Paradise Valley district faces civil rights complaint over ignoring antisemitic abuse

The Anti-Defamation League filed a federal civil rights complaint against Paradise Valley Unified School District, accusing school officials of failing to address the antisemitic harassment of a teen girl. 

In a 33-page complaint to the U.S. Department of Education, attorney Gregory D. Speier, who filed the complaint on behalf of the ADL, recounted a month of repeated abuse endured by the girl, who is not named and was referred to as “Student A” in the complaint. 

Speier called the school district’s response to the harassment inadequate. He argued that the lack of accountability for students who used slurs and even physically assaulted the girl emboldened perpetrators. 

“Every aspect of how the District handled these incidents — the delays, the minimization, the eye-rolling, the excuses, the victim-blaming, the refusal to discipline — communicated the same message to students: antisemitism is tolerated here,” Speier wrote. 

According to the complaint, the 14-year-old girl, who wears a Star of David necklace and is open about being Jewish, began to be targeted by at least five other students at Desert Shadows Middle School between April 20 and May 21. One student told her she should be sent to a concentration camp to be “gassed.” Another made Nazi salutes at her. And on the last day of the school year, a student who had repeatedly called her an “ugly Jew” threw her into a cabinet after attending a meeting with school administrators, causing bruises and requiring her to be checked for a concussion. 

Yet school officials only punished two of the five students involved and made excuses for the rest, Speier wrote. When the teen reported the student who called her an “ugly Jew,” the principal said he was just “defending himself” against an accusation that he liked the girl, and argued that he is “very religious” and a “big Christian.” And the assistant school principal allegedly expressed skepticism about the girl’s report, saying she had a hard time believing the boy had said that because he is so religious. 

When that same boy later physically assaulted the girl, school officials said they couldn’t do anything since it occurred on the last day of school, and failed to file an incident report. The girl’s father was forced to file police reports instead, Speier wrote. 

School administrators also allegedly waved away complaints about the boy who performed the Nazi salute, saying he likely had a crush on the girl and using his Individualized Education Program, a special education plan, to avoid punishing him. That boy later used the Nazi salute against another Jewish student. 

“Each of these failures sent the same message to Student A and to the student body: targeting a Jewish classmate carries no real consequence,” Speier wrote. 

Instead of penalizing the students who were harassing the teen, school officials are accused of singling out and even isolating the girl. She was moved to a different classroom — where one of the perpetrators was still a classmate — and given a personal escort that Speier said only served to “broadcast” her status as a victim to the whole school. The teen was also confined to the principal’s office for two class periods, which forced her to miss multiple assignments and led to her falling behind academically. 

The months-long harassment also affected the girl’s emotional well-being. She stopped wearing her Star of David necklace out of fear for her safety and is now attending counseling. 

The complaint alleges that the school has a pattern of tolerating antisemitism. Other Jewish students reported having “Jesus loves you” notes placed in their backpacks, one student found a swastika in their backpack and another was attacked near the end of the school year. 

The ADL is requesting that federal officials conduct an investigation into the district’s practices and require the district to implement several remedies, including communicating a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitic conduct to all employees, students and families; issuing a statement denouncing anti-semitism; setting up mandatory staff training on antisemitism; undertaking a disciplinary review of school staff who failed to report or respond adequately to the teen’s harassment; appointing an independent monitor to review the district’s civil rights policies; and providing a formal apology to the teen and her family.

In an emailed statement, Paradise Valley Unified School District spokesman Mat Droge said that the district condemns antisemitism and that hateful speech and behavior has no place in its schools. Droge was unable to share details about individual disciplinary actions, but said that each incident reported last year was “immediately investigated and addressed.” He added that Desert Shadows Middle School held presentations on antisemitism and respectful behavior for students last year and said that efforts to promote a positive school environment will continue into the next year. 

“Every student deserves to attend a school where they feel a sense of belonging, and we will continue working to ensure that our actions reflect that commitment,” Droge wrote.