Arizona Jewish Day School Teacher Quits Over ‘Just Kill’ Immigrants Tweet
A third-grade teacher at a Jewish day school in Scottsdale, Arizona, resigned over Twitter posts in which she said that immigrants should be shot.
Bonnie Godin Verne resigned Tuesday from the Pardes Jewish Day School, where she has taught for the past 12 years.
Her personal Twitter account has been closed, though screen shots of some of her tweets have been posted online.
Don’t deport illegal immigrants, she tweeted, “Just kill them.” Under a photo of a person holding a sign reading “Deport illegal aliens,” she wrote “or we can put a bullet in their head immediately.”
In a letter to parents and other members of the school community, Pardes Head of School Jill Kessler wrote that “Bonnie deeply regrets having in recent days made comments using her personal social media account that were inappropriate, offensive, and unbefitting of a Pardes teacher. She believes, and the school concurs, that the best course of action, both for her and Pardes, is for her to resign immediately.”
Kessler said the “leadership at our school deeply respects the rights of all citizens including those associated with the school to express their views, regardless of their political perspectives. However, with that right comes individual responsibility not to make hateful comments, which have no place in our school.”
She said the school administration is “certain that her political views never, in any way, found their way into her classroom.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
