Federal investigation finds Kyrene School District failed to stop anti-Semitic harassment for months

TEMPE, Ariz. — The East Valley's Kyrene School District failed to address the months-long anti-Semitic harassment of an eighth-grade student after the bullying had been brought to the school's attention, according to the findings of a federal investigation released Tuesday.

The report by U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that over five months during the 2018-'19 school year, one student faced such severe bullying that she was forced to choose homeschooling instead of continuing with the district.

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According to the report, nine students had targeted the girl with anti-Semitic harassment for months because of her Jewish heritage.

Harassment from the students included derogatory terms.

The investigation also found that those students commented, “I hear you are good at [sexually explicit content] because Jews are so good at gasping for air,” and would ask her, “How do you get a Jewish girl’s number?” then lift her sleeve.

It was also reported that the students had been making jokes about the Holocaust, yelling in German accents, and marching and saluting like Nazi soldiers.

Video was captured of the nine students holding a mock-Nazi meeting in a school classroom.

https://www.12news.com/article/news/education/federal-investigationkyrene-school-district-anti-semitic-harassment/75-b3307186-2937-4588-971b-cfd4c9df4acc