BALTIMORE — The federal Department of Education opened an investigation Thursday into alleged antisemitic conduct at Baltimore City Public Schools after the Anti-Defamation League filed a complaint against the district last week.

The investigation follows claims that the school district violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin. The Anti-Defamation League detailed alleged instances of antisemitic bullying, swastika graffiti and a teacher giving Nazi salutes.

“The allegations that Baltimore City Public Schools tolerate virulent Nazi-inspired anti-Semitic harassment of its Jewish students is at once appalling and infuriating,” said Education Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement.

“If true, these allegations confirm a disturbing trend: too many of our nation’s educational institutions are failing American students by inculcating in them a loathing for their own country and fellow citizens and a tolerance and acceptance for a deeply destructive ancient hatred,” he said, promising his office would “vigorously investigate the matter.”

The ADL’s complaint called for a federal investigation, in addition to some other sensitivity measures like providing training on antisemitism to staff, Holocaust and antisemitism education for students, adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitic conduct.

The teacher at the center of the group’s complaint told The Baltimore Sun on Thursday that he believes he’s being used in a political agenda to get the district to “genuflect to the ADL.”

Patrick Oray, teacher at Bard High Early College, says he did make the Roman salutes, which the ADL refers to as Nazi salutes, during a lesson on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar spurred by Elon Musk making that gesture in January.

“When I made the Roman salute, the essence of the lesson was: Before it was Heil Hitler, it was Hail Caesar,” Oray said, explaining the lesson was more about authoritarianism than antisemitism. (Note: Modern historians say the salute attributed to the Romans actually originated in the late 19th century in theatrical productions.)

Baltimore City schools would not confirm the identity of the teacher at the center of the investigation. However, Oray, a Bard employee, showed The Sun letters he received from the district about the investigation.

Oray said the discussion and the resulting salute followed a question from some non-Jewish students who asked what the Holocaust in World War II had to do with them.

“What if someone is doing that gesture and goose-stepping through your neighborhood like Charlottesville, how would you feel?” he said he asked.

Oray contends that another incident in the complaint attributed to him, a teacher saying, “I’m about to go all Nazi on you,” was not him.

There was a meeting with a parent and a rabbi about him using the term “Grammar Nazi” in class, though, he said. He compared the term to the Soup Nazi character from the television show “Seinfeld,” co-created by Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

During the past school year, a parent had complained to the school, “using my name and Hamas in the same sentence, said that I was not qualified to teach about Israel and Palestine, and if the school didn’t do anything about it, they were going to go public. They didn’t specify how. And here we are,” Oray said.

Oray said in a statement to the media Monday that the issues he teaches “underscore the need to denounce hate and discrimination in all its forms.”

“The fact that the ADL trades in such sensationalism is remarkable and is a discredit to honest battles against antisemitism. It also portends a chilling effect on teachers who do the kind of work I do,” he said in the statement.

The school district has not fired Oray for his conduct, something he says reflects the tenuousness of the allegations.

Baltimore City Public Schools referred The Sun to a statement from last week when asked for comment on the federal investigation. The district said Thursday that “personnel action related to the teacher referenced in the ADL complaint is ongoing.”

“City Schools stands in solidarity with our Jewish community and with all who seek to create safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environments. We have condemned hateful behavior and taken action to hold students and staff accountable when our values and policies are violated,” the statement reads.

“While there may be differing views on how we may have responded to specific events, our commitment to inclusive, respectful schools has been consistent. We will continue to hold individuals accountable and stand ready to work in partnership with individuals, community groups, and state and federal agencies to ensure that all students learn in environments where they feel safe, valued, and respected.”

Oray says his style of teaching lays out current affairs topics and contemporary media for students’ dissection alongside classic great books, like Julius Caesar or Plato’s “The Republic.”

“You got to put people in the room together, and it might be difficult, and you have to let them speak. You may not like what they have to say, but it’s all about the discourse,” he said Thursday.

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