Overview
- Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced the settlement on Tuesday following a civil-rights complaint against the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon.
- The school will pay $100,000 plus attorneys’ fees and issue a public apology from headmaster Ken Nysmith for expelling the children and making them feel unwelcome based on religious identity.
- Terms require adoption of a non-discrimination statement and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
- A new complaints-review committee will operate with an independent monitor, with annual staff antisemitism training and five years of student education on the Holocaust and antisemitism led by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
- The state’s July 29 charge cited peers calling Jews “baby killers,” mocking the children as “Israeli,” taunting them about an uncle’s death, a class project featuring Adolf Hitler’s image, and expulsions issued by email after parents sought help.