AJC Demands Probe of Anti-Semitism in Upstate New York Pine Bush Schools
The American Jewish Committee has called on the New York State Department of Education to fully investigate all incidents of anti-Semitism in New York public schools, especially the Pine Bush system in upstate New York.
A lawsuit charges rampant bullying and harassment of Jewish students in the school system system about 90 minutes northwest of New York City.
“If we are truly going to have a policy of zero tolerance for anti-Semitic bullying, a statewide investigation into the problem is essential,” said Kenneth Stern, AJC’s Director of Anti-Semitism and Extremism, in a statement.
A New York Times story reported several incidents in which swatikas were freely drawn on buildings at Pine Bush schools, and Jewish students taunted and even physically assaulted with little to no intervention from school administrators or teachers, even after students and parents complained.
Stern and AJC said that incidents like this are becoming commonplace in many other school districts, including on Long Island and in Westchester and Queens counties. In 2011 the AJC successfully filed a complaint wit the Department of Education against the Vestal Central School District near Binghamton, New York for similar incidents.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
