The parents of three Jewish children who were expelled from Nysmith School for the Gifted after the parents complained about the "unwillingness to respond" to the "pattern of persistent and severe antisemitic harassment of their 11-year-old daughter" have settled with the school for $100,000.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced on Tuesday that the Nysmith School has agreed to settle the discrimination claims filed by Ashok Roy and Brian Vazquez on July 1, 2025, regarding the private K-8 school in Fairfax County, Virginia.
The school expelled three Jewish siblings after their parents notified the headmaster about the severe and relentless antisemitic bullying and harassment faced by one of their daughters.
As part of the settlement, Nysmith School promised to adopt new nondiscrimination policies that include a clear definition of antisemitism, to establish a working committee made of three people or more to investigate complaints of discrimination, to engage an outside monitor for five years, to provide mandatory antisemitism training to administrators, faculty, and staff, and to students.
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington will lead all training sessions and programs provided by Nysmith School under the terms of the agreement.
What did the case involve?
The severe antisemitic harassment of the 11-year-old girl 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 extent 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.
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, at 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 the 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.
The school has promised to pay the family $100,000 in the next two business days, as well as $45,000 to cover the attorney fees.
Headmaster Ken Nysmith must also issue a public apology for expelling the children of the family and state that stigmatizing Jewish students or making them feel unsafe or unwelcome based on their religious identity or expressing their Jewish identity is contrary to Nysmith School’s fundamental values of mutual respect and inclusion.
“Justice has been served for our clients’ family, and the resulting actions underway at Nysmith School will help prevent this kind of discrimination from happening to others. These steps are critical as anti-Semitism in K-12 education continues to rise,” said Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center and the former US Assistant Secretary of Education who ran the Office for Civil Rights. “Through this settlement, we send a clear message, one that demonstrates accountability and willingness to improve. It is our hope that other schools and universities around the country will follow suit.”