A Virginia private school has agreed to adopt new policies to combat religious discrimination and pay $100,000 to a Jewish couple after the parents alleged that one of their children was bullied with antisemitic taunts and that the school’s headmaster reacted by expelling the girl and two of her siblings, according to a settlement document made public Tuesday.
The parents, Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy, filed a complaint in July with the Virginia Office of Civil Rights, alleging that the Nysmith School, in Fairfax County, retaliated against their children because the parents voiced concerns about antisemitism at the school, which serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
The headmaster, Kenneth Nysmith, whose family owns the school, said at the time that he expelled the three siblings because Roy and Vazquez made it clear during a contentious meeting that they did not trust the school to educate their children.
In signing the settlement, Nysmith acknowledged no wrongdoing, according to the document. Besides paying $100,000 to the parents, the school agreed to pay $47,738 in legal fees to the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which represented the couple.
“Justice has been served for our clients’ family, and the resulting actions underway at Nysmith School will help prevent this kind of discrimination from happening to others,” the Brandeis Center’s chief executive, Kenneth L. Marcus, said in a statement. “Through this settlement we send a clear message, one that demonstrates accountability and willingness to improve.”
The Brandeis Center said the parents did not seek to have their children reinstated at the school and that they will not be returning there.
The agreement requires the school to adopt a new, comprehensive antidiscrimination policy and create a three-member committee, including at least one parent of a student, to review complaints. The school also must hire an independent monitor to oversee the committee’s work for at least five years, according to the settlement.
In addition, the school has to adopt a staff training program on recognizing and combating antisemitism and “provide an annual program for age appropriate students on the Holocaust,” the settlement says.
Nysmith did not respond to a message seeking comment. His attorney, Raighne C. Delaney, said neither he nor Nysmith had any comment beyond what is contained in the agreement.
The settlement was approved by the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R), which oversees the state civil rights office.
The couple’s complaint echoed claims from various Jewish groups about antisemitism at schools and colleges nationwide since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and the ensuing conflict in Gaza.
According to Vazquez and Roy, a group of children bullied their daughter, then 11, with antisemitic taunts. “In front of her classmates, the bullying children looked at their daughter, and called Jews ‘baby killers,’ and said that they deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza,” the complaint says.
It says that harassment worsened after school officials hung a Palestinian flag in the gym. But Nysmith said the gym already featured flags from more than 50 countries, including Israel. In another incident, the complaint says, students in a social studies class were asked to produce a composite drawing of a strong historical leader, and the resulting image had “the unmistakable face of Adolf Hitler.”
Nysmith told The Washington Post last summer that one of the students who produced that drawing was Jewish, descended from a Holocaust survivor, and that the image was being viewed out of context. “This was not a glorification of anything,” he said.
Vazquez had been heavily involved with the school, but the relationship soured after a contentious meeting March 11, two days before the expulsions.
Roy and Vazquez said that in the meeting, the headmaster said their daughter should “toughen up,” which Nysmith has denied. He said he asked the couple whether they were accusing him of being antisemitic. Roy and Vazquez said in their filing that they “immediately responded that they were not saying that.”
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