Students take school to court for antisemitism
Allegations of bullying and antisemitism have are behind the reasons why five former students are suing the state of Victoria for negligence by the headmaster and certain staff at Melbourne’s Brighton Secondary College.
Brighton Secondary College
The five young men are suing for breaches of human rights and of the Racial Discrimination Act.
The Age has reported “In one of the most severe allegations contained in the statement of claim, one year 9 student said he was forced into a toilet cubicle by four boys and had a knife held to his throat, was punched in the stomach and threatened with further harm if he spoke out”
The student filed a complaint but nothing was done about it.
The Age reported that some of the perpetrators would grab a kippah of a student’s head and use it as a frisbee.
The problem become so intolerable that some of the boys left the school.
The Age also reported that the principal Richard Minack told an assembly that his father was enlisted in the German army in WWII.
The school has denied that there was antisemitism and intolerance.
Judy Fetter, Executive Director of The Jewish Community Council of Victoria told J-Wire: “ These alleged incidents of antisemitism are of great concern to the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV). We have been engaged by the Department of Education and Training (DET) to deliver a series of three professional development sessions on Antisemitism Training for staff at Brighton Secondary College in February and March in response to an external investigation and a series of recommendations for quality improvements.
Education on identifying different forms of antisemitism, Jewish cultural awareness, outlining reporting pathways and Upstander responses to discrimination have been key areas of focus.
Coordinated by the JCCV, the training was delivered to staff by educators from the Jewish Museum of Australia, the Ark Centre and Courage to Care in conjunction with the involvement of DET. Owing to the identified need for further education on antisemitism training, discussions are in progress between JCCV and DET regarding a statewide professional development program for government school staff in Victoria.”
Yossi Goldfarb, president of Zionism Victoria, added, “It’s both shocking and dispiriting to learn of these allegations, and worse still that such actions allegedly appear to have been allowed to continue unchecked. It is precisely for these reasons that we encourage non-Jewish schools to take part in our Connecting Cultures program, so their students can learn about Jewish history and culture, and be aware of the impact of their words and actions.”
If it is true that the headmaster knew about that disgustIng antisemitic affair that seemed to have gone on for many months, he should be brought to the court to explain why he swept it under the carpet as if it was “not of much importance).
I hope the ending to the case has a positive and fruitfull result.
good for them sue their buts off. Maybe it will wake them up.