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Federal Court Rules Pine Bush Central School District Officials May be Sued for Failing to Protect Jewish Students from Severe Bullying

Federal Court Rules Pine Bush Central School District Officials May be Sued for Failing to Protect Jewish Students from Severe Bullying

A federal magistrate judge ruled late last week that the Superintendent of New York’s Pine Bush Central School District, as well as a school principal and two assistant principals, may be sued for failing to protect five current and former students from pervasive anti-Semitic bullying in the district’s schools. The lawsuit, joined by Public Justice and pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, names Pine Bush Superintendent Philip G. Steinberg; former Pine Bush Elementary School Principal Steve Fisch; and two former Crispell Middle School Assistant Principals, Robert Peters and Eric Winter, as defendants. The Pine Bush district covers townships located in Ulster, Sullivan and Orange Counties, and is approximately 75 miles north of New York City and 20 miles west of the Hudson River. The teenage victims — two females and three males — faced severe bullying and harassment in school because they are Jewish. Despite numerous complaints by the students and their parents, school officials and employees continually ignored, minimized or dismissed the harassment and, in some instances, exacerbated it, the suit says. “There is something seriously wrong in the Pine Bush Central School District, and district officials know it,” said Michael Meth of Meth Law Offices, P.C., in Chester, N.Y., lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “School and district officials entrusted with the safety of our children have abdicated their moral and legal responsibilities to take action to stop the severe anti-Semitic bullying suffered by these students.” The lawsuit describes numerous incidents of bullying and harassment, including the following: • swastikas drawn on a student’s face against her will and on school books, bathroom and hallway walls, desks, bleachers and playground equipment • coins shoved in Jewish students’ mouths or tossed at them • threats to “burn” Jewish students and to “stab [one Jewish student] with a menorah and sink her with a cross” • physical violence, including a severe beating of one student with a hockey stick and repeated slapping of another student in the head • students performing “Hitler salutes” • name calling, including “dirty, disgusting Jew,” “stupid Jew,” “Christ Killer,” “Jesus hater,” “Kike,” “Ashes,” and “Crispy” (the latter two slurs being references to burning Jews during the Holocaust) • jokes about the Holocaust and mock-shooting Jews with their hands pointed like guns during class discussions about the Holocaust As a result of the pervasive anti-Semitic bullying — which began as early as elementary school for one of the students — all of them have been traumatized. One no longer attends school in the district and another had to withdraw for year in an effort to recover. The school district argued that district and school officials could not be held personally liable because they did not participate in the bullying, but the court ruled otherwise, noting that they could be liable if they acted with “deliberate indifference” to the reported harassment. In addition to damages for the students’ suffering, the suit seeks a change in behavior from top to bottom — the district hierarchy, principals, teachers, students and bullies themselves — through training and education programs aimed to curb bullying and establish procedures for properly handling any incidents. “Bullying has reached epidemic proportions and has to stop,” said Public Justice Managing Attorney Adele Kimmel, co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “Public Justice joined this case because it is a striking example of the failure of school districts across our country to prevent and respond appropriately to bullying.” To read the federal court order, click here: https://www.publicjustice.net/sites/default/files/downloads/Eccleston-v-Pine-Bush-School-District-Court-Order-6Dec2012.pdf



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