Lawsuit alleges that school administrators failed to protect her.
A lawsuit filed this summer in the state of Washington paints a devastating picture of one Jewish teenager’s unfolding nightmare of anti-Semitic torment and abuse at the hands of her classmates.
The girl—a freshman during the 2023-2024 school year at Nathan Hale High School, a public school in the Seattle area—was ostracized, spat upon, targeted with anti-Semitic slurs and swastikas and beset by threats of physical violence. Instead of protecting her—and disciplining the Jew haters who had her in their sights—school administrators stood by and let it happen.
“The Nathan Hale High School curriculum offers students a balanced educational experience focusing upon developing critical thinking and communication skills so that our students become members of a responsible, democratic citizenry,” states the school’s website, which also claims that “Trust, respect, decency, and equity throughout the school community are hallmarks of our building culture.”
But for one Jewish student at Nathan Hale, the experience of school was anything but decent.
“I never, ever thought in my worst nightmares could I have imagined (my daughter) would be dealing with this sort of thing,” said the student’s mother, who along with her daughter, is identified only by initials in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, filed against Seattle Public Schools by her parents, the student, identified as MKL, began experiencing severe harassment following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 unprovoked attack on Israel.
It began with verbal threats and abuse from classmates of the girl who urged her to “kill herself” because she is Jewish. Swastikas started appearing around the school.
“She was hearing things like, ‘Hitler’s plan should have worked,’ and ‘I hate the Jews,’ ‘you should kill yourself,’” the mother recounted to a local news station.
MKL continued to face anti-Semitic harassment and threats throughout the school year and reported these to Nathan Hale Principal Dr. William Jackson and Vice Principal Makela Steward-Monroe, but the administrators trusted with her care did virtually nothing to stop the attacks which only escalated due to their inaction.
When students at the school organized a walkout protest in support of Palestine, MKL was surrounded by her classmates and spat upon.
“A student threatened to jump her if she wore Hanukkah pajamas to school one day… There was a group of students surrounding her and ganging up on her, and while they were talking to her, spit in her face,” her mother recounted. --->READ MORE HERE
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A former Nathan Hale High School student’s parents are suing Seattle Public Schools on behalf of their daughter, alleging the district failed to protect her from months of antisemitic harassment after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and retaliatory strikes on Gaza.
The lawsuit filed this month in King County Superior Court includes photos of swastikas drawn around campus and accounts of students telling her “Hitler’s plan should have worked,” “I hate Jews” and to kill herself for being Jewish, and calling her racist and Islamophobic.
The months of harassment came to a head on May 22, 2024, when a group of about 20 students allegedly chased the girl through the school and threatened to physically assault her because she was Jewish. She hid in a locked classroom with a teacher as other students texted her that they were going to assault her, according to the complaint. She has since transferred to a different school.
“I never ever thought in my worst nightmares could I have imagined (my daughter) would be dealing with this sort of thing,” said the student’s mother, who asked not to be named out of concern for her daughter’s safety. The student and her parents are identified only by initials in the complaint.
“This was a horribly traumatic and devastating year for my child, and I don’t want anyone else to have to go through the same thing,” she said.
Seattle Public Schools will review and address the allegations, wrote Sophia Charchuk, a spokesperson for the district, in an email.
“The district remains dedicated to creating an inclusive and equitable environment for all students, and does not tolerate racism, discrimination, or violence in any form,” wrote Charchuk.
When asked if the district was made aware of the harassment and took any steps to stop it, the district responded it would address the allegations through its filings in the pending litigation.
The complaint alleges that district employees failed to properly investigate the incidents and provide a safe learning environment for the student, and said it should have known that employees were “unfit to supervise, protect and educate” the student.
The now-15-year-old student suffered “emotional distress” because of the incidents, missing the last several weeks of school and then transferring, according to the complaint. --->READ MORE HERE
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