Thirty-five of 76 hate or bias incidents reported to Montgomery County Police in the first four months of 2026 involved Jewish people, and more than one-third of those occurred in public schools, according to a formal complaint letter the advocacy group End Jew Hatred sent to county and school officials.

The school-based numbers mark a sharp increase. In the last six months of 2022, only eight anti-Jewish incidents were recorded in schools countywide.

The Anti-Defamation League's most recent audit found Montgomery County accounted for roughly two-thirds of all antisemitic incidents in Maryland in 2025, with 120 reported cases. Queens, New York, which has more than twice the county's population at 2.3 million residents, recorded 84 incidents over the same period.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington has documented the pattern inside MCPS buildings. In a May 5 statement, JCRC Chief Operating Officer Guila Franklin Siegel said the organization recorded "Heil Hitler" gestures at middle school events and physical threats directed at Jewish students at multiple schools.

"The number of reports JCRC has received about antisemitism at MCPS is significantly higher than other school districts across our region," Franklin Siegel said. "Since many instances of antisemitism and other forms of hatred go unreported, we know that the reports we receive are likely just the tip of the iceberg."

The JCRC called on MCPS to establish a zero-tolerance antisemitism policy, train staff to identify incidents, and enforce disciplinary codes for students who harass Jewish peers online.

MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor met with Franklin Siegel and her team in early May to discuss next steps. The district committed to improving participation in JCRC's Student to Student and Holocaust speakers' programs and confirmed it will begin complying with Maryland's anti-bias training law for educators in August, two years after the law was adopted.

End Jew Hatred's letter, signed by Director of Mobilization Adar Rubin and chapter leader Ken Reid, made three specific requests: closer coordination between the county and the Board of Education on antisemitic incidents, creation of a stand-alone police antisemitism unit separate from the broader Anti-Hate Task Force and that Councilmember Will Jawando's Education Committee hold MCPS accountable for training compliance.

County Executive Marc Elrich announced $500,000 in supplemental security grants in March for faith-based and nonprofit institutions facing heightened threats.