Teacher’s antisemitic conspiracy theories were ‘swept under the rug,’ critics of East Bay high school say

The lack of a schoolwide and district effort to acknowledge and repudiate antisemitism has been a glaring omission, said teacher Annie Mladinich, chair of the school’s history department. 

“We’re still a community at odds and haven’t really addressed what happened,” she said. “In the wider community, nobody has even been told what antisemitism is.”

The English teacher at the center of the controversy, Henry Bens, was placed on administrative leave in late February two months after the first complaints were made to school leaders.

District officials told The Chronicle this week that Bens remained on paid leave as an investigation into the allegations continued.

Bens declined to comment Friday, saying he has retained a lawyer who advised him not to speak about the case.

Despite months of pressure from staff and students, Bens had remained in his classroom, teaching about 100 sophomore students in four sections. 

The school board approved in February a resolution banning the use of “The Hidden Tyranny,” a pamphlet that falsely claims that Jewish people secretly control a “brainwashing” media monopoly as well as the economy and U.S. government, according to students and teachers.

Staff and students alleged Bens had given his classes the pamphlet, which Anti-Defamation League spokesperson Teresa Drenick said is a “master class in antisemitism.”

One teacher said students told staff that they believed the misinformation Bens reportedly taught.

Student Myldret Vazquez was one of Bens’ students in the fall and realized his lessons were “confusing and weird.”

But “at first it went really over my head,” she said. “I’m still realizing a lot of the things that were wrong with it.”

While he allegedly told the students he had academic freedom to teach critical thinking, he also told them, “This is a side of history they didn’t teach you,” Myldret said.

The investigation into the allegations against Bens will likely come to a close fairly soon, said district spokesperson Michael Bazeley, with the district expected to determine whether the teacher will face any repercussions, including termination. 

There have been several efforts to address antisemitism in the school community, including healing circles at lunch, the creation of a community culture and climate team and a tentative field trip to Jewish Children and Family Services, although other efforts to address the issue fell apart, Bazeley said.

“We made it clear to the community there that supplemental materials that were used were inappropriate and violated board policy and frankly the Education Code,” Bazeley said. “The district has been very clear that the types of supplemental materials alleged to have been shared with students are inappropriate. They had no place in our school. We do not tolerate hateful or biased rhetoric, including antisemitism.”

In addition, the four classrooms given the pamphlet were presented with accurate history of the Jewish people, antisemitism and the evolution of Jewish hate, he said.

With an enrollment of about 2,000, Mount Eden has few Jewish students, teachers said, but the reports of a teacher allegedly saluting Hitler and espousing anti-Jewish tropes rocked the entire community and the administrative response hasn’t been sufficient, said English teacher Matt Denton, who was among the first to report the concerns in December.

District and school officials have not publicly acknowledged the severity of the alleged teachings, or apologized for any potential harm, he said. The lack of resolution in the investigation has also left the school community on edge, Denton added.

“I think there is a feeling between myself and other colleagues that if this goes to the summer without any resolution, the scars will be set in too hard,” Denton said. “It does give me a feeling personally that it’s attempting to be swept under the rug.”

State privacy laws, however, prevent school officials from disclosing information related to personnel investigations other than the status of employment. District officials denied taking the issue lightly.

“We have taken this situation very seriously. We began a thorough investigation, and we worked diligently and thoughtfully with community partners, students, staff and others to provide programming that clearly called out antisemitism and other forms of hate,” Bazeley said. 

Drenick said the Anti-Defamation League quickly sought out district officials in the aftermath of the claims to help address any false information given to students. Ultimately, the anti-hate group flew in a top educator to give the four workshops at the end of March, one in each of four sophomore English classes that Bens had taught.

Yet the district appeared to lack urgency, waiting several weeks to correct misinformation provided to students, Drenick said.

“It took far too long for the district and the school to pay the needed attention to the incident,” she said. “Much more work needs to be done to heal the community.”

More than three dozen Mount Eden students tried to do that, working their lunch hours to develop a weeklong antisemitism awareness campaign, with a Holocaust survivor scheduled to come to speak to students, with the school’s administrative blessing.

The students made pins and posters and helped create talking points for class discussions.

But school and district officials criticized the effort, Myldret said, saying they told the students they went beyond what was authorized, including an effort to fundraise and donate proceeds to antisemitic awareness efforts, which raised questions about where the money would go and who would decide that.

District officials said they supported the efforts, but ultimately the events were canceled over concerns about some of the content included in the campaign, Bazeley said, without providing specifics on those questions.

“We postponed some of the student-planned activities because we wanted to take time to ensure they were appropriate for everyone in the community and didn’t create more harm than good,” Bazeley said.

Nothing has been rescheduled, including the Holocaust speaker, teachers said.

District officials offered to hold an event on Holocaust Remembrance Day, but there was only a moment of silence scheduled for Holocaust victims, and the event was otherwise a multicultural day,” she added.

“Nobody showed up or engaged,” the student said. “It felt insulting, the fact they didn’t put any thought into it.

“I feel like, even initially, they never took this thing seriously.”

Mladinich said the lack of an institutional response to antisemitism is not acceptable and the entire community needs to talk about what happened.

“When that’s not done, it’s not a safe space for any of us,” she said, adding that fear and hate could easily spring up again at the school or in the district. “I’m questioning if I want to work at an institution that doesn’t understand what antisemitism is.”

Reach Jill Tucker: jtucker@sfchronicle.com