A Jewish high school student in a Washington, D.C., suburb faced a campaign of antisemitic harassment at school, culminating in an anonymous phone call threatening to bomb him followed by fireworks set off outside his home, according to a new federal civil rights complaint accusing Montgomery County Public Schools of failing to protect him from antisemitic harassment.

The Title VI complaint, filed on Monday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleges that the threats and subsequent harassment left the student afraid for his physical safety, causing him to miss class. It asks the federal agency to investigate the district and require reforms, including staff training, revised procedures for handling antisemitism complaints and the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in district policies and training.

According to the complaint, the student faced repeated antisemitic harassment at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md., including being accused of supporting genocide for wearing an Israeli baseball shirt, targeted with demands that classmates shun him as a “Zionist” and told by other students to “go back to 1935.” 

The complaint says that the student received an anonymous phone call saying, “You’re a stupid f**king Zionist Jew, and we are going to bomb you,” followed by fireworks being set off outside his home. His family, faculty members and school staff repeatedly alerted MCPS to the harassment, the complaint alleges. Before transferring to Blair, the student had left Northwood High School after teammates allegedly threw coins at him and told him to “pick it up, Jew,” other students made Hitler salutes and an online message called him a “Jewish freak” and told him to kill himself.

“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 Kenneth Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. 

Last month, more than 40 rabbis and cantors in the county warned in a letter that public school leaders have failed to address a rising tide of antisemitism in local classrooms, urging officials to implement new teacher training and stricter social media rules. 

Incidents in recent months, according to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, include inflammatory anti-Israel messaging at Olney Elementary School’s cultural night; “Heil Hitler” gestures and speech occurring at middle school events; and “physical threats and harassment directed toward Jewish students at multiple schools.” Montgomery County’s public school system is the largest school district in the state and about 10% of the county’s total population is Jewish. 

Thomas Taylor, the superintendent of MCPS, acknowledged that the district needs to do more to combat antisemitism following the letter from Jewish clergy. MCPS told Jewish Insider it was aware of the new complaint but declined to comment. 

Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer of the JCRC, which is not a party to the complaint but has worked with the affected child, said in a statement that the legal action “speaks to the devastating and long-term consequences of antisemitism on children and families — and the considerable work that remains for MCPS to properly address it.” 

“Whatever the outcome of this particular matter, the JCRC will continue to urge MCPS to take immediate and proactive steps, including better teacher and staff training, additional Holocaust and Jewish peer education programs, and stronger enforcement of social media guidelines to ensure that every Jewish child feels safe and protected at school.” 

The complaint also comes as the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a separate racial discrimination case against MCPS made by Asian American families.