Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor pledged "repeat, collaborative dialogue" with more than 40 rabbis and cantors who demanded the district act on antisemitism.

Taylor's Oct. 2 letter responded to a Sept. 28 clergy coalition appeal that called for teacher training on antisemitism, experiential learning programs and enforceable social media guidelines. Several Potomac congregations signed the letter, including Congregation Har Shalom on Falls Road and Chabad of Potomac. Rabbi Adam Raskin, Rabbi Shira Rosenblum and Rabbi Mendel Bluming were among the local signatories.

Taylor acknowledged the concerns but stopped short of committing to any of the three specific measures. He said he would direct Nyah Hamlett, the district's chief equity and organizational development officer, to begin discussions that "identify what meaningful actions MCPS can implement."

"We may not agree on every issue or every proposed solution, but I do believe there are steps we can take together, and I want our continued discussions to be focused on finding them and turning them into action," Taylor wrote in the letter, first reported by Bethesda Magazine.

Taylor stopped short of specifics.

He also said a school letter sent after a swastika was found on a classroom desk at Walter Johnson High School on Sept. 24 should have explicitly named the symbol as antisemitic. The clergy coalition had cited that Bethesda incident as evidence of the district's inadequate response.

The coalition's Sept. 28 letter described three years of rising antisemitism in schools and said families were pulling children from MCPS for Jewish and private schools because students did not feel safe.

Hate-bias incidents across the district jumped from 253 in the 2024-2025 school year to 600 in 2025-2026, a 137% increase. MCPS has set a goal of reducing that number to 200 in the 2026-2027 school year.

Taylor attributed the spike to better training and reporting systems. He added that the increase "does not diminish the seriousness of what is being reported or the harm these incidents cause to individual students and entire school communities."

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC) said it appreciated Taylor's willingness to talk but warned the district should not "signal a prolonged process without action." JCRC Chief Operating Officer Guila Franklin Siegel said Jewish families "do not have the luxury of waiting for an entire school year or even a semester."

JCRC data underscores the gap between the district and outside organizations. Of more than 1,000 teachers JCRC trained on Jewish identity and antisemitism in 2025-2026, only 2% were MCPS educators, according to a Sept. 23 Bethesda Magazine op-ed by Siegel. Of 117 student-led programs the council held, just 18 took place in MCPS schools.

No date has been announced for a formal follow-up meeting between the district and the clergy coalition.