Following a contentious Board of Education meeting Nov. 12 at which numerous students voiced apprehensions over rising antisemitism at their school, Amity Regional District No. 5 Interim Superintendent James A. Connelly issued a letter today to the community promising to take a leadership role in curtailing such behavior.
“The Amity School District will not tolerate this type of harassment and will investigate and take disciplinary action against students who demonstrate unacceptable behavior. We will also cooperate and coordinate with the local police department in some of these investigations,” the letter said.
Students spoke out because they felt that too little was done after prior allegations of antisemitic acts were brought to the high school’s attention.
An earlier memo sent by the Amity administration said, “The complaints regarding in-school incidents were also investigated by the high school administration. …We have found no evidence in the high school of wide-spread anti-Semitic behaviors.”
Worries in the Jewish community have been heightened in part by the Oct. 27 mass shooting that killed 11 and injured seven at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The FBI reported this week that hate crimes nationwide rose 17 percent in 2017, with a 37 percent spike in crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions.
