Among other forms of anti-Semitic discrimination, students drew a picture of Hitler as an example of a ‘strong historical leader’ and told a Jewish student they were happy about Oct. 7

The prestigious Nysmith School in Northern Virginia received a civil rights complaint Tuesday for allegedly expelling three Jewish students who faced anti-Semitic harassment and whom the school’s headmaster told to “toughen up” after they reported the conduct.

The Nysmith School, known as one of the top 10 institutions in the country for students between kindergarten and eighth grade, allegedly expelled Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy’s three Jewish children in March, after the parents complained about its “unwillingness to respond to anti-Semitic harassment of their 11-year-old daughter,” according to a copy of the complaint the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed with Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares.

The complaint accuses the tony school—a feeder institution for the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Falls Church—of fostering an environment “that is hostile to Jews,” suggesting that the hatred displayed on America’s college campuses has also infected younger students.

The school “allowed anti-Semitism to take root in her class” over the course of several months, including with a social studies project that saw students promote Adolf Hitler as a “strong historical leader.” That project “was shared with the entire school community” and contributed to “a pattern of persistent and severe anti-Semitic harassment,” the complaint alleges.

The parents notified Headmaster Kenneth R. Nysmith, the school’s owner and namesake, that the bullying began shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree and intensified in the following months. After the headmaster “decided to hang a Palestinian flag in the school gym, the harassment of their daughter grew more severe,” according to the complaint.

When the family raised the issue again with Nysmith earlier this year, he told them their daughter should “toughen up” and abruptly ended their meeting. Two days after that confrontation, on March 13 of this year, Nysmith allegedly informed the family by email “that all three children were expelled effective immediately, days before their mid-semester report cards, and long after the application periods for other local schools had passed.”

The Brandeis Center filed its complaint under Virginia’s Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and shared ancestry.

“The actions of Nysmith School against these three young children are disgraceful,” Brandeis Center chairman Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “Through its actions, the administration sent a clear message: bullying is acceptable, as long as it’s against Jewish families.”

The situation became unmanageable for the children’s parents in October 2024, a year after Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis in cold blood. Around that time, one of the children’s social studies teachers tasked a class with depicting a “strong historical leader.” The Nysmith School sent an image from the project over email that showed a “photo featuring the unmistakable face of Adolf Hitler.”

The parents, the complaint states, became aware earlier this year “that one of their daughters had been the target both of severe and pervasive anti-Semitic harassment and of bullying by other children in her class. But she had been too ashamed to tell them.”

Children in the school allegedly placed “pro-Palestine stickers on school-issued laptops and lockers” and taunted the Jewish children for being “Israeli.” Other kids described Jews as “baby killers” and said “they deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza.”

“The bullies told their daughter that everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel, which is why they hate you,” the complaint alleges. “The 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.”

When the parents reported this behavior to Nysmith in February of this year, he initially “acknowledged the seriousness of the misconduct and assured Mr. Vazquez and Dr. Roy that he would swiftly handle the issue.”

Just weeks after that meeting, Vazquez and Roy learned that Nysmith had canceled the school’s “annual Holocaust program speaker because of his concern that the event might inflame emotions within the Nysmith School community in light of the Israel-Gaza conflict.” The following day, a Palestinian flag was “raised in the Nysmith School gymnasium, alongside the flags of other nations, including the Israeli flag.”

Around that time, the school environment became even more hostile, the complaint says.

The 11-year-old child “broke down in tears and said the bullying had become worse. The Palestinian flag provoked more aggressive bullying and harassment. Classmates cited it as evidence that ‘everyone hates Jews,’ taunting her that ‘we won’ and that the flag was proof that ‘nobody likes you.’”

The family again contacted Nysmith to address the bullying, but were met with resistance. Nysmith, the complaint says, “dismissed their concerns and told them to tell their daughter to ‘toughen up.’”

By March 13, Nysmith decided to expel all three Jewish family members from the school.

“After reflecting on our emotional conversation on Tuesday, the words used make it clear that you have a profound lack of trust in both me and the school,” Nysmith wrote, according to a copy of the email included in the complaint. “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.”