The parents of Jewish children at two schools - one in Washington State and one in Virginia - have filed lawsuits due to the antisemitic harassment of their respective children, including antisemitic slurs, cyberbullying, an attempted physical attack, and others.
The cases, though unrelated, were filed within just two weeks apart.
The Virginia case was filed on July 1 by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Dillon PLLC on behalf of a Jewish family with the Office for Civil Rights in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office against Nysmith School for violating the Virginia Human Rights Act.
The Seattle case was filed on June 13 at the King County Superior Court by the plaintiffs (J.K., R.L. on behalf of their daughter M.K.L) against Seattle Public Schools regarding contravention of Washington Law Against Discrimination (CH. 49.60 RCW) and intentional infliction of distress.
The Virginia case
The three Jewish children of Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy were expelled from Nysmith School for the Gifted on March 13 after the parents complained about the "unwillingness to respond" to the "pattern of persistent and severe antisemitic harassment of their 11-year-old daughter."
This included an incident where, in a social studies class, the students held up a poster of a "strong historical leader" on which the "unmistakable face" of Adolf Hitler is depicted. The parents learned of the extensiveness of the antisemitic bullying on February 17, 2025 after a classmate - who had been worried about her safety - had told his mother to call Vazquez.
The girl admitted that she had felt too ashamed to say anything, but that "some children said they hated her because she was Jewish and had been bullying her." Children called Jews “baby killers,” and said that they deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza. Other children also taunted her about the death of her uncle, saying that they were glad he died in the October 7th attack, even though he had died years earlier.
According to the lawsuit, Mr Vazquez and Dr Roy immediately notified Headmaster Kenneth R. Nysmith that their daughter was being harassed and ostracized because she is Jewish.
Although Nysmith said he would act, nothing changed, and a few weeks later the headmaster himself chose to hang a Palestinian flag in the school gym. Additionally in that time, Nysmith told the parents that he had cancelled the annual Holocaust program speaker because of his concern that the event might inflame emotions in light of the Israel-Gaza conflict. The daughter said that following the hanging of the flag, classmates had cited it as evidence that "everyone hates Jews."
The parents pleaded with Nysmith to help their daughter, to which he told them the girl should "toughen up" and ended the meeting.
Two days later, on March 12, Nysmith told the parents that all three children were expelled, effective immediately. The email notifying them of the decision read: "You have a profound lack of trust in both me and the school. A healthy partnership is required to help guide and nurture young children through tumultuous times and complex current events. I do not see a path forward without trust, understanding, and cooperation. In our meeting, I felt very clearly that you do not think Nysmith is the right school for your family, and the longer we try to ignore that reality, the more pain it will cause your children. With this in mind, I regret to inform you that today will be your children’s last day at Nysmith."
The parents also said that as the expulsion happened in the middle of spring semester, they were unable to enrol their children in a comparable school close to home and had to enrol them instead in online classes for the rest of the year, leaving them isolated.
Vazquez and Roy have filed the suit based on what they claim is a contravention of Virginia Human Rights Act 2.2-3900, given the discrimination and expulsion of their three Jewish children on the basis of religion and ethnicity. The Vazquez-Roy family has three children: twin girls aged 11 and a son aged 8. The family identifies with Mr Vazquez's Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.
The complaints request that the Office for Civil Rights of the Office of the Attorney General open an investigation and determine that The Nysmith School for the Gifted violated the VHRA. They are also seeking punitive damages and an injunction for annual training in antisemitism at the school.
The Seattle case
JK and RL have brought a suit against Seattle Public Schools, which is the governing body of their daughter's school - Nathan Hale High School - over the "rampant antisemitism" she endured through the 2023-4 school year.
The parents claim Principal Dr. William Jackson and VP Makela Steward-Monroe "failed to meaningfully intervene" with this inaction "resulting in more and more brazen antisemitic incidents."
The daughter, MKL, 15, is a "proudly Jewish" student who wears a Star of David and is involved in the Jewish Student Union.
However, following the October 7 attacks in Israel, MKL became a "highly visible target to her classmates." She began to hear antisemitic slurs from other children, which escalated into "Hitler's plan should have worked," asking her to "kill herself" and then to threats of physical violence towards MKL specifically. The students also spread false rumors that MKL was "Islamophobic."
"Despite being targeted for weeks based on her Jewish identity, M.K.L. was concerned about retaliation if she reported the threats and abuse to the school administration."
The mother pressed for a meeting with Dr Jackson, who promised to review the security footage, and said he was aware "she was harassed on a daily basis."
The incidents continued, including during a class reading of the book Night by Elie Wiesel during which one student said "the bad thing about this book is that Hitler didn't finish" before drawing a swastika on MKL's folder. She was also spat on.
Despite promising to provide security footage on several occasions, this has never materialized. Dr Jackson reportedly did not respond to multiple emails from the parents, and did noto stay true to his promise to provide antisemitism training to the school.
In this time, MKL was targeted multiple other times, with teachers dismissing her concerns. She began to be cyberbullied which "morphed from comments and messages from individual students to insults and attacks coming from the Nathan Hale Muslim Student Association Instagram account."
These incidents culminated in a hate crime on May 22, 2024, in which a group of approximately twenty students chased M.K.L. through the school, "threatening to physically assault her based on her Jewish identity. M.K.L. hid in a locked classroom with her teacher for approximately twenty minutes, fearing for her life."
The incident was stopped by her teacher Ms Lynch who became suspicious that other students were a threat to MKL's safety and locked MKL in the classroom with her. During this time, the students were banging on the door and yelling for MKL to come out, and MKL received texts saying the children would assault her. Ms Lynch called for security, and also spoke to MKL's parents to say she had "MKL behind the locked door to keep her from getting beaten up by kids."
The day following this attempted attack, Vice Principal Makela Steward-Monroe explained to J.K. that the school did not have the resources to protect M.K.L. and that they could not continue with escorts for M.K.L. throughout the halls. Due to those safety concerns, M.K.L. was unable to return to Nathan Hale for the remainder of the school year. She is now in therapy.
The first cause of action of the suit relates to the failure to uphold the Washington Law Against Discrimination, as MKL was bullied due to her religion and the school failed to provide a safe environment for her. The second cause relates to intentional emotional distress inflicted on MKL by the school as a result of "not taking any appropriate action regarding the unnecessary abuse and harassment of her based on her religious preference."
Two more causes of action relate to negligence in care and negligence in supervision and training.
The parents are seeking compensation for emotional and physical damage.