Missed Holidays and Missed Marks in PPS’ Interactions with the Jewish Community

On Sept. 30, we were involved in the discovery and reporting of a swastika found in a bathroom at Franklin. There was a quick and procedural intake, in which the size and location of the swastika were relayed to the principal by one of our non-Jewish friends, who had originally found it. Franklin students and families were informed of the event the next day via ParentSquare. Throughout this process, we were struck by the lack of depth in Franklin’s response and the limited support offered to Jewish students. We felt the impact of hate speech being circulated in our school — which should feel like a safe place to learn — and felt the school’s response addressed it as a matter of routine, not the deeply concerning symbol of hate it was.

Every year of my education, I — Naomi — have missed school for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the most important days in the Jewish faith, known as the High Holidays. I have had to justify and explain my absences to well-meaning but often uninformed teachers. This has placed me in uncomfortable situations where I have been forced to choose between my Judaism and my education — situations my Christian peers do not face. I have regularly dealt with insensitive and blatantly antisemitic comments — from fellow students, teachers, and other adults at school — and at every school I have attended, swastikas have appeared on campus. Throughout our educational careers, we — Easton and Naomi — have consistently felt scared to identify ourselves as Jewish at school, to friends and teachers alike.

In many instances, we, as Jewish students, have felt alienated from our peers because our traditions and identities often cause us to be categorized as “other.” Scheduling decisions made irrespective of Jewish holidays and recurring incidents of hate speech at school have only furthered this separation. This has left Franklin feeling unwelcoming at best and unsafe at worst.

Two years ago, the Franklin Post covered how Portland Interscholastic League athletic events regularly conflicted with Jewish holidays, meaning Jewish student-athletes in Portland Public Schools (PPS) often had to choose between their sport and their faith. These scheduling issues persist today; this year, for example, the cross-country meet held at Franklin, which also included Senior Night, was on Erev Yom Kippur, Oct 1. — similar in significance to Christmas Eve — and there were varsity volleyball games on both Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. These scheduling conflicts extend beyond athletics, impacting students’ experience engaging in Franklin’s community. One example of these ongoing conflicts was an all-school assembly this year on Yom Kippur, marking the second consecutive year there has been an all-school assembly on one of the High Holidays. 

One potential explanation for these conflicts is that the High Holidays are not noted on the PPS calendar found most immediately on their website, the live event calendar, though other religious holidays, including Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr, Diwali, and Easter, are. The official district calendar, a PDF, is linked on the same PPS webpage. This PDF version is sent out to teachers and does note Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but excludes a number of other major Jewish holidays, either from the calendar itself or the list of major religious holidays included below.

While an exhaustive list of all potential holidays that may be celebrated by students of every faith may not be realistic, omitting multiple holidays from every calendar indicates a disregard that should be unacceptable. The potential impacts of recognizing these holidays not only prevents scheduling oversights but also acknowledges Jewish students and educators. There needs to be more effort to ensure the inclusion of major Jewish holidays on every district calendar. 

The creation of the PPS calendar is managed by central district leadership, but the district was unable to make someone available to respond to questions in time for publication. “Identify[ing] major religious and cultural holidays in our community” is the job of the superintendent during the calendar creation, as per PPS board policy on religious and cultural observances. Further, the policy dictates that, “The District and each of its schools should avoid scheduling grade-, school-, or district-wide events (e.g., Back-to-School nights, all-school assemblies, parent-teacher conferences, School Board meetings) on [religious holidays]”; however, such conflicts of assemblies and Jewish holidays have occurred at Franklin on multiple occasions. Franklin’s Student Senate Coordinator, junior Elina Minato, confirms that, “For assemblies, [student government] doesn’t get to pick the date, [school administration does].” In this planning, Franklin principal Dr. Zulema Naegele notes that “we do our best” to avoid scheduling school events on major religious holidays. Based on the conflicts of the last two years, this is not always successful.

Consistently scheduling important school events on these days without recognizing their significance forces Jewish students and families to choose between their education and their faith. At Lincoln High School, the experience of another Jewish student mirrors ours. “It was definitely very difficult for me to decide to come to school [on Yom Kippur], especially because [I was fasting, and] it’s stressful going to school, seeing everybody drinking water and eating,” says junior Stella Meyer. Meyer chose to attend school because she had an important test that day and gets nervous about being absent.

