Lawsuit Describes Culture Of Anti-Semitism At MAST High School

HIGHLANDS, NJ — Students sketching the words "I h8 Jews" into the sand on a class field trip, and then posing next to it — grinning — for a photo. Students reading Mein Kampf during reading hour and openly carrying the book in hallways. Students making fun of Jewish-sounding last names. Students calling the SAT counselor "an obnoxious Jew."

A bombshell lawsuit filed this week by a former student details a disturbing culture of anti-Semitism at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST), a public magnet high school located on Sandy Hook.

The state Division of Civil Rights has been investigating anti-Jewish incidents at MAST for the past year now, and this week's lawsuit is only the latest troubling accusation against the school.

In fact, the anti-Jewish culture among MAST students was so pervasive that in the spring of 2018 the Monmouth County vo-tech school district even consulted with the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey "to address the overall school climate and entire school community," said Timothy McCorkel, superintendent of the Monmouth County Vocational School District.

The student, who is herself Jewish and is now in college, filed the lawsuit because she said she was the target of repeated anti-Semitic harassment and bullying at MAST, and that school officials did little to help her. She also said she witnessed years of casual anti-Jewish remarks being made at the high school when she was a student there.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. federal court by Cuti Hecker Wang LLP, a Manhattan-based law firm, and a copy of the suit was provided to Patch. The Monmouth County Vocational School District was named in the suit, as well as MAST principal Earl Moore and superintendent McCorkell, among others.

"At its root, this case is about endemic anti-Semitism at one of New Jersey’s leading public magnet high schools, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology," read the lawsuit.

Student is a young woman who grew up in Marlboro Township

The student who filed the suit is named only as P.W., but the New York Times identified her as Paige. She grew up in Marlboro Twp., where she attended Marlboro public elementary and middle schools and was regularly placed in the gifted and talented programs.

She was intrigued to attend MAST, her lawyers say, because it offered a specialized high school experience that focused on marine biology and science, and she also was curious about the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC). She enrolled in MAST as a freshman in the fall of 2015, and her family even moved to West Long Branch so Paige could have a reasonable commute to school.

The anti-Jewish comments started almost right away, she said.

"For example, on the first day of school during P.W.’s freshman year, two naval science teachers were having trouble pronouncing the last name of a student spelled 'Giuffre,'" the suit read. "The student told the teachers how to pronounce his name, and they both laughed while one of them said that it sounded like “Jew fray” and the other said he would not want to have a name like that."

During her sophomore year, she observed several MAST students reading Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler during their mandatory “read period.” Some of these students said, in class, how much they liked the book. Paige noticed that one student in particular, E.D., was often carrying the book. MAST’s tenth grade curriculum did not include any studies relating to World War II or the rise of Nazi Germany that would make it appropriate for a student to be reading the book, said her lawyers.

Paige said teachers knew that students were openly reading Mein Kampf on school grounds during school hours, but they did nothing to address it.

She said she also saw, on numerous occasions, various MAST students drawing swastikas in their notebooks and on school lunch tables. "This was a common practice among MAST students during the lunch hour," read her suit.

During her sophomore year, another student, L.W. reported to the district's assistant superintendent that a MAST student, T.A., identified himself on social media as a member of the Hitler Youth, and described other anti-Semitic incidents and behavior at MAST.

The suit says the assistant superintendent responded by saying that there has always been racism and anti-Semitism and always will be. "No action was taken," said her lawyers.

The April 2018 school field trip

Things hit a peak during an April 2018 school-sponsored field trip, she says, when a fellow MAST student, J.L., texted to a group of approximately 17 other MAST students, including Paige, a photograph of MAST student J.K. proudly lying on the beach next to the larger-than-life-sized words “I h8 Jews” etched into the sand.

Paige told her parents, who promptly reported what had happened to MAST’s principal, Moore.

However, how he responded is even more disturbing than the teen's actions, said her lawyers.

"Far from protecting P.W. from further abuse, Mr. Moore effectively communicated to the students who were involved in the incident that P.W. had been the one who turned them in," said her lawyers.

The two teens who wrote the message and took the photo were suspended for four days. But Paige's lawyers said that punishment was not severe enough.

"After J.L. and J.K. were each suspended from school for four days (little more than slaps on the wrist given the severity of what they did), they and their friends retaliated against P.W. severely, engaging in a large-scale and explicitly coordinated campaign of retribution against P.W. to punish her for 'snitching,'" read the suit. "Overnight, P.W. went from being a happy, successful, and well-liked student to a pariah."

Nearly the entire student body stopped talking to her. When they were not shunning her, they were pointing at her, calling her names, ridiculing her, and continuing to engage in anti-Semitic abuse. A fellow student placed a rock in close proximity to her desk with the word “adolf” painted on it.

When questioned by the state Division on Civil Rights about this, a MAST English teacher said she supposedly believed that the rock said “hope” rather than “adolf.” However, the Division on Civil Rights noted that if the letters in the word “hope” are written in a certain way, then, when placed upside down, the writing says “adolf,” an inversion that the Division on Civil Rights further noted connotes “adolf was our last hope.”

Throughout her junior year, her classmates often made anti-Semitic comments in her presence. For example, during the lunch hour, MAST students would often give each other Jewish sounding surnames as a joke and then ridicule those names. MAST students referred to the school’s SAT course instructor, who was Jewish, as “an obnoxious Jew.” And on April 12, 2018, a student referred to Paige in an email as a “nonbeliever."

When Paige and her parents repeatedly reported this to Moore and other school officials, they were indifferent, say her lawyers.

Monmouth County Vo-Tech school district responds

Moore did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comments.

When contacted by Patch, McCorkell, the superintendent of the Monmouth County Vocational School District released the following statement:

"Immediately upon learning of the April 21, 2018 incident on Sandy Hook involving MAST students, the District appropriately disciplined the students involved. In addition to responding to the students directly involved in the incident, the District consulted with the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey to address the overall school climate and entire school community," he said.

The school's efforts to combat anti-Semitism at MAST did not stop there.

In May 2018, MAST's entire 11th grade attended a Colloquium at Brookdale Community College sponsored by the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Educational Center entitled "Stand Up Against Hate," said the superintendent.

"This full-day program was specifically focused on cultural competency issues to train staff and to educate students, raising awareness related to all forms of discrimination including anti-Semitism. Part of that program was so successful that it is now a permanent part of MAST curriculum," he said.

McCorkell said he could not comment further due to the pending litigation. However, he said the Monmouth County vo-tech school district is committed to "providing a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students that is free from harassment, intimidation and bullying and all forms of bias and discrimination."

Paige said she was forced to drop out of MAST and transfer to Shore Regional High School in Long Branch. She said that students from MAST told students at Shore Regional about her, the bullying continued and she had to drop out of that school as well. She took online classes at Brookdale to obtain her high school diploma. She did not go to her senior prom or walk in a graduation ceremony, her lawyers said.

"P.W. is now a freshman at an out-of-state university," writes her lawyers. "Adjusting to college life has been very challenging for her, especially socially. She understandably has issues with anger and trust. She is having trouble forging new friendships and establishing relationships with professors and is considering moving back in with her parents in New Jersey and attending a local school."

Patch has written about anti-Semitism at MAST before: Anti-Semitic Harassment At Monmouth County School District: OAG (Nov. 2019)