Updated: CCHS signs deal to end federal antisemitism review

Acton-Carlisle High School officials have reached a deal to resolve a federal review of alleged rampant antisemitism on campus. 

The five-page agreement between the school and the U.S. Justice Department says the district “admits no liability or wrongdoing.” 

It still enumerates expected reforms and requires administrators to report back to the DOJ on future harassment cases.

CCHS must also designate a “compliance officer” to monitor its response to harassment based on race, religion, and national origin.

“We take these issues seriously and have already taken important steps to strengthen how we address them,” schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter said in a statement included in a Wednesday news release from the district’s public relations firm.

“This agreement builds on that work and helps ensure we continue supporting a safe and respectful learning environment for every student,” she said. “We appreciate the Department of Justice’s work and guidance throughout this process.”

Federal authorities signed the settlement this week. Hunter provided The Acton Bridge with a copy.

The DOJ said in a statement on the Acton-Carlisle case that between 2023 and 2025, “a series of antisemitic incidents occurred at both the high school and middle school levels in the district.”

DOJ “will not tolerate antisemitic harassment of students at any level of education,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division.

Dhillon said districts must address harassment when it “creates a hostile environment for Jewish students and must keep taking action until Jewish students are once again safe and welcome at their school.”

Accounts of harassment 

Allegations surged into the public arena last summer after the Anti-Defamation League and two other advocacy groups filed a brief in support of an underlying complaint with the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Claims centered on a Jewish student who left CCHS after what the filing said was a long history of being targeted with hateful behavior that school officials inadequately addressed.

Problems went on for years, according to the joint filing from the ADL, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and the Mayer Brown law firm.

In a Wednesday statement on the settlement, the ADL and Brandeis Center said they, along with “students, families, and community members,” had been “pushing for meaningful change” in the district “so that students are not subjected to antisemitic slurs and verbal abuse in their classrooms, hallways, and athletic fields.”

The groups said they welcomed DOJ’s work to “bring accountability to the district” and “look forward to seeing substantial reforms to combat antisemitism being fully implemented.”

DOJ spokespersons didn’t immediately answer questions about the arrangement.

The CCHS announcement didn’t directly mention “Student A,” who transferred to a private school because of the targeting.

In a Wednesday statement to The Bridge, Student A’s family said, in part, that they endured unchecked antisemitic harassment “serious and pervasive enough to trigger a full federal civil rights investigation” and that the settlement requires crucial accountability measures.

“No family should ever have to go through what we did. … Antisemitism has no place in any school,” the statement continued.

“We are deeply moved by the people of Acton who showed up with compassion and courage. …  That groundswell of support is bigger than our family and reflects the best of this community. [What] matters most is the safety, well-being, and character of our children.”

Among allegations, advocates said peers harassed Student A by creating soccer teams named “Team Al Qaeda,’ ‘Team Hitler,’ ‘Team Auschwitz,’ and ‘Team Hamas.’” 

The ADL and other groups described students giving Nazi salutes and using slurs, and said the school failed to adequately address the conduct.

The filing followed other incidents of hateful graffiti and touched off community outrage at public meetings and on social media. 

“There’s been a lot of discussion,” Acton-Carlisle School Committee Chair Tracey Marano said at a Wednesday morning meeting of town committee heads. She read the district’s press release to attendees.

Terms of the agreement 

School officials have promised to review CCHS policies, handbooks, and practices to make sure they specifically ban antisemitic harassment including drawing swastikas, making Nazi salutes, and “using ‘Jew’ as a derogatory term.” 

The settlement outlines specific revisions to some policies, including a requirement that staff report possible harassment and a provision specifying that off-campus conduct can be covered if it involves discrimination during a district program or activity. 

Officials have promised continued training for students and staff and agreed to specific incident tracking systems.

Student sessions will have an “explicit focus on antisemitism and the significance of swastikas,” per the agreement.

CCHS will have to report disciplinary incidents, investigations, and the school’s responses to the Justice Department. Officials will also have to show proof of required employee training.

“The question is not whether the district can describe this agreement in the most favorable terms,” the representative of Student A’s family said. “The question is whether it is willing to acknowledge, plainly, why federal intervention was required in the first place.”

Praise for progress

Last July, the Select Board’s Mark Howell spent one of his first meetings as chair hearing from a packed house of Concordians who came to speak out about the federal filing. 

“It is good news that the progress has been made, particularly in the bias area,” he said Wednesday. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission co-Chair Andrea Foncerrada echoed Howell’s remarks. 

School administrators have added staff and student training sessions and sought to bolster reporting mechanisms and community outreach. 

“We’ve seen such a big change from last summer to today,” Foncerrada told The Bridge. “I do applaud that.”

The path forward

The DOJ and school administrators say the settlement — and its reporting requirements — will sunset in August 2027 unless federal authorities raise “compliance concerns.”

While CCHS seeks to close the book on its federal case, debate continues over how Acton should address antisemitism.

The town is working on a reporting upgrade through its Bias and Hate Incident Reporting Group. 

Foncerrada mentioned an initiative called Acton United that pulls together town and school leaders for monthly meetings. “It’s been a place to convene, to plan, [and] to coordinate,” she said. “In the past, we didn’t have that.” 

Celeste Katz Marston contributed reporting.

Read the full settlement here:

2026-04-14-Fully-Executed-Agreement

This breaking story has been updated.