How to “Interrupt” Antisemitism: ADL Parent Training Comes to New Mexico

By Ellen Marks

It’s called “Standing Up, Speaking Out.”

The Anti-Defamation League developed its new parent advocacy training program last year and is bringing it to New Mexico in November.

The free sessions will be held on Nov. 1 in Albuquerque and on Nov. 2 in Santa Fe.

The point is to teach parents how to respond when their Jewish child faces an act of antisemitism at school — anything from a swastika drawn on a textbook to hate speech spoken in a classroom, says Scott Melton, the ADL’s director of education and advocacy.

Melton, a former Albuquerque resident who has been an AARP lobbyist, a DEI director at Bosque School and a classroom teacher, developed the training specifically for ADL. Though he had completed it before the fatal firebombing attack in Boulder in 2025, he said he went back to the drawing board after the incident and has been refining the content for a year.

It is now ready for prime time.

Underlying the various components of “Standing Up, Speaking Out”  is the knowledge that a parent’s most pressing concern is the safety of their child, Melton says, so parents’ first reaction is often emotional. “The result can be messy and not very productive," he says.

“Those emotions aren’t always helpful, especially if you’re trying to work with a school to fix a problem or an issue or an incident,” Melton says. “Quite often, that is absolutely the worst thing you can do, is to get your emotions mixed up in it. You’re all over the place, and understandably so.”

Melton says his sessions will focus on three key elements: incident, impact and response.

Some of his advice includes:
— “Unpacking emotions” before making any kind of response. “The emotion should be the fuel, it cannot be the vehicle. Take that emotion, deal with it, then have very, very careful conversations with your child.” Talking with your child comes first and foremost, he says.

—  Depending on the incident, talk to the teacher or principal “in the spirit of partnership. If you walk in and you are ready to shoot nails and spit nickels, that’s not a recipe for success.”

— Parents can be proactive in warding off incidents or confused responses by meeting ahead of time with school personnel to explain that their child is Jewish and request that tests or other important meetings not be held during important Jewish holidays. “You try to impress upon them why this is a thing.”

— After an incident, approach any kind of response in that partnership frame of mind. Parents probably won’t get anywhere if they are combative or demand that a teacher be fired, Melton says. “You always assume good intent.”

The bottom line purpose for parents to learn and be proactive when it comes to antisemitism? 

“Let’s face it,” Melton says. “Antisemitism is not going to stop. The word I use is ‘interrupt.’  If you can interrupt antisemitism, if you can get them to stop and think in the moment in a nonconfrontational way so they actually have to be aware of what they’re saying and how it’s landing, it’s amazing the conversations that can take place.”

Program in Albuquerque
Sunday, Nov. 1. Lunch at 12:30 p.m., program 1–3 p.m. Central Albuquerque location shared with registered participants. Childcare available for elementary school-aged children. Register by Oct. 28.
Register here
Questions: JCRC-NM, (505) 332-0565, ext. 2004, or juand@jccabq.org

Program in Santa Fe
Monday, Nov. 2, 6–8 p.m., Temple Beth Shalom. Pizza and salad dinner. All interested community members welcome.
Register here
Questions: Temple Beth Shalom, 505-982-1376, or marketing@sftbs.org

Ellen Marks has been a journalist for more than four decades, including stints in Boise, Idaho, Seattle and Albuquerque. She came to the Albuquerque Journal in 1986 and retired from there seven years ago, but continues to do regular assignments for the newspaper. She regularly contributes to NMJJ.

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