Students marched through the halls of Origins High School on October 28 waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “Death to Israel” and “Kill the Jews”
March 4, 2024 17:12
ByBen Clerkin, Ben Clerkin
Jewish teachers at a Brooklyn school say they are being terrorised by antisemitic pupils and the principal hasn’t been able to address it.
Students marched through the halls of Origins High School on October 28 waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “Death to Israel” and “Kill the Jews” staff said.
Danielle Kaminsky, a global history teacher, told The New York Post: “I live in fear of going to work every day.”
Kaminsky, who is Jewish, was told by a student “I wish you were killed” while another student called her “a dirty Jew”. She told the Post that she found a note on her classroom door that said “die”.
The Post interviewed numerous members of staff who revealed that a student painted a Hitler moustache on his face and performed a Nazi salute and three swastikas were painted on school property in one week.
Last March the Museum of Jewish Heritage cancelled a trip the school was planning to a new programme to educate students about antisemitism and the Holocaust. Two female interns the museum sent to the school to prepare the pupils for what they were going to see were brought to tears by their rude behavior.
One pupil said he would have sex with a dead Jewish woman. Another said he would “take money from the dead Jewish people’s corpses.”
But teachers say interim acting principal Dara Kammerman has done little to punish the students beyond contacting their parents.
Michael Beaudry, campus manager of the Sheepshead Bay building that houses Origins High School, told the Post:“The students continue these behaviors because they know there won’t be any consequences.”
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law is preparing to file a civil-rights lawsuit on behalf of Kaminsky, Beaudry and potentially others.
Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Republican, demanded that Kammerman be removed.
“This is a school where there are things happening every day and this has become a culture where this behavior is tolerated and accepted,” she said.
“This is a place where swastikas are painted on teachers’ offices, on walls, in classrooms, on boards, on students’ laptops.
“This has become the norm at this school. The complaints fall on deaf ears. There’s been no discipline, which is why this behavior’s been encouraged.”
The New York Department of Education said it will launch a probe
But added: “There is currently no evidence that these claims are true, but we are investigating the claims.”
About 40% of Origins students are Muslim. The Department of Education lists 22% as Asian, 22% Black, 17% Hispanic and 32% white.