Jewish students tell Connecticut school board they don’t feel safe

Students at a high school in Connecticut say they have been subject to anti-Semitic hate and do not feel safe.

Some 50 students at Amity High in Woodbridge, many of them Jewish, attended the Board of Education meeting on Monday night and cried as they spoke about the abuse they have suffered at the hands of fellow students involved in a school sport.

While the students said that anti-Semitism has grown at Amity High in recent years, they charged that school officials have done little to deal with it, the New Haven Register reported.

The examples presented by the students included statements such as “these Jews deserve to die” and “we are the Nazis,” as well as swastikas found drawn and carved on surfaces throughout the school. Also, the homes of Jewish families in the area have been vandalized and egged.

Students also said they did not feel safe wearing Jewish symbols or shirts bearing the names of Jewish organizations.

Following the meeting, the interim superintendent of schools, James Connelly, released a letter to the school community in which he pledged that the district “will not tolerate this type of harassment and will investigate and take disciplinary action against students who demonstrate unacceptable behavior. We will also cooperate and coordinate with the local police department in some of these investigations.”

The letter said the district would partner with religious leaders and groups like the Anti-Defamation League to address the issue.

— JTA