I have lived in Alameda with my wife, Jessica, for 17 years. We have raised our daughter, Natasha, here, and she’s been fortunate enough to grow up on our beautiful island and attend our local schools.
Unfortunately, last year, as a freshman at Alameda High School, Natasha was subjected to multiple anti-Semitic threats. In January, she received anonymous texts calling her a big-nosed kike, was told Hitler’s biggest mistake was not killing our family and that people hate Jews because of “that little country of yours,” meaning Israel. Then there was “JEWS ARE EVIL” graffiti on a desk.
She reported all of this to the Alameda High administration. Two of the offenders were contrite and apologized, but three of the kids who threatened her were not even required to apologize by the school administration.
The administration showed little concern for Natasha’s well-being. Her harassers remained in her classes where she had to face them day after day. None of the incidents were documented by the school, and none were reported to the school community.
For nine months, we’ve tried to reach out to Superintendent Sean McPhetridge, explaining our concerns and suggesting improvements in the way anti-Semitism is handled. He said repeatedly that he reviewed the school’s actions and believes that the school handled the incidents appropriately.
Last week, a noose was found at Alameda High. The response was prompt, robust and unequivocal — a robo-call and email to all families, offers of counseling to all students in the school and an immediate police investigation as a hate crime.
As awful as this act is, it’s a generalized threat against no specific student. Remember that the first threats our daughter received were anonymous texts to her cellphone, targeting her directly, calling her a kike, telling her that Hitler’s biggest mistake was not killing our family and that flowers would be put on our murdered relatives’ graves.
To put this in context, imagine a black student receiving anonymous texts calling them the n-word, saying that their whole family should have been lynched and that their murders would be celebrated.
This goes far beyond the level of insult. These are threats, and these are hate crimes.
Our daughter was one of at least six Jewish students in the district threatened by anti-Semitic acts last year. The response by the district has been a weak and shameful contrast compared to the strong and swift response to the noose incident.
The district claims that “Everyone Belongs Here.” In a June 20 letter to district families, Mr. McPhetridge claimed, “[W]e denounce anti-Semitic speech as completely unacceptable.”
At a Sept. 12 Board of Education meeting I attended, he submitted a resolution that states hate speech is wrong and intolerable. Yet everything about the way he handled the threats against our daughter since he first learned of them nine months ago suggests otherwise.
What is it going to take for the district to show, decisively, that anti-Semitic acts have consequences? What will it take for them to protect Jewish students? Does one of our children have to be physically injured first?
The superintendent has had ample time to create a plan and put it into action. We have repeatedly offered constructive, concrete suggestions and assistance. He has chosen to abdicate his responsibilities under California and federal laws. We are not the only members of this community who are disappointed and indeed outraged.
We filed a complaint against McPhetridge with Steven Fong, the district’s chief academic officer, on Aug. 24; as of Sept. 13, we had not yet been contacted by an investigator.
I turn to the Board of Education, which oversees the Alameda Unified School District, and say the responsibility is, ultimately, yours. It’s time to act decisively to protect Jewish students before it’s too late.
And yet another incident at Alameda High
“VIC was hit in the shoulder with a paper plane that had three swastikas drawn on its wings.”
https://alamedaca.gov/sites/default/files/document-files/files-inserted/daily_activity_log_091917.pdf
Tommy, how did you find out about this new incident? As of the 9/15 Parents’ Newsletter, there were already two anti-Semitic incidents (only one of which AHS acknowledged as anti-Semitic, since apparently a substitute teacher saying Gal Gadot “probably killed kids” while in the IDF isn’t anti-Semitic??), so this is the third.
Look at the link to the police log above. Time point of 13:27 on Tuesday, September 19th. Address is listed as “Encinal Avenue.” That usually indicates that it is Alameda High. Also, the responding officer is Mrak. She is the school resource officer for Alameda High.
I sure hope you contacted ADL and asked them to step. The Central Pacific Region has a great team.
We worked with the ADL and ZOA yet the Superintendent won’t.
This is despicable. I hope this publicity moves the Alameda School Board & High School to action. Thanks for sharing the story, it needed to be told.
We hope so, also.
IF this was done to Muslims or illegal Latino children it would be all over the news and the ACLU would have filed a lawsuit.
Sue them.
Hatred is a mental illness that has become rampant. Anti-Semitism is a foul, contagious disease. Your children need to be protected against it. Please do not give up or accept weak responses. Your children are worth everything it takes.
Why wasn’t she moved to another school out of Alameda?
Larry: That is an incredibly weak and cowardly response. No one should have to move away from incidents like these. Those who cause those incidents are the ones who should be “moved” right into a courtroom, alongside those who allow such incidents to happen in the first place.
They should all pay substantial fines, and be required to attend sessions with trained professionals to educate them about what their foul hatred is all about, and lastly to publicly apologize, not only to those they attacked, but also to the entire community that they have insulted by their behavior.
lol Chuck, thanks for sharing your “Pipe Dreams!!!
No Larry, my comments were far from being pipe dreams. Pipe dreams are when you turn your back on social problems by telling people to run away, because those who are supposed to protect them from that sort of craziness won’t take it seriously enough to act. And if you need something a bit more selfish to get you moving; … Ever read the rest of this? … “First they came for …”
Chuck:
Thank you for your comments and your passion especially when people don’t agree with you. If it was my child, I would find another school, preferably a private school where she could thrive and be safe. Remember Chuck, this is America and we all have a right to our opinions, have a nice day!!
Larry; I understand your point better now than I did when you originally said: “Why wasn’t she moved to another school out of Alameda?”
These incidents absolutely sicken me, even more so since I just attended a reunion last night for the 1962 Alameda High School graduating class. Even though our class was “way too white”, if anything like this had happened back then, I know for an absolute fact that it would not have been tolerated, at any level, even if that meant taking the law into our own hands and beating the crap out the offenders.
Though we had only a very few Jewish, Asian, African-American, Mexican and other minorities at our school, we all got along, and we would most definitely been shocked and appalled, and would have acted accordingly to defend our fellow students. These recent incidents are not pranks. They are extremely serious offenses, against everyone. Catch the offenders, punish them harshly and very publicly. And for gawd’s sake TEACH THEM how wrong what they did truly is.
Call the Anti-Defamation League, call Sherat HaDin, call your local police.