UPDATED at 3:54 p.m. on Oct. 30.
A Jewish family has sued a San Jose charter school, two Santa Clara County education organizations and the California Department of Education for what they say was a pattern of antisemitic bullying, harassment and public humiliation that their daughter, then 12, experienced while at school.
The student was “forced” out of University Preparatory Academy and has “transferred to a private Jewish school to ensure her physical safety and emotional well-being,” according to a press release announcing the filing. The complaint was filed Oct. 23 in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.
A grassroots organization called the Bay Area Jewish Coalition issued the press release and is supporting the family that filed the lawsuit. According to its website, BAJC formed shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, and “addresses the alarming rise in antisemitism locally with impactful, community-driven solutions.”
The BAJC press release said the seventh-grader was “singled out and publicly humiliated due to her faith” by a teacher two days after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel last year.
The press release contends that other students “became verbally and physically aggressive towards her” in the months that followed, “bullying and shunning her, and stripping her of personal identity by referring to her only as ‘the Jew.’”
The parents filed a formal complaint, as per the state’s Uniform Complaint Procedures, with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) after unsuccessfully trying to resolve the matter with the school, the press release says.
However, the release adds, SCCOE took 113 days to respond, whereas “as per state procedures, a UCP must be resolved within 60 days.” Moreover, SCCOE “neglected to address the matter” and “referred the family to the California Department of Education (CDE), which directed the complaint to the school for resolution.”
SCCOE and the Santa Clara County Board of Education are also named in the lawsuit, which says the student “felt fearful for her safety, lost trust in educators and administrators, and experienced severe emotional distress and anxiety,” according to the press release.
The complaint asks the court to declare that the defendants were in violation of civil rights laws at both the state and federal level, and that the school breached its contract with the student and her family by failing to address the alleged harassment. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
University Preparatory Academy, a charter school for grades 7 to 12, says in its nondiscrimination statement that it does not tolerate discrimination or harassment by either students, faculty or staff against any student on the basis of a protected category like race or religion.
Principal David Porter told J. that the school sent a response to the family after receiving notice from the CDE about the complaint, though the family claims they received no notification. Porter said the school undertook a disciplinary process, but he did not specify what action was taken.
“We did a full investigation, and we went through the normal disciplinary response for any of the incidents that could have been uncovered in that investigation,” Porter said. “If a student is found harassing or bullying a student, there is a series of potential actions that we go through depending on the severity of the incident.”
The complaint was filed by attorney David M. Rosenberg-Wohl of the San Francisco law firm Hershenson Rosenberg-Wohl. The press release noted that Rosenberg-Wohl has been representing victims of antisemitism and anti-Zionism since the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
The Bay Area Jewish Coalition, under executive director Oded Shekel, is “dedicated to ensuring that Jews and Israeli Americans thrive and live safely in the Bay Area.” A BAJC volunteer reported that the group tracked more than 200 antisemitic incidents in K-12 schools between November 2023 and June 2024.