The now-suspended principal of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School in the Wissahickon School District previously chaired an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee in another Pennsylvania district. By all accounts, he was committed to creating inclusive school environments.
That’s what makes the allegations against him so deeply troubling — and so revealing.
According to reports, the principal left a voicemail for a Jewish family that included antisemitic comments — remarks about “Jew camp,” “Jew money,” claims that Jews “control the banks,” and assumptions about the parent being a lawyer because “the odds probably are good.” Another district employee allegedly listened without challenging him. Both have been placed on administrative leave.
This isn’t just about one principal’s alleged comments. It’s about how antisemitism is too often overlooked, or worse, enabled in spaces explicitly designed to combat bias and promote belonging.
The school district accurately noted that “the fact that any employees entrusted with the care and wellbeing of students could make, or passively tolerate, such remarks raise concerns that extend beyond the conduct of a single individual.”
This isn’t just about one principal’s alleged comments. It’s about how antisemitism is too often overlooked, or worse, enabled in spaces explicitly designed to combat bias and promote belonging.
I know this work from the inside. I spent 23 years in higher education working in student affairs and belonging and inclusion spaces. I’ve seen firsthand the transformative power of these initiatives and how they help students find community, succeed academically, and develop the skills to navigate an increasingly diverse world. This work, at its best, creates environments where every student can learn, grow, and thrive.
But I’ve also witnessed a concerning blind spot: the exclusion of Jewish identity from conversations about bias and discrimination. And in some circles, something far more insidious has taken root — ideas and practices that actively marginalize Jewish students and families under the guise of progressive values.
Consider three ways this problem manifests:
First, antisemitism is frequently omitted from curricular initiatives entirely. While schools address other forms of bias, antisemitism often doesn’t make the list — as if the animus behind the fastest-growing hate crime in America isn’t worth addressing.
Second, Jews are sometimes categorized as uniformly White and privileged, erasing both the diversity of Jewish communities and the reality of antisemitic discrimination. In the United States, more than 15 percent of American Jews identify as Black, Latino/a, Asian, and other races. In Israel, about 50 percent descend from Jewish populations in North Africa and the Middle East, not Europe. The oppressor/oppressed framework falsely suggests that Jews cannot be victims of systemic bias. The alleged comments about “Jew money” and controlling banks aren’t just ignorant stereotypes; they flow from a worldview that makes such incidents almost inevitable.
Third, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is sometimes inappropriately injected into diversity and belonging spaces, with Jewish individuals held collectively responsible for policies they may oppose. There are many Jewish people who support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state yet disagree with the government’s policies. As I wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer about the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, we shouldn’t blame entire communities for individual actors’ violence — yet Jews are too often subjected to exactly this kind of collective judgment.
These aren’t abstract concerns. When a principal — someone entrusted with children’s wellbeing — allegedly traffics in age-old stereotypes about Jewish money and power, that’s not just ignorance. It’s a fundamental betrayal of the values that education is supposed to embody.
And here’s what makes this moment so urgent: Antisemitism has no single political home. It emerges from both the far right and the progressive left. White supremacists traffic in conspiracy theories about Jewish power. And progressive spaces have developed their own problematic frameworks that marginalize and exclude Jews.
We need honest reckoning and reform. That means:
Explicitly including antisemitism in all bias education curricula. If your school’s bias training doesn’t address this, it’s incomplete.
Training educators to recognize contemporary antisemitism. This includes understanding how age-old tropes about Jewish power and privilege persist in new forms — and why comments about “Jew money” and controlling banks aren’t harmless jokes.
Holding individuals accountable while examining systems. We must judge individuals by their actions, not paint entire groups as complicit. Hold the principal accountable for his alleged actions, examine why the other employee didn’t challenge such comments, but also ask about the system in which someone leading inclusion work could harbor such blind spots.
Creating space for Jewish students and families to share their experiences of discrimination and marginalization without having those experiences dismissed or minimized.
Ensuring that Middle East matters don’t determine whether Jewish students are welcome.
The Wissahickon incident is painful, but it’s also an opportunity. When done right, belonging and inclusion work helps all students develop the empathy and skills to navigate differences. But that work cannot be credible if it becomes a vehicle for the very biases it claims to combat. I am grateful for the district’s acknowledgement of this, now we need to see a plan and action moving forward.
We can do better. We must do better. Our students — all of our students — deserve nothing less.
Andrew Goretsky is the senior regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia office, serving Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware.
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