With eyes on several high-profile races across the country featuring candidates antagonistic to Jewish interests, activists in one of the most progressive parts of the country are raising the alarm on local seats that act as a “rung on a ladder” to higher office, saying the problems the Jewish community face “start further upstream.”

The Kids Table, a new PAC in Washington state supporting “pro-Jewish candidates” and led by “Millennials and moms, public affairs experts and gymnastics dads,” unveiled a slate of endorsements this month in races for the board of directors of Seattle Public Schools, a school district that has seen several major antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and subsequent rise of antisemitism across the country, including in K-12 classrooms, amid the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.

“We need help in the school districts now,” Sam Jefferies, co-chair of The Kids Table, told Jewish Insider. “We also know that school boards can be a rung on a ladder as [candidates] seek higher office, and we want to make sure that we are building relationships with them early, providing them critical context and education around our issues, and then carry that forward, whether it’s on the school board or elsewhere.”

The district’s board of directors, a nonpartisan elected body of seven citizens who serve four-year terms and represent regions in the district, manages a more than $1 billion budget and has responsibilities including establishing policies for governing the district, adopting instructional materials and overseeing the hiring of a new superintendent, a process currently underway.

“Seattle Public School is the largest school district in the state, and so from my standpoint, SPS, in many ways, sets the tone or has influence over education, education policy, implementation that shows up in many other school districts around the state,” Jefferies said. “For all the attention paid to campus and other spaces, the problems start further upstream. Students are facing hostile environments, teachers are not held accountable and school boards can claim ignorance.”

One Jewish family is suing the district over claims that it failed to respond to antisemitic harassment their daughter experienced that started shortly after Oct. 7 and eventually led her to leave Nathan Hale High School, including an incident in May 2024 where 20 students allegedly tried to assault her before a teacher locked her in a classroom for protection.

This month, SPS walkouts by students protesting the war in Gaza shortly before the ceasefire was enacted included the burning of Israeli flags and signs reading “Power grows from the barrel of a gun” and “Long Live Operational Al Aqsa Flood,” referencing Hamas’ name for the Oct. 7 attacks. 

In another incident, the chair of the social studies department at an SPS high school was placed on paid administrative leave for a year over a video in which he questioned the validity of accusations of sexual violence by Hamas on Oct. 7 and said, in reference to women being killed at the Nova Music Festival, “I think resistance against Israel is justified.” He was eventually terminated at the end of the last academic year.

Aviad Benzikry, an SPS parent and board member of The Kids Table, told JI, “Every Jewish parent I talk to is worried about antisemitism in schools. We feel placated and patronized when we bring it up. Of course we see it explicitly — swastikas and pro-Hamas walkouts — but the quiet antisemitism we don’t see is even scarier.”

One of The Kids Table’s endorsees, Sarah Clark, who is running for the first time after being appointed to her seat on the SPS board, said that she was “appalled to learn of the allegations of antisemitic threats and bullying at Nathan Hale. … School officials, administrators, and security staff are obligated by school board policy and state law, to investigate and act decisively to protect students from harm. That did not happen in this case, which is unacceptable.”

The other two candidates on the slate of endorsees are Vivian Song and Carol Rava. Rava said her father is “an Italian Jew who, with his parents and younger sister, fled fascist Italy during WWII,” and therefore antisemitism “is not an existential concept to me, it is personal and very real.”

The Kids Table also endorsed candidates in several other Washington state races, including the high-profile Seattle mayor’s race, where Mayor Bruce Harrell, a Democrat, is trailing in his reelection behind self-proclaimed socialist Katie Wilson, whom Jewish leaders in the area have voiced concern over. 

In its voter guide, published earlier this month, the advocacy group endorsed Harrell with an asterisk next to his name, which read, “Mayor Harrell has failed to demonstrate moral leadership at a time of crisis for the community, including when ‘kill your local colonizer’ was spray painted on statues at the mayor’s alma mater [the University of Washington], with zero comment from his office. Still, Wilson’s candidacy, alliances with anti-Jewish figures and organizations, and lack of engagement would be much, much worse.”