Group fighting antisemitism in Philadelphia schools expands effort to Pittsburgh

Fighting antisemitism in schools is akin to a game of Whack-a-Mole, according to David Bernstein.

Bernstein is the founder and CEO of NAVI — the North American Values Institute — which helps empower parents to promote American civic values and counter ideological extremism in K-12 schools.

“There’s a lot of antisemitism in K through 12 education that grows out of the oppressor/oppressed ideology and radical forms of DEI in schools,” Bernstein said. “In order to fight antisemitism, you have to be willing to counter the broader ideological extremism in schools.”

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To be successful, Bernstein said, it’s important not only to combat antisemitism but to support “American civic values” that are “ideological conditions under which Jews have thrived in America and are now under duress.”

NAVI has developed a multi-pronged approach that includes training parents to advocate for reform in schools; driving outreach to legislators and officials; engaging parents with district administrators and school board members; fostering parent meetings with curriculum developers; developing strategic communications; and providing cutting edge research and analysis on radical trends in education.

It’s an approach, Bernstein said, that has found success in the Philadelphia school system, where the program was developed.

“We’ve been able to identify bad actors and how they’re getting into schools,” he said. “We’ve been able to expose them in the media and alert members of Congress and other legislators to the involvement of these bad actors, and we’ve been able to get some of them suspended from the schools.”

That work, he said, created an opportunity for Philadelphia to move away from a “very radical” social studies curriculum.

Bernstein acknowledged that harmful ideologies are often entrenched in curricula, and problematic teachers can be protected by unions — which is why it is important to find parents and sympathetic educators willing to talk about what’s occurring in their schools.

That information, he explained, can then be taken to state and federal levels for intervention.

NAVI is now ready to build on the success it found on the eastern side of the state and bring its program to Pittsburgh.

Steve Rosenberg, who has served as NAVI’s regional director in Philadelphia and is author of the book “Make Bold Things Happen: Inspirational Stories from Sports, Business and Life,” is leading the charge.

If his name sounds familiar, there’s good reason. Rosenberg is a Pittsburgh native with deep roots in the community.

Rosenberg joined NAVI nearly two years ago believing it to be a three-to-six-month gig.

His original goal was to build a network of parents who, he said, had sent their kids to school to get an education, join a team sport, maybe take part in a music recital or other extracurricular activity, before graduating and moving on with the rest of their lives.

“But [the parents] had to become advocates in the fight because their kids were being tortured — literally and figuratively — in schools by teachers, administrators and school board members around this sort of indoctrination through this illiberal ideology that’s taking place,” he said.

Rosenberg said he worked with Bernstein and NAVI to build a network of “thousands” of parents.

“The work is so inspiring to me,” he said. “These parents are fighting for their children, who sometimes don’t have a voice. This has inspired me so much, and now it’s heading west to Pittsburgh because we recognize that to make real change we need to do it at a state level.”

Rosenberg said the goal is to make clear to the state education secretary, governor and legislature that the issues NAVI advocates for extend beyond Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and affect communities across the commonwealth.

NAVI, he said, will empower and prepare Pittsburgh parents to meet and talk with teachers, principals and school board officials around what he calls “illiberal ideology and education.”

It will also work to create thought leaders as part of a regional advisory council made up of lawyers, communications professionals and people who are “involved in high-level thinking in their particular industry,” to meet quarterly, he said.

The council will serve as a resource for parents.

NAVI advocates for schools to adopt policies of neutrality regarding the Middle East conflict, avoiding alignment with either claims that Israel is a colonial oppressor state or explicitly pro-Israel positions. Instead, the organization supports teaching about Israel, Gaza and the region’s history of conflict.

“Give the kids the information and let them make their own thoughtful determination,” Rosenberg said.

An example of NAVI’s work is a meeting earlier this month with Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick. During the 45-minute Zoom meeting, four parents urged the senator to take note of antisemitism in K-12 schools and do something about it.

In a Jewish Insider story about the meeting, McCormick is quoted as saying he won’t stay silent on the issue.

“I think part of the problem we’re seeing is people who aren’t antisemitic in public life are tolerating antisemitism,” McCormick told Jewish Insider. “It’s not that they’re antisemitic themselves. It’s just that they haven’t shown the courage and the moral clarity to fight it.”

Rosenberg believes Pittsburgh families can have the same type of influence. To that end, he’s already reached out to several local organizations, including the Beacon Coalition, StandWithUs and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council.

And while he believes NAVI can help parents, Rosenberg said the organization isn’t looking to be a “white knight”; several other organizations already are involved in fighting antisemitism in schools.

“We want to be helpful,” he said. “We want to energize and motivate parents and, if we can, add some missing pieces that might get ahead of the curve.”

Ultimately, he said, NAVI wants Pittsburgh schools to flourish as places of learning free from indoctrination.

“We want it to be a place where the highest and brightest can get into whatever college they want,” he said. “But, we have to get away from this illiberal indoctrination taking place across the United States.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.