Student & Parent Petitions
Jewish Student Petition
Garnered 250 signatures within 24 hours;
and was read during the board meeting by Trustee Michael Allman.
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To the Board of Trustees of San Dieguito Union High School District:
The Jewish students of SDUHSD are asking the Board to show their support for us with an antisemitism resolution on the upcoming school board agenda.
SDUHSD is not just our school, it’s our home. We are proud to be Ravens, Falcons, Mavericks, and Mustangs, but we are also proud to be Jewish. We have had enough of the swastikas we see tagged everywhere, enough of the hateful memes, and enough of the ugly side comments and texts.
We should not be afraid to wear a Jewish star necklace or to post about being Jewish on social for fear of being bullied.
After being blindsided by standardized testing during Rosh Hashanah -- the Jewish New Year -- just this past September, we were reminded how little representation we have even with so many of us in this district. The teachers didn’t know what to do or how to handle the missed days.
It created a lot of stress, especially for us juniors and seniors, and lots of us even chose to stay at school and skip one of the most holy days on our calendar because we were scared to miss something important at school.
Some of us saw our teachers allowing antisemitic comments being made towards us during the latest war in Israel with Hamas.
Most of the students and teachers didn’t even know what they were saying and hearing was a problem. But we knew.
And when we spoke up, we were silenced.
The students and the teachers all need to be educated on what antisemitism is and what to do when it happens.
We deserve to feel safe in the classrooms and on campus.
Some of us feel like if we ask for support or report an incident, nothing will happen. Others have asked our teachers and Principals for support and have not received it, or reported incidents and didn’t see any change.
So now we are asking you, the Board, to support us.
An antisemitism resolution will let us know that you have our backs. We hope that it will help prevent hate crimes as well as put a system in place for what our schools can do when it happens, because we know it will continue to happen