SCOTTSDALE — The Anti-Defamation League has filed a federal civil rights complaint accusing the Paradise Valley Unified School District of failing to stop antisemitic harassment of a Jewish middle school student, the Arizona Mirror and ABC15 reported.
The 33-page complaint, filed with the U.S. Department of Education by attorney Gregory D. Speier, centers on a 14-year-old student at Desert Shadows Middle School in Scottsdale.
It alleges the student faced repeated antisemitic harassment and physical assault from about April 20 to May 21 and that school officials did not respond adequately.
Sarah Kader, deputy director of the ADL Desert Region, said in a news release that other students at the school have also “faced harassment because they are Jewish.” “No child should be told she belongs in a gas chamber, and no family should have to plead with their school to take pervasive antisemitic harassment seriously,” Kader said. The ADL is asking federal officials to investigate and require a zero-tolerance policy, ABC15 reported.
In a statement to ABC15, the district said, “PVSchools unequivocally condemns antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination.” It said each incident reported last school year “was immediately investigated and addressed,” and that federal student privacy laws prevent it from sharing specific disciplinary actions. Desert Shadows students took part in presentations on antisemitism last school year, the district said.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will decide whether to open an investigation. The complaint’s allegations have not been proven.
Sources: Arizona Mirror, ABC15. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: EXIT SIGN WORLD / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
