Hayward high school is still struggling to heal as hate crimes soar across the country

Three months after Mt. Eden High School was rocked by allegations of a teacher using antisemitism texts in the classroom, the Hayward school district board has hired a consultant to repair the damage — a move that some students and teachers feel is too little, too late.

“There has been no apology or remorse,” said Ruchita Verma, a senior at Mt. Eden who was one of the first to sound the alarm on English teacher Henry Bens late last year. “And no accountability for letting any of this happen.”

It took two months for Mt. Eden and the Hayward Unified School District to take action against Bens, who was placed on administrative leave in mid-February. Though the district and school are working with the Anti-Defamation League to provide workshops for students affected by Bens’ antisemitic lessons the initial delay in addressing the problem has driven a wedge between students, teachers and staff — and contributed to a larger trend rippling across the country.

In a study released today, the Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic incidents in Northern California have jumped by 137% from 2021 to 2022, and that 327 incidents were recorded in the state overall.

In San Francisco, a Jewish man was attacked by someone who yelled antisemitic slurs while beating him with a skateboard. In Folsom, garage doors and cars were marked with graffiti, including those that read “Go Trump Heil Hitler.” And in Berkeley, swastikas were etched into cars — including the car of a person whose parents were Holocaust survivors.

Those incidents, among others, made California home to the second-highest number of antisemitic events — including harassment, vandalism and assault — followed only by New York, which counted 580, according to the report by the ADL.

“It’s a stark reminder that antisemitism is a clear, present and growing danger in our country,” said Teresa Drenick, the deputy regional director of the Central Pacific region at the Anti-Defamation League.

In the weeks following Bens’ removal, Verma had coordinated with dozens of her classmates to organize an “antisemitism awareness” week on campus that would have included talks about Jewish culture and offer research on Jewish history.

But without administration buy-in — and a curriculum carefully coordinated by experts — administrators cancelled the student-led event late last week. Michael Bazeley, the public information officer at the district, said that they needed to make sure “the activities were geared toward healing instead of doing more harm.”

Instead, Bazeley said Thursday that in addition to the ADL-led workshops next week, the school will offer activities around National Holocaust Remembrance Day in mid-April, including bringing a Holocaust survivor to speak on campus, taking a cultural field trip to learn more about Jewish culture and offering counseling resources for Jewish students and staff. The district is also forming a “climate team” to improve the environment across Mt. Eden.

Also Thursday, an email from the school district was sent to Mt. Eden High students and staff that said the document Bens used in the classroom, The Hidden Tyranny, was inconsistent with the state’s education code and board policies.