In our increasingly polarized society, antisemitism is unfortunately flourishing – even on high school campuses. In February, I wrote an article, “Hope for a Brighter Future at Pali High,” about how Palisades Charter High School, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, was responding to the many acts of antisemitism on our campus. I described how our high school administration ultimately agreed to partner with the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in an educational training program designed to reduce antisemitism and discrimination on campus.
I am pleased to report that my hope for a brighter future at Pali High was not just a dream, but is on the way to becoming a reality.
Pali High is certainly not alone in the fact that its Jewish students and faculty have experienced antisemitic incidents. But Pali High has been unique in its response, driven by a few highly motivated students and faculty and a progressive school administration that genuinely wants to improve the campus climate. I am pleased to report that my hope for a brighter future at Pali High was not just a dream, but is on the way to becoming a reality. This has been achieved due to the courageous leadership of the high school’s principal, Dr. Pamela Magee, and her supportive administrative team that includes the school’s Diversity Director.
In recent years, Pali High has been defaced multiple times with swastikas and anti-Jewish imagery. Jewish students have been subjected to antisemitic comments and slurs from some of the faculty and other students who don’t seem to understand what it means to respect another’s identity. One faculty member made a horrific comment in class that Kanye West was right to praise Hitler. And another denied Jewish students the right to participate in a diversity program on campus because “Jews don’t experience discrimination in America.” Really? These antisemitic incidents underscored the reality that at least some of our faculty and staff were seriously misinformed about Jewish history and antisemitism and needed professional education about diversity, inclusion, and tolerance.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance seemed to be the answer, so we arranged for the Simon Wiesenthal Center to curate a program for the school’s faculty and staff to oppose racism, bigotry, discrimination, and antisemitism. Over the past three months, groups of 25 Pali High faculty and staff have been bussed every week from campus to the Museum of Tolerance for all-day training sessions about the dangers from all forms of bigotry and discrimination. Michael Mashbaum, a faculty member who stood up against the antisemitism on our campus and was instrumental in helping to launch this program, recently participated in one of those training sessions. He shared with me his deep appreciation for what Pali High has done, which will benefit students for years to come. He told me how proud he was that our high school has lived up to its reputation as an inclusive institution that truly values the diversity and personal histories of all students and faculty.
Remarkably, all 200 Pali High faculty and staff, including security guards, kitchen staff, and the janitorial team, have now attended a full day of training at the Museum of Tolerance. Next month, a Wiesenthal Center program facilitator will come to campus to recap the training sessions and reinforce the lessons learned. Pali High has embraced this powerful educational initiative and plans to continue the programs into the next school year. The school administration is committed to ensuring that our faculty and staff are properly trained in matters of antisemitism and the Holocaust, racism, xenophobia, and all other forms of intolerance.
As the Jewish students’ representative to our high school’s Justice League, I can confirm that it was the unique combination of respectful advocacy by Jewish student leaders and a concerned faculty member that led our school administration to launch this program to educate our educators about antisemitism and intolerance, which will be a positive force for good on campus. This pioneering program is the first of its kind in the Los Angeles public school system, and I call upon the LAUSD Board and all community leaders to applaud the Pali High administration for implementing this important educational program.
I believe that Palisades Charter High School will serve as a shining example that inspires other schools to embrace similar programs to substantially improve the climate on campus for all students, and I know we will have a brighter future because of it.
Joseph J. Karlan is a graduating Senior at Pali High/
