A Jewish high school senior has filed a lawsuit against the San Leandro Unified School District, alleging she endured two years of severe antisemitic harassment that school officials failed to address and, in some cases, actively encouraged.
Eden Horwitz, along with her mother, Montana Horwitz, filed the suit in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday, naming the district, her high school principal, and two former teachers as defendants. The complaint alleges “pervasive and unrelenting” antisemitic discrimination during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years at San Leandro High School.
According to litigation counsel Ryan Weinstein, who is representing the Horwitz family, educators not only ignored the abuse but contributed to a hostile environment. “Faculty didn’t just ignore the antisemitic abuse—they fueled it,” Weinstein said. “And when confronted with the truth, the District didn’t investigate; it retaliated.”
The lawsuit details how Horwitz, who was enrolled in the school’s selective social justice academy program, faced relentless harassment from classmates who used “Zionist” as a slur and accused her of genocide. The complaint alleges that school-sponsored events featured “from the river to the sea” chants, and when Montana Horwitz explained the antisemitic nature of the slogan, her concerns were dismissed.
Court documents allege that Erica Viray Santos, the academy’s lead teacher and a named defendant, asked Eden whether her classmates disliked her because she was “Jewish, or just unlikable.” The program, which promised intersectional education and inclusion, allegedly taught students that supporting Israel or Zionism was “inherently wrong” and did not provide instruction on the Holocaust.
Eden stopped wearing her Star of David necklace on campus due to safety concerns, according to the suit filed by The Deborah Project and Ropes and Gray. When the family filed formal complaints about the harassment, the district allegedly responded with retaliation rather than investigation.
The lawsuit claims Eden was forced to sign an agreement that contradicted federal accommodations she was entitled to receive as a student with a disability, including extra time for assignments and tests. She was then removed from the social justice academy program for allegedly not complying with the agreement—even though the compliance deadline had not yet expired. Teachers announced her removal to her peers, which the suit describes as “incredibly humiliating.”
The harassment took a severe toll on Eden’s academic and athletic performance. Previously a B-average student with collegiate athletic aspirations, she experienced a sharp decline in her grades and became ineligible for sports, losing her chance at a college scholarship. The suit alleges she developed severe anxiety and depression, while Montana suffered a cardiac episode due to stress from the district’s failure to address the antisemitism.
The case seeks systemic reforms, including mandatory antisemitism training for staff and students, removal of antisemitic content from curricula, and improvements to the district’s complaint process. The suit also seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
District officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to EdSource.
This lawsuit is the latest among dozens of administrative complaints and court challenges filed against Bay Area school districts in recent years related to antisemitism and Islamophobia, involving allegations of biased instruction, classroom displays, and failures to enforce state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
The San Leandro Unified School District serves approximately 9,000 students across roughly a dozen schools in the East Bay.
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