BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor
Six families of children at Woodside and Menlo-Atherton high schools have filed a federal lawsuit that claims teachers and administrators failed to address a rise in antisemitism in its schools, creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
“(The Sequoia Union High School District) has a long history of tolerating casual antisemitism on its campuses,” the lawsuit states. “Students and faculty have openly joked about Nazis and the Holocaust, while certain teachers have peddled antisemitic falsehoods about Middle East history without facing consequences.”
After the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel by the terrorist group Hamas, the antisemitism at the schools escalated, the lawsuit said.
“Jewish students faced a barrage of taunts, slurs, and hateful remarks, culminating in the appearance of two giant swastikas on campus grounds,” the suit said. “Rather than addressing the escalating incidents, SUHSD officials shifted blame onto the victims, refused to engage with concerned parents, and used superficial ‘investigations’ to whitewash legitimate concerns,” the suit claims.
“Jewish students were even advised by teachers to conceal their religious identity to avoid becoming targets,” the suit said.
The suit names Woodside High Principal Karen Van Putten and vice principals Charles Velschow and Wendy Porter. Five of the students attend Woodside. The suit also names Menlo-Atherton High School Principal Karl Losekoot, Sequoia Union Superintendent Crystal Leach, two district administrators, Bonnie Hansen and Todd Beal, all five district board members. Also named is Gregory S. Gruszynski, a history teacher at Woodside High and a former head of the teacher’s union.
The Post asked Shawneece Stevenson, the president of the Sequoia board and a defendant, for a response to the suit. She referred the Post to the district’s public information officer, who didn’t respond before Tuesday night’s publication deadline.
The parents who filed the suit are Sam and Andrea Kasle, Igor and Marina Bershteyn, Margarette Kesselman, Scott and Lori Lyle, Daniel and Jennifer Reif and Lisa Joy Rosner.
The same lawyers who represent the parents in the Sequoia Union High School District case have also brought a lawsuit against University Prep Academy, a charter school in San Jose, claiming a Jewish student suffered months of antisemitic abuse. Also named in that suit as a defendant is the Santa Clara County Office of Education, which approved the charter school, and the California Department of Education and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
The Sequoia suit highlights a number of alleged incidents to bolster its claim of rampant antisemitism in the two high schools:
• The suit claims that in 2022, the president of M-A’s Jewish Student Union was called a slur for Jews by a student who saw her Star of David necklace. The suit said no action was taken by the school.
• In early December 2022, M-A administrators found swastikas scrawled on bathroom walls and their response was that any offended Jewish students should make appointments with social-emotional counselors.
• In September 2023, the suit claims a student discussing Anne Frank’s memoir, “The Diary of a Young Girl,” at Woodside in a study group declared that all Jewish people should return to living in ghettos. The suit said nothing was done by administrators.
• In September 2023, a substitute biology teacher at M-A, upon hearing that one of her students was Jewish, proceeded to tell jokes about the Holocaust. Principal Losekoot said the teacher, Zoe Wilson, could either apologize or the student could transfer to another biology class. Wilson apologized, but the student felt the apology was insincere.
• On Nov. 1, 2023, two swastikas were found etched on the pavement at Woodside High School. The lawsuit includes a photo of one of the swastikas. The perpetrator was caught, but claimed the swastikas were “spiritual symbol(s) from Japanese Buddhism known as Manji popularized by anime.”
Principal Van Putten, however, in an email to parents repeated the perpetrator’s story. The suit also claims Van Putten lied about contacting the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office about the swastikas because the sheriff has no record of receiving any reports about the incident.
• On Oct. 16, 2023, a Jewish M-A student was accosted by a group of students who hurled antisemitic epithets and threats at him as he was on his way to English class. The suit said school administrators blamed the student for his own harassment and said he should relocate to a different class to avoid “provoking” the main antisemitic perpetrator.
The suit accuses Woodside history teacher Gruszynski of spreading “pro-Hamas propaganda under the guise of teaching 10th-grade World History. He is accused of mocking the beliefs of the only openly Jewish student in the class and “coerced her into endorsing his biased and ahistorical views to achieve satisfactory grades on exams.”
“The girl repeatedly returned home in tears after suffering through Gruszynski’s classes,” the suit said.
The girl’s parents asked the district for the sources of Gruszynski’s claims about Mideast history, but they refused the request.
Parents brought their concerns about antisemitism on campus to the school board on Jan. 17, but “the meeting ultimately yielded no concrete measures to address the increasingly hostile educational environment faced by Jewish students.
“Rather than seize the opportunity to enact reforms to protect Jewish students, however, SUHSD’s trustees, administrators and teachers circled the wagons,” the suit said.
The suit asks the court to order reforms in the district, such as training teachers about stopping antisemitism, and changing the curriculum to provide accurate information about Israel and the Palestinians. The suit also seeks the firing of Principal Van Putten, Gruszynski and Wilson.
Also, the suit seeks a special master — an independent party appointed by the court — to ensure that the district implements policies against antisemitism.