Matt PichtNew York is investigating allegations of anti-Semitic harassement at a public school district.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday he's directed state police and the Division of Human Rights to investigate the Pine Bush Central School District after a lawsuit from three families claimed Jewish students were forced to endure anti-Semitic bullying. (Via News 12 Hudson Valley)
The case, filed last year, was recently profiled in The New York Times. The paper says students "have reported being pelted with coins, told to retrieve money thrown into garbage receptacles, shoved and even beaten. They say that on school buses ... students have chanted 'white power' and made Nazi salutes with their arms."
Anti-Semitic symbols scrawled on school walls reportedly went unnoticed by school staff for weeks. The prosecuting attorney in the case says officials didn't do enough to stop the bullying.
"The administrators were on notice. They were told by the parents many times there's anti-Semitism in the school." (Via WABC)
But Pine Bush superintendent Joan Carbone insists the district has made every effort to curb discrimination in the hallways, and says she's confident this latest probe will bear out that claim.
"We are hopeful that we will be vindicated at the conclusion of this litigation. ... I welcome that investigation because I'm very confident in the actions we have here." (Via WNBC)
New York's State Education Department said Friday it was revolted by the "heinous" allegations, adding the department first heard of these issues after the governor announced an investigation.