We have frequently missed tests, presentations, and other important content on the High Holidays. Naegele says that the Franklin administration does ask teachers to look at the calendar and not schedule tests or presentations on holidays at the beginning of the school year. However, she also notes that no additional communication has been sent to staff to remind them of this year’s holidays. Considering their absence from some official district calendars and lack of communication about holidays, teachers have not been adequately supported in accommodating religious holidays, to the detriment of Jewish students. 

PPS’s overall policy regarding religious and cultural observances falls short in comparison to other districts in our area. The policy of PPS’s neighboring district, Beaverton School District (BSD), regarding religious holidays has far more stringent expectations, creating a better baseline to support students. BSD policy explicitly states that schools will avoid scheduling events on specific holidays, including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and makes a clear distinction between holidays that are more or less significant in different cultures and religions. Most notably in comparison to PPS, BSD not only has explicit “do not schedule” dates but also outlines every Jewish holiday with explanations of the holiday’s customs. PPS’ less detailed policy means teachers at Franklin are not informed of or directly instructed to avoid scheduling conflicts. This lack of an explicit instruction means many teachers are unaware or simply forget, and often do schedule important tests on these days.

Beyond not considering Jewish students enough in scheduling decisions, a lack of education about Jewish culture, coupled with frequent antisemitic jokes and hate speech graffiti, leads to a feeling of alienation. After the most recent graffiti hate speech incident, I — Naomi — have felt scared and unsafe coming to school. 

There have been many incidents of swastikas at Franklin in recent years, with at least four since the 2023-2024 school year and two this year alone. This indicates an emerging pattern; no longer do these incidents feel rare or isolated. After communication with multiple people at the district, a fulfilled public records request provided us with a compiled list of hate speech incidents across PPS in past years. However, this list had stark discrepancies: it reported zero incidents involving swastikas and only two incidents concerning hate speech this school year. After we pointed out these discrepancies to district leadership, they provided a revised list of incidents that reported two swastikas this year and one last year; however, given the initial miscount, we are not confident in the accuracy of this data. Naegele estimated reporting 10 hate speech incidents last year at Franklin alone, of which the majority were swastikas and racial slurs. The level of inaccuracy in the district’s records of Franklin data alone is especially concerning because Naegele said that the Office of Civil Rights, to whom we had reached out, “keep[s] account for the whole district, so that they can look at trends.”  

The repetition of these incidents warrants an evolved procedure to account for the severity of the issue. PPS’ Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppression Learning Communities Bias Incident Complaint Procedure states that the “communication to impacted students must mention the initiation of an investigation and actions taken to prevent reoccurrence.” The communication sent out after the most recent incident did not include any information regarding the actions taken to prevent future incidents.

According to PPS policy, when a hate speech incident occurs, the school administrator will “take immediate action by prioritizing the safety and well-being of all persons impacted and developing a plan to prevent further harm,” and provide everyone impacted with information relating to the investigation. Naegele says that when students come to report incidents to her, “[Franklin administration] makes it open for students to reach out,” but requires students to reach out and ask for help themselves, which we have found to be a difficult process. After finding a swastika in school, we were never given a chance to share our experiences with the administration. We wish we were offered support after finding a symbol of hate that is directly used to target Jewish culture. We were never personally contacted with any additional information regarding the mandatory investigation, additional support, or further steps. 

Additionally, the swastikas were found during the Days of Awe, the 10 days between the two High Holidays, and just one day before Yom Kippur, the holiest Jewish holiday. We believe this timing was not coincidental, and in our interview, Naegele acknowledged the significance of the timing. However, the singular communication sent out regarding the incident, which was composed in coordination with the district office, never mentioned its timing or significance, only furthering the lack of acknowledgment and education of Jewish tradition. PPS policy notes that communications should include “educational components that address the history and impact of hate.” 

