On Saturday, May 9, 2026, over two-thirds of the delegates at the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) Annual Meeting voted in a straw poll to endorse the campaign to #DroptheADLfromSchools.

In addition to endorsing the campaign, the proposal calls on the MTA to educate members about the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is a divisive political interest group, not a social justice partner for schools.

Like policy makers and media outlets, schools and educators mistakenly rely on the ADL as a credible source of information. However, the ADL systematically distorts people’s understanding of antisemitism by conflating Jewish identity with the state of Israel. Because its materials are free and easily accessible, educators and administrators may accept ADL resources without sufficient critical review or an understanding of the organization’s political agenda.

The ADL is a divisive political interest group that:

• Ignores historical and systemic analyses of bias and racism in their curricula, selectively focusing on individual feelings without context

• Restricts genuine inquiry in classrooms, stifling debate and silencing perspectives they disagree with

• Distorts the definition of “antisemitism” in ways that stoke fear among many Jews and pits Jewish comfort against Palestinian rights

• Pushes local, state, and federal educational policy that defends Israel at the expense of the rights of Palestinians, other people of color, and Jews who reject ethno-nationalism

• Attacks schools, educators, and students with bad-faith accusations of antisemitism in order to silence and punish constitutionally-protected criticism of Israel and the political ideology of Zionism

• Smears education workers and unions with false, public accusations of indoctrinating students and discriminating against Jewish union members

• Intimidates school and university boards and administrators to censor teaching, learning, and speech about Palestine through civil rights complaints and lawsuits

The MTA, the largest labor union in New England, has historically challenged groups that threaten its commitment to protecting public education and dismantling oppression. Endorsing the #DroptheADLfromSchools campaign reaffirms this work.

I/we stand in solidarity with members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association who are seeking to endorse the campaign to #DroptheADLfromSchools.