SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the California Department of Education (CDE) are co-hosting School Leadership to End Hate and Inspire Courage, the second annual Winter Institute of the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education (California Teachers Collaborative).
The 2026 Winter Institute provides California school and district teams with evidence-based instructional and culture-building strategies that foster safe, inclusive, and equitable school communities. The California Teachers Collaborative was codified by SB 1277 (Stern) and is led by the Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) Holocaust Center.
The Institute will include sessions facilitated by multiple groups who bring their unique expertise to addressing rising forms of hate that impact California school communities, including antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism.
Through interactive sessions featuring standards-aligned curriculum, approaches to teaching the Holocaust and genocide, and tools to interrupt and respond to antisemitism and hate, participants learn strategies to strengthen their capacity to ensure that all students can access a full and joyful sense of peoplehood while at school.
The welcome and opening remarks for the event are scheduled Monday, March 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in the auditorium of the East End Complex, 1301 15th Street, in Sacramento. A livestreaming option will not be available.
“Rising hate and antisemitism is a threat to our school communities and to our society,” Superintendent Thurmond said. “We must prevent our young people from being co-opted by hate groups, and we must protect our schools as learning environments where students of all backgrounds, including our Jewish students, are safe to learn and thrive.”
Thurmond’s Education to End Hate Initiative represents the State Superintendent’s continued commitment to proactively and directly combat hate in California schools. It includes education initiatives and outreach directly to district superintendents to offer resources in the aftermath of hateful or discriminatory actions. Thurmond first launched the Education to End Hate Initiative to combat bias, bigotry, and racism in September 2020. Since that time, Education to End Hate has expanded to directly address rising antisemitism and all forms of hate.
Efforts that are part of the Education to End Hate initiative have included Mini-grants to local educational agencies to support educator training; virtual and in-person classroom events, including survivor testimony; and support of the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education, which has trained more than 5,000 educators since 2023 and provided a curriculum library of resources that have been downloaded over 2,400 times since October 2024.
The California Teachers Collaborative was established by Senate Bill 1277 (Stern) as a network of 15 leading genocide and Holocaust education organizations and survivors who are charged with expanding and improving professional development and standards-aligned curricula on genocide, including the Holocaust, for educators in California public schools.
WHO:
- State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, Co-Chair of the Governor’s Council for Holocaust and Genocide Education
- Teams of more than 120 educators representing California schools and districts
WHEN: Monday, March 2, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. (Superintendent Thurmond expected to speak at approximately 9:15 a.m.)
WHERE: East End Complex Auditorium, 1301 15th Street, Sacramento, CA
The event will not be livestreamed.