JNS
The Nysmith School, a private institution in Herndon, Va., discriminated against a Jewish family, which complained about “persistent and severe” anti-Semitism, by expelling its three children, according to a complaint that the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed with the office of the Virginia attorney general.
Blaming The Victim
The 40-year-old Northern Virginia school, where tuition runs from about $31,500 to $46,600 and which has an enrollment of about 500, refused to act to curb Jew-hatred on its campus and even told the parents, Brian Vazquez and Dr. Ashok Roy, that their daughter had to “toughen up,” per the 17-page complaint.
The parents told the school’s headmaster, Ken Nysmith, whose mother, Carole Nysmith, founded the school, in February that their 11-year-old daughter faced anti-Semitic bullying from other students.
Classmates told the daughter, who is now 12, that Jews “deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza” and “taunted her about the death of her uncle, saying that they were glad he died in the Oct. 7 attack, even though he had died years earlier,” the complaint states. (Vazquez is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, and the family, which includes twin 12-year-olds and an 8-year-old, identifies as Jewish, the complaint adds.)
Nysmith told the parents that the school would handle the situation promptly, but didn’t appear to act, according to the complaint. (JNS sought comment from the school.)
The complaint further alleges that shortly after the parents met with the headmaster, the school canceled its annual program, in which a Holocaust survivor addresses students, out of “concern that the event might inflame emotions within the Nysmith School community in light of the Israel-Gaza conflict.”
The next day, per the complaint, the school raised a Palestinian flag in the gym, alongside other flags, including the Israeli flag, and the antisemitic harassment against the 11-year-old girl worsened, including classmates allegedly telling her that “everyone hates Jews” and “nobody likes you.”
“Toughen up”
The parents again met with Nysmith, who told them that a staff member had spoken to the offending students. He also told the parents that their daughter ought to “toughen up” and dismissed their concerns that the Palestinian flag might further incite hatred, the complaint states.
When Vazquez told Nysmith that it could be seen as anti-Semitic to cancel the Holocaust survivor’s speech for fear of inflaming emotions and then raise a Palestinian flag, the headmaster demanded to know whether he was being called anti-Semitic.
“Mr. Vazquez and Dr. Roy immediately responded that they were not saying that,” per the complaint. “Mr. Nysmith, visibly agitated, abruptly stood up and told them they had to leave, which they did.”
Children Punished
A couple of days later, the headmaster informed the parents that all three of their children were expelled because what they said in the meeting “make it clear that you have a profound lack of trust in both me and the school,” the complaint states.
“I felt very clearly that you do not think Nysmith is the right school for your family, and the longer we try to ignore that reality, the more pain it will cause your children,” the headmaster allegedly wrote in the letter. (The complaint also alleges that the school denied the couple’s daughter a medal and didn’t return her or her siblings’ belongings for months.)
“Mr. Nysmith’s expulsion of the children from the only school they had ever known has devastated them,” according to the complaint. “The expulsion has caused, among other things, emotional trauma, social disruption, loss of friendships and loss of academic routine.”
“It also has impaired their academic, social and emotional development,” per the complaint. “They also have suffered a profound loss of well-being and trust.”
Normalization Of Bias
“The administration not only dismissed this family’s pain and humiliation, but allowed an atmosphere that fostered anti-Semitism,” stated Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and a former U.S. assistant secretary of education for civil rights.
“Through its actions, the administration sent a clear message: bullying is acceptable, as long as it’s against Jewish families,” he stated. “We must all emulate the strength of these parents and their children and stand up to anti-Semitism and its perpetrators, as difficult as it may be.”
“It is high time for public moral outrage,” he added. “The normalization of anti-Semitism must stop.”
Jason Miyares, attorney general of Virginia, wrote, “These are disturbing allegations. My office is actively looking into it.”
