(Jewish Group) Swastika on a Bathroom Stall: Anti-Semitism Still Plagues Upstate School District

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

For years, Jewish students in the Pine Bush Central School District complained about finding swastikas scrawled on walls, desks and lockers. They said they were subjected to ethnic slurs, shoved and beaten. They said other students even led “white power” chants and made Nazi salutes.

The harassment and bullying grew so bad in the rural town about 80 miles north of New York City that five Jewish students sued for discrimination in 2012, and a news report about the incidents led to federal and state investigations.

Nearly four years ago, the district paid $4.48 million to settle the lawsuit and agreed to changes to its curriculum and training to combat bias and anti-Semitism, along with student surveys to chart its progress.

But the surveys, made public for the first time in a court filing last Friday, show that despite the district’s efforts, anti-Semitism remains a stubborn problem at Pine Bush, as similar complaints about anti-Jewish bias are on the rise across New York State and elsewhere in the country.

In the court filing, Pine Bush school officials reported that 766 students, or one-third of the middle- and high-school students the district surveyed last fall, said they had seen or heard incidents of anti-Semitism in school the previous year.

more...