Pennsylvania elementary school principal to be fired for antisemitism

Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

A Pennsylvania school district says it is working to fire an elementary school principal for making antisemitic comments.

Phillip Leddy of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School outside Philadelphia made “antisemitic remarks during a conversation with another school employee,” the Wissahickon School District says.

Leddy had left a voicemail to a parent and accidentally kept speaking after he thought he had finished recording. He acknowledged making the antisemitic comments, district superintendent Mwenyewe Dawan says.

“We moved swiftly with immediate action to start the process seeking the principal’s termination,” Dawan says.

The other employee did not make antisemitic comments, but did not push back either, continuing the conversation. That employee has been put on paid administrative leave, Dawan says.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia says Leddy made comments, including referring to a “Jew camp,” said the parent he was sending the message to has “Jew money,” and that “They [Jews] control the banks.”

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