The incidents in PPS are reflective of larger worldwide issues and increased antisemitism in America. In the past 10 years, incidents of antisemitic hate speech have risen by 893%, with 9,354 being reported in 2024 alone, marking a sharp and concerning increase. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also reports that of the 812 incidents occurring in K-12 schools reported last year, 52% featured swastikas, and it is safe to assume not all incidents were reported to the ADL, making the true number likely higher. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Teaching Tolerance Project confirms this rise, noting that educators across the country have reported an increase in jokes about the Holocaust and Holocaust denial from students.  

In recent years, we have observed a notable increase in casual jokes about Nazis and the Holocaust. After speaking with other Jewish students and peers, we know that these are shared experiences. Meyer notes that she frequently hears her peers joking about antisemitism, even to the extent of a friend drawing swastikas on her schoolwork, only to finish the drawing by turning it into a drawing of a window. Desensitization to violence and hate has become commonplace in our generation, with research from the Youth Endowment Fund finding that 70% of teens witness real-life violence on social media. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that exposure to such violence has been linked with emotional desensitization, and many young people have become desensitized to atrocities and hate speech because of their frequent discussion online and in the news. The lack of education many of our peers have regarding what is and isn’t appropriate to joke about is jarring and upsetting; it is unacceptable to make light of hate speech and violence. This normalization further serves to isolate Jewish students, who often feel afraid to speak up or share that they are Jewish. In our current global sociopolitical climate, the last thing we should be doing is normalizing symbols of hate.

While drawing a swastika on school grounds is a loud, hateful statement of antisemitism, we feel that even “quieter” actions — such as the absence of Jewish holidays on the district calendar and minimal outreach to support students impacted by hate speech — disaffirm the importance of non-Christian students as members of school communities.

At a time of heightened polarization in the United States, normalizing antisemitic incidents and jokes makes Jewish students feel isolated and unsafe. In fact, as Jewish students, we were hesitant to publish this article and questioned our safety in doing so. Recent antisemetic attacks worldwide such as the fatal attack in the UK on Yom Kippur and massacre in Sydney, Australia on the first night of Hanukkah are fresh reminders of how present antisemitism is in our world. Every time we feel comfortable in our identities another tragic, disgusting, antisemetic incident occurs that rekindles our ever present fear — often on holidays, when we should be celebrating our culture without having to worry about being killed for it.  We know that the most powerful tool we have to create change is our voices, but we struggle to call for change in an environment where we feel neither our voices nor our identities are valued or supported. We are scared of being targeted for our opinions and for speaking out. As practicing Jews in a school, city, state, and country where we are by far the minority and there is rampant misinformation and ignorance, we feel targeted, silenced, and afraid.

In order for this to change, there are many steps, starting small, that we can take at Franklin. We would like to see PPS and Franklin repeatedly communicate upcoming holidays to teachers, therefore limiting the amount of critical content scheduled for those days. In addition to increased communication, the value of education that includes Jewish culture and other minority ethnoreligions cannot be overstated. We would like Franklin to increase multicultural education, because when people are more educated about cultures other than their own, they are far more likely to consider alternate perspectives and be understanding of different experiences. This could potentially be implemented by incorporating more multicultural education into history classes and supporting heritage month events. We also hope that PPS will require education for both students and staff members concerning the history and impact of hate symbols and diverse religions and ethnicities, in response to the misuse of these symbols.

Franklin leadership should reach out to students and staff who have witnessed hate speech with support, instead of waiting for them to reach out. Ways to do this include implementing tools such as Wellcheq — a free program for schools with daily check-ins that help support staff identify which students need support without them needing to reach out — and will allow Franklin staff to have a better grasp on the well-being of individual students, and know how and when to check in and offer help. 

It is frustrating and disappointing that we, as Jewish teenagers, are the ones raising this issue, as we do not feel it should be our responsibility as students to teach the adults in charge to give Jewish students basic consideration. However, in doing so, we hope that those in positions of leadership can make the necessary changes to benefit everyone in our school community. PPS and Franklin must work to ensure students of all religious and cultural backgrounds feel safe and supported. It is imperative that we work to increase knowledge of Jewish holidays for staff and leadership, and condemn incidents of hate speech with appropriate action. Only by doing so can we create a community where everyone feels safe, welcomed, and included.