By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Fabienne Perlov, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, on Tuesday, April 1, urged the San Diego Unified School District and Lewis Middle School to take allegations “seriously” about antisemitism, racism and bullying at Lewis Middle School.
“These reported incidents targeting students and staff are alarming and concerning and have impacted the school climate,” Perlov’s statement said.
The ADL regional director’s reference was to a report posted on line by an individual identified as Dany Peterson who cited allegations that “suggest repeated incidents of antisemitic graffiti such as swastikas in hallways, bathrooms, and posters; staff observing Nazi salutes at Jewish students without intervening; and a disturbing claim that an administrator forced several Jewish students to reenact Nazi salutes.”
James Canning, SDUSD’s Executive Director for Strategic Communications and Information, stated: “San Diego Unified School District takes all reports of antisemitism, racism, and bullying of any kind seriously. Our Investigation, Compliance and Accountability department is in the process of conducting a thorough investigation into the claims that have been made, and if any are determined to be valid, appropriate action will be taken.”
School board member Shana Hazan, whose district includes Lewis Middle School’s neighborhood, could not be reached immediately for comment. Hazan is an active member of San Diego’s Jewish community. Her late maternal grandparents, Stan and Pauline Foster, served separate terms as president of the Jewish Federation of San Diego.
Peterson said complainants, “fearing further retaliation” wish to remain anonymous.
“Underscored throughout the complaints are not only patterns of harassment and discrimination, but also inaction from administration at all levels,” Peterson said.
“They allege antisemitic incidents have not been properly addressed nor have Lewis and district administration cooperated with third parties involved. Complainants share they’ve been ignored, dismissed, or even hung up on when calling the school or attempting to meet in person.”
Additionally, “complainants say they’ve endured retaliation like homophobic microaggressions, disclosure of private information about other families, email exchanges between school staff that openly question families’ parenting skills, intentional misrepresentations of statements in an effort to undermine them, threats to send school police to their homes, forced transfer of Jewish employees who speak out, firing of Jewish employees who speak out, and an ongoing retaliation towards current Jewish employees.”
A change.org petition which by 1:30 p.m. April 1 had reported 175 verified signatures listed 10 steps to ameliorate the situation at the school in the Allied Gardens neighborhood:
–We call upon Lewis Middle School to hire one more full-time counselor, which would bring their student-to-counselor ratio to an estimated 243:1. We can no longer tolerate insufficient staffing at Lewis Middle School. Show head counselor of Lewis Middle School, Dina Weiss, your support. Her contact information is available on the Lewis Middle School website.
–We call upon Principal Justin Phillips to make a statement to the public about the racist, ableist, and antisemitic incidents at Lewis Middle School and affirm to the public what actions are being taken to end bullying and retaliation (added 3/27/2025).
–We call upon the San Diego Education Association and SDUSD to bargain for comprehensive anti-bullying training for staff to ensure employees have the skills to identify, manage and prevent these incidents from occurring. We can no longer tolerate a “check-the-box” training.
–We call upon the San Diego Education Association and SDUSD to bargain for more counselors at all of our schools. We can no longer tolerate insufficient staffing at any of our schools.
–We call upon SDUSD, the School Board, and the Office of Investigation, Compliance, and Accountability to update their bullying policy and affirm their stance against retaliation. We can no longer tolerate bullies in our school, whether they be students or staff.
–We call upon administration at all levels of SDUSD to end retaliation against anyone who speak[s] up. We can no longer tolerate retaliation.
–We call upon administration at all levels of SDUSD to immediately cease and desist the practice of sending “school police” to homes under the guise of “welfare checks.”
–We call upon members of the community to speak openly of their experiences and listen carefully and compassionately as others come forward. We can no longer tolerate silence or silencing (added 3/27/2025).
–We call upon members of the community read Daniel Mendez’ story and get involved with Cool 2 Be Kind (http://www.cool2bekind.org) and other similar organizations. We are not affiliated with nor endorsed by C2BK (added 3/27/2025).
–We call upon members of the community to join the Community Input and Feedback Session on the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) on Tuesday, April 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Clairemont High School Cafetorium to voice your concerns about bullying, harassment, and retaliation at your school. Let’s focus on bringing solutions. We can no longer tolerate obstacles.
The ninth step suggested reading a story about bullying victim Daniel Mendez’s suicide. In part, it said: “Beginning in 6th grade, Daniel was tormented and harassed by others. He could never understand why. He tried to make the bullies like him. He wanted to be friends with everyone … He reported the bullying to school officials, which only made it worse. After years of bullying, Daniel could not help but to begin believing the horrible things said to him. He came to believe that it was his fault that he was being bullied … [o]n May 1st of 2008, Daniel was driven to ending his life.”
The article went on to report “in the middle of their shock and grief, Daniel’s friends started the Cool 2 Be Kind Club. They took their pain and turned it into positive action to prevent another senseless death like this one from happening again. Ever since, Cool 2 Be Kind has been working hard to prevent bullying and make school a safe place.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.