by Mark McDermott
Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent John Bowes issued an apology Tuesday for the district’s handling of incidents in which a middle school student verbally attacked four Jewish students with strongly antisemitic language.
The incidents, and their aftermath, led leaders of the local Jewish community to question if the Manhattan Beach Unified School District was living up to the “No Place for Hate” signs that adorn its campuses. But those leaders also worked with Bowes to better address what had occurred.
The incidents occurred two weeks ago at Manhattan Beach Middle School. Four Jewish students, all girls, were allegedly subjected to violently antisemitic statements from another female student, who was reportedly of Islamic Middle Eastern descent.
According to statements released by two local Jewish synagogues, one of the Jewish girls came to school on October 11, four days after the Hamas assault on Israel, wearing a T-shirt that had the word “Israel” on it. The Islamic girl allegedly made several violent statements to the Jewish girls, including “All Israelis and Jews should be killed” and “Revenge is beautiful.”
One parent with knowledge of the exchange said the girls had been friends, and their differing heritage had never been an issue before, but was inflamed by what was occurring in Israel and Gaza. The girls are each 11 years old, the parent noted. Another parent said the father of the girl who made the offending statements had posted similar language on his social media but had taken those statements down after the incidents occurred at MBMS.
“So you know where this is coming from,” said the parent. “An 11-year-old girl doesn’t talk like this. Your child is not born to hate, right?”
The incidents were reported to MBUSD administrators, who subsequently conducted an investigation. According to parents of the MBMS students, the MBUSD investigation concluded that what was said fell under political speech, rather than hate speech.
Rabbi Joshua Kalev of Congregation Tikvat Jacob in Manhattan Beach appeared on NBC Los Angeles Monday.
“These girls were not sought out because they were Israeli, because they were soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces,” he said. “They are young Jewish girls who were sought out at lunch. And to me, there’s nothing political about that. That is hate.”
After the investigation, parents of the students involved received emails asking they enter into a “no contact” agreement, in which their children would be prohibited from speaking to or about the other girl, in person or online, for the remainder of the school year.
In a message sent throughout the community, the Jewish Community Center, which is based in Manhattan Beach, referred to the request as “a gag order.”
“This is truly outrageous,” the message said. “They are victimizing the victims and not focusing completely on the perpetrator.”
Rabbi Yossi Mintz, the leader of the Jewish Community Center, on Monday said he was working with district leaders to better address what had occurred.
“We’re very saddened how this was handled,” said Mintz in an interview early this week. “I am in touch with a few of the school board members. I give them credit. They are working to see what they can do to rectify the situation.”
Bowes did not address the media but was busy behind the scenes, reaching out to Jewish leaders and concerned parents. In particular, he was attempting to defuse the notion that MBUSD had issued a gag order to the students.
In a letter shared on social media, Bowes addressed the issue with Mira Costa High School teacher Bradi Everett, the faculty sponsor of the Jewish Cultural Club.
“There are no gag orders in place at MBMS,” Bowes wrote. “ For many years MBMS has utilized ‘No Contact Contracts’ when there are difficult situations involving 11, 12, and 13-year-old students. We ask them to avoid and not speak to each other in order to avoid reigniting situations we’re trying to resolve with adult guidance in settings where that guidance might not be available, No Contact Contracts are agreements that help protect all students from any future conflicts with one another.”
The contract, sent to parents in order to obtain student signatures, read:
“I ___ agree to have no verbal, physical or social media contact directly or indirectly with ___ for the remainder of the school year, I will not discuss this incident with any other students. I further understand that any contact or continuation of this incident by telling other students will lead to further consequences; this includes direct or indirect contact on campus or cyber activity.”
Reportedly, none of the four Jewish students signed the contract. Salev, on NBC, said it read like a reprimand.
“These four girls did nothing,” he said. “They were just being themselves, and someone reprimanding them to me seems extremely unjust.”
The district released a statement on Monday, both outlining the No Contact Contracts and addressing larger concerns.
“We are aware of recent allegations that have circulated regarding inappropriate interactions between students at MBMS surrounding their views on current events in the Middle East,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, much of what is being shared on social media and within the local community is not based in fact. The situation was immediately reported to school officials, and a thorough investigation took place. Student privacy laws preclude divulging specific details of investigatory findings, so we cannot comment on the specifics of the matter. However, please know that appropriate consequences have been administered based on the authority vested in schools under the California Education Code.”
The statement did little to appease the Jewish community’s concerns or outrage. Board members were flooded with thousands of emails, texts, and phone calls.
Sean Novak, a local attorney who is Jewish and has children in MBUSD schools, wrote that the district was not on sound legal footing.
“The District’s conclusion that the attacking student was expressing a right to ‘political speech’ is absolutely incorrect,” he wrote. “In reaching this defective decision, it appears the District’s legal understanding of ‘free speech’ is shockingly deficient. A student declaring “all Israelis deserve to die” and “all Jews deserve to die” to other students is not practicing ‘free speech.’ That is hate speech by its absolute definition under California law.”
On Wednesday, Bowes sent a personal email to the MBUSD community regarding the incident between the students and its aftermath.
“Like you, I am deeply disturbed by the recent events in the Middle East and am even more saddened that these events have led to troubling interactions between some of our middle school students,” Bowes wrote. “My heart aches thinking of the students, as well as their families, who are already suffering from the events in the Middle East, who now may feel unsafe and unwelcome in our community. “
Bowes acknowledged that the wording of “No Contact Contact” was not appropriate.
“While there are inaccuracies in the information circulating, it is clear that there is still work to be done on our campuses to effectively eliminate anti-Semitism,” he wrote. “We started that work several years ago, and I am committed to doing more. In addition to meeting with the families impacted by the incident, I am reviewing the practices surrounding the use of our ‘No Contact Contract.’ While the ‘No Contact Contract’ is a standard form, we understand that our times are not standard, and this requires us not to rely on our standard practices. After reevaluation, we have come to realize the letter was not the best tool for this circumstance, and we apologize for using it in this situation — we have learned from this experience and will look to improve our practices in the future.”
Rabbit Mintz said that the entire episode was enormously difficult for all involved, but he believed the outcome would lead to a better school district. He said MBUSD Board of Education President Cathey Graves and Councilperson Amy Howorth were instrumental in helping resolve the situation.
“This was a very sad and tragic event for our beautiful community,” he said. “I strongly believe the outcry, from the Jewish community and by the entire community, by the thousands, truly shows the uniqueness of our community, and will only make us better. Through many, many conversations over the last few days, we were able to inspire the school district toward a pathway to move forward. They apologized for the way it was conducted, and it’s only going to make our city, and our school district, even better than it is now. When things do happen, if they do….there will definitely be a much more sensitive and quick response. Through education and sensitivity training, which they have committed to do, I feel that we’re in a good place.”
“Now it is time to move forward, and I’m cautiously optimistic we’re going to move forward in a very, very positive way. We’ve all learned from this.” ER
