wrote in the message. The letter was co-signed by Nathan Tanaka, head of the middle school.
“While we have valued our partnership and values alignment with Camp Tawonga, and have shared many joyful moments there over the last three years, we believe it is vital to listen to and respect the lived experiences of our students,” they added.
Ever since, Jewish families have been at odds with senior administrators, saying the decision was not consistent with the school’s policies and values and may even have been antisemitic. Frank responded to those issues in another email. “We also recognize that our message has raised concerns about antisemitism, and we want to be clear that discrimination towards Jewish people has no place in our community,” she wrote.
Equity, inclusion and “amplifying underrepresented voices” are at the core of Prospect Sierra’s philosophy, the website states. The school has embraced the Black Lives Matter movement, recommending books for students and families on “white supremacy culture” and anti-racism. “Our expectation is that everyone is engaging in the national conversation to understand the history of racialized violence,” the webpage says.
Students of color make up 65% of the student body in grades TK-8. Middle-school tuition is $42,850, and one in three families receives tuition assistance, according to the school’s website.
Frank declined J’.s request for comment.
Becca Meyer, Tawonga’s longtime chief program officer who left on March 1 to take a position at the Foundation for Jewish Camp, is a parent of two Prospect Sierra students. She serves on its board and facilitated at least one of the visits to Tawonga. Meyer declined to speak with J. about the school’s decision.
This case isn’t unique to one school or camp. It reflects the way in which the social fabric of a tight-knit and inclusive community can unravel over the topic of Israel. It has led to polarization in many parts of the Bay Area since Oct. 7, 2023, and raised serious questions about Jewish belonging and the meaning of Zionism.
The Jewish CEO of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Sara Fenske Bahat, resigned from her position in March 2024 after she found herself on the receiving end of “vitriolic and antisemitic backlash” from activists who demanded that the museum remove Zionists from its board and support a boycott of Israel.
Zahava Feldstein, a Jewish Ph.D. student at Stanford, left her program in 2024 and filed a civil rights complaint against the university, alleging that her classmates and professor harassed her repeatedly over her presumed connection to Israel.
In Bolinas, the picturesque beach town of under 2,000 in Marin County, progressive politics and inclusivity are hallmarks of the town’s ethos. J. reported that once the war began, graffiti and fliers appeared around town, implying that Zionists and Israel supporters were guilty by association of Palestinian genocide. Many among the small Jewish population said they felt isolated and ostracized.
In the summer of 2024, Israeli musician Adam Flam was hired but later denied a job as a returning counselor at Jam Camp West, an idyllic music camp in the redwoods of San Mateo County. A J. investigation published in October of that year found that Flam’s service in the Israeli military was the main reason for the decision.
In Prospect Sierra’s case, the administration has tried to make amends.
Following its decision about cutting ties with Tawonga, head of school Frank enlisted the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area to facilitate a March workshop for the administration and board on Jewish cultural literacy and antisemitism.
Allison Barnes, JCRC’s assistant director of public education, confirmed the training and said support for Jewish families at the school is ongoing.
“JCRC has been actively engaged with the Prospect Sierra community, listening to and amplifying concerns from Jewish families and advising school leadership on support strategies and policy evaluation,” she wrote to J.
Frank also invited families to join her and board chair Markus Mullarkey in a listening session on March 16 facilitated by Dorit Price-Levine, a licensed mediator.
Frank outlined a plan to continue the repair process throughout the summer and next year. She wrote to parents that she would undertake a review of the school’s anti-discrimination policies and create structures that maintain consistency.
That wasn’t enough for a group of Jewish parents who discussed the outcomes of the March listening session in an internal email, shared with J., where they expressed their dissatisfaction and frustration and talked about leaving the school.
“During the repair process, the same arguments conflating Tawonga and the Middle East war have been reintroduced: expressions of discomfort with Jewish-identified and Israeli-identified spaces and symbols, of concern about Tawonga’s relationship to Israel, and of Tawonga itself for not taking a public position on a ceasefire, though Prospect Sierra itself has no such policy,” one Jewish parent wrote to others.
“Prospect Sierra has built much of its core curriculum around the principle that communities should not be held responsible for the actions of governments. The Tawonga decision applied that principle in reverse,” the email continued.
Tawonga’s interim CEO Ryley Katz said in an emailed statement to J. on April 13 that she empathized with the Jewish families at Prospect Sierra who feel harmed by the decision.
“We were also saddened and disappointed by the school’s stated reasoning not to return,” Katz wrote. “Tawonga has long been a place where campers connect to nature and Jewish community, as well as one where families of all backgrounds are welcomed. Should Prospect Sierra wish to come back to Tawonga in the future, our gates are open.”