Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight announced a series of measures Thursday evening that she said would fight racism and hate, following a rise of such incidents in the District.

“The recent actions of a few have shaken us,” McKnight said. “We’ve woken up to headlines about heartbreaking incidents in our schools and community: students spewing bigoted language degrading the color of their peers’ skin, ethnic heritage, gender identity or faith, drawing symbols of hate that leave their peers shocked, startled, and hurting.”

This year, McKnight said MCPS has seen an average of more than one of these incidents per day, a rate three times what MCPS saw in previous years, including from before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Let me be clear, these unacceptable actions have no place in MCPS. They must be called out and not allowed,” she said.

McKnight noted that antisemitism has become a daily occurrence at schools, recalling that multiple Jewish students found the swastika drawn on their school desks earlier this year, and that some Jewish students and staff are “genuinely afraid to come to class or go to work.” Maryland saw a 98% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2022 (Virginia and D.C. saw a 50% and 30% rise respectively), and Montgomery County saw a 261% rise.

She said some have argued that fighting anti-Semitism came at the expense of fighting discrimination against other groups.

“I come before you to assure you that this is not the case,” McKnight said.

She stressed that the measures were not focused on one particular group, and instead “all hate, bias, and discrimination along the lines of race, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic.”

Measures include training all MCPS staff to respond to incidents of hate and bias at schools, as well as giving them professional development on antiracist leadership. Teachers will also be expected to teach students about “the role that hate and bias has played across history,” and students will also learn about these topics in assemblies and through student advisory boards.

McKnight says MCPS will present more information on those measures at a Board of Education meeting on May 11, and that MCPS will be working with the community and the board to finalize the details of the plan.

The announcement comes months after a two-year “antiracist audit” that MCPS launched in October 2020 to examine existing inequities in the school system, following what was already a rise of racist incidents in the county. McKnight said Thursday that the audit showed “undeniable racial disparities that have existed for decades.” It incorporated survey responses from more than 130,000 students, staff, and family members, and found that “overall, students, families, and staff of color reported having a less satisfactory experience with MCPS than other members of the community.”