Civil rights complaint filed against Dallas school for antisemitic bullying

A federal Title VI civil rights complaint was filed against the Dallas Independent School District for failing to address years of antisemitic bullying of Jewish students at the Hillcrest High School, NGO StandWithUs (SWU) has announced.

The complaint, filed on Tuesday by SWU and a Jewish student, alleged that the district enabled a hostile environment rife with physical abuse, antisemitic vandalism, and discrimination based on national origin against Jewish students.

The Jewish student said they reported over 40 incidents of antisemitic harassment, many of which took place in front of staff, over the course of three years since 2021, to which the administration allegedly dismissed or offered limited response. Two other students besides the co-complainant had reportedly complained to the school of antisemitism, but they eventually left the school, according to SWU “presumably due to the antisemitic climate.”

“I have been bullied based on my Jewish identity for over a year and continuing until now,” the student co-complainant said according to SWU. “The bullying has included everything from verbal teasing to Hitler salutes to taunts based on Auschwitz and the Holocaust to highly offensive name calling such as ‘dirty Jew’ and ‘k**e.’ The problem is not only other students – even some Jewish ones – but teachers, too.”

The litany of incidents alleged in the complaint not only included the pervasive and loud use of slurs like “K***”, “Filthy Jew,” “Dirty Jew,” in the classroom, but physical abuse like the slapping of the student and telling him to “Go home to Auschwitz.”

The student was told to commit suicide multiple times, with one bully telling them “You’re such a k**e, like if I were you, I’d kill myself.” Another told the co-complainant to “Go bathe in Auschwitz where you belong. Wish you died with your great aunt, that sorry ass lame story you told me.”

Threatening statements were made to the Jewish student, with one person saying “Bye k**e, hope the Nazis grab you tonight.” Another said that their favorite Jewish food was the traditional Purim hamantaschen and that they liked “to kill Jews and then put their remains for the filling.” The student was greeted with a Roman salute and told “F**k you Jew,” and “‘Sup k**e, heil Hitler, wish he was still here.”

In a similar sentiment, another student told his Jewish peer “F***ing k**e, useless piece of s***t, all of you guys should be dead, RIP [rest in peace] Hitler.” One student said “Send the k***s to the crematorium.”

Hitler and the Holocaust harassment

Hitler and the Holocaust were often used to taunt the Jewish student, according to the complainant. One classmate, while playing a game on his phone, exclaimed “I just beat the s**t out of this guy, I feel like Hitler killing all of those filthy k***s, hell yeah!” Some Jewish students joined in making the remarks, also engaging in Nazi salutes and laughing that “We are all Jews, it’s okay for us to make Hitler jokes.” Another student, who came to school wearing a Jewish skullcap for the first time, told other classmates, “I’m wearing my ‘k**e’pah to be a better Jew.”

When in the bathroom, the student was frequently confronted, in one instance told “Heil Hitler, the amazing ruler of the world. Rest in peace, his amazing soul. Six million is my favorite number.” The Jewish student was told by the students that he couldn’t use the bathroom in the school, because of his background. One classmate said that a bathroom stall “isn’t for Jews,” and weeks later “You don’t belong here you filthy k**e.” Another student said to the student “k**e, I’ve told you before you can’t use this bathroom.”

After the October 7 massacre in Israel, the abuse took on anti-Zionist dimensions, said SWU. In one instance, the student was told “The k***s are just getting what they deserve. Free Palestine!”

Vandalism, such as two swastikas and the phrase “burn the Jews” scrawled in the bathroom, wasn’t limited to school property. One student drew a swastika on one of his papers, which the teacher responded to by only trying to erase it.Staff were alleged to be well aware of the incidents, which were frequently reported to the administration. In 2021, in response to classmates shouting “These f***ing Jews,” a teacher told them to stop but also told the Jewish student “I can’t do anything, you have to go to an administrator.”

 In 2023, a teacher allegedly praised a student for their “enthusiasm” when they made an antisemitic statement, and the principal told the student not to complain about antisemitism too loudly and “not let things like that bother you.”In October the student’s mother was promised that an investigation would be conducted, but the SWU complaint said that there was no follow-up.

When the student’s mother requested antisemitism education to alleviate the problem, her emails were allegedly ignored. She was also allegedly told that the school district didn’t want to share educational videos on antisemitism because “that’s just one small group” and “we want to be inclusive with every student, how to be inclusive with every student no matter what ethnicity or religion, we don’t want to isolate one group.”

After one meeting with the school, the mother was promised that a school district professional development training about tolerance would include antisemitism. A teacher reportedly told the student that antisemitism was only briefly mentioned as an offhand joke, “Don’t be semitic!”

The mother was told that the school district “did not teach about the history of antisemitism in particular” because “that was not the goal,” and they didn’t have enough time. The training instead focused on “anti-racism” in general and encouragement of the staff to share their “racial autobiographies.”

“It has been extremely difficult to attend a school where both students and staff enable antisemitism and face no consequences,” the student said according to SWU. “Some people have asked me why I don’t switch schools, but doing so would cause the problem to continue, allowing the school and all its administrators to avoid making changes and being held accountable. My goal is to ensure that Hillcrest High School becomes a safer environment for all students, especially Jewish students, not only during these horrific times of war in Israel but always.”

SWU CEO Roz Rothstein said that “People don’t realize that many of the same concerns we have about rising antisemitism on college campuses are also playing out in high schools like Hillcrest.”