NYC Jewish school leaders boycott, call for resignations after ‘antisemitic’ conference

After a recent National Association of Independent Schools conference devolved into a “festival of Jew hate,” Jewish leaders are boycotting future events and calling on its board to resign.

Earlier this month, the NAIS — an organization of 1,300 private schools that includes the posh Dalton, Brearley and Collegiate schools in NYC as well as 60 Jewish day schools — held its annual People of Color Conference for educators, alongside its Student Diversity Leadership Conference.

Approximately 8,000 adults and adults from schools across the country attended.

Dalton sent a delegation of 48 administrators, faculty and staff, according to its website, some of whom even led workshops there.

But keynote speakers Dr. Suzanne Barakat and Ruha Benjamin were accused of using their platform to spew antisemitism, accusing Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and downplaying the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.

OESIS, a network of teachers from over 600 independent schools, is now calling for the POCC to be canceled.

“It’s a breeding ground for hate and division,” its president, Sanje Ratnavale, wrote in a scathing letter to NAIS President Debra Wilson.

He also called for the NAIS board to resign after keynote speakers gave tirades accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

“They deserve to be called to account in front of Congress just like the College Presidents,” he said.

Meanwhile, the head of a Jewish NAIS school in Los Angeles has vowed not to attend the upcoming February leadership conference, Thrive.

“While [the POCC] conference was meant to be a forum for valuable conversation on how to be inclusive, the reality is that unfortunately, several speakers used their time to accuse Israel of genocide and used extreme, biased anti-Israel rhetoric, including downplaying the Hamas terrorist attack,” Tami Weiser, head of the Wise School, wrote in an email to the school community.

“As our head of school, I will send a personal letter to NAIS and have made the decision not to attend (along with any members of our administrative team) their upcoming leadership conference,” she added.

Teachers at NAIS member schools are looking toward the Thrive conference as an opportunity for the organization to make up for this month’s hateful event.

“It would be a great opportunity to have a speaker with a different perspective, on antisemitism in the post Oct. 7 world,” said Sirida Graham Terk, a teacher and diversity and inclusion coordinator who attended the conference.

“A perspective from someone who is Israeli or Jewish or works at a Jewish day school to give their side of what was presented through such a narrow lens,” she said.

A coalition of parent and Jewish groups including JewsInSchool and the Israel-American Civic Action Network are calling on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to investigate the NAIS.

“Jewish students deserve to be safe, and we as parents demand that our tuition not be used towards propagating hate while also disqualifying Jewish voices,” the groups wrote in a petition.

“We are urgently requesting your help in understanding how the long tentacles of NAIS has grabbed hold of our private schools, our voices, and our tuition,” it added.