The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has filed a federal Title VI complaint on Monday against Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland, alleging that the district failed to protect a visibly Jewish student from severe antisemitic harassment, online targeting, and death threats at Montgomery Blair High School.
The filing follows the US Supreme Court's agreement to hear a separate legal case involving the Maryland school district's magnet middle school admissions policies. That Supreme Court case centers on a challenge to a lottery-based admissions system implemented to boost racial diversity, which critics argue unlawfully discriminates against Asian American applicants.
The Brandeis Center’s complaint outlines an escalating pattern of hostility directed at an Orthodox Jewish senior. Before transferring to Montgomery Blair High School, the student attended Northwood High School, another MCPS facility, where he faced severe antisemitic abuse, including teammates throwing coins at him while telling him to "pick it up, Jew," students making Hitler salutes, and an online message calling him a "Jewish freak" and telling him to kill himself.
After transferring to Blair, he continued to face continuous intimidation. Early on in his time there, he encountered isolated hostility, such as being told to "go back to 1935" by classmates.
'You’re a stupid f***ing Zionist Jew'
The hostility intensified significantly in April this year. While participating in a student-organized game known as "Senior Assassin," he received an anonymous phone call stating, "You’re a stupid f***ing Zionist Jew, and we are going to bomb you." Immediately following the call, fireworks were set off outside his home from a passing car, terrifying the student and his siblings.
Later that month, a student-run Instagram account publicizing post-graduation plans announced that the student intended to study in Israel before attending Yeshiva University. The post drew an influx of Palestinian flags and online accusations accusing him of involvement in "genocide." Rumors then spread through the student body that he was joining the IDF, heightening his safety concerns.
In-person interactions grew similarly hostile. In May, classmates intervened when a friend asked to look at a yearbook, telling the friend, "wait, take it back, he’s a Zionist," and demanding that the friend sever ties and declare support for Palestine. Witnesses reported that students frequently deployed "Zionist" and "Zio" as pejoratives to socially isolate and shun Jewish students.
According to the complaint, school administrators repeatedly minimized the severity of the incidents. The principal allegedly dismissed the social media targeting as "just a flag" and questioned why being called a Zionist was problematic. Although the school implemented minor safety measures, the cumulative intimidation forced the student to reduce his attendance and leave early during his final weeks before graduating in June 2026.
The filing highlights that this case reflects a broader climate of concern across the district. In September, more than 40 local rabbis and cantors issued a public letter warning that MCPS’s inadequate response to antisemitic incidents had normalized hostility and driven Jewish families to withdraw their children.
"School administrators have no justification for failing to respond effectively to antisemitic harassment under their watch. An explicit anti-Jewish bomb threat should leave no doubt about the seriousness of the danger or the urgent need for an effective response from school leadership," said Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, Chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center and the former US Assistant Secretary of Education who ran the Office for Civil Rights during two administrations.
"A Jewish student was threatened with life-threatening violence, accused of genocide, ostracized by his classmates, and ultimately became afraid to attend school, while administrators allegedly treated his harassment as a political disagreement. It is both unfortunate and grimly ironic to see such incidents in a county that has such a robust Jewish community. Montgomery County school officials have an obligation to respond promptly and effectively to antisemitic incidents, just as they must respond to other forms of hate or bias."
"It is deeply concerning that this school district is facing multiple serious civil rights allegations, from racial discrimination in admissions to antisemitic harassment," Marcus added. "It is no coincidence that Montgomery County is attracting national attention for multiple alleged failures to protect different minority groups from discrimination. We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to review the admissions case and hope it brings greater attention to the district’s responsibility to protect the rights of all students."
Brandeis Center pushes for investigation, sweeping corrective actions
The Brandeis Center is asking the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate the district and mandate sweeping corrective actions. Requested remedies include the formal adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, mandatory staff and student training, policy revisions to account for cumulative harassment, and the appointment of an independent outside monitor for five years.
This legal action forms part of a broader nationwide push by the Brandeis Center to address anti-Jewish discrimination across primary and secondary educational institutions. Previous interventions include launching a lawsuit against California’s public school apparatus over widespread student harassment, pursuing litigation against Virginia’s Nysmith School following the purported expulsion of Jewish siblings who flagged bullying, and filing federal civil rights complaints against Georgia’s Fulton County School District.
Additionally, the organization partnered earlier this year with the Anti-Defamation League and Mayer Brown to secure a federal settlement that bolsters anti-discrimination protocols in Massachusetts’ Concord-Carlisle Regional School District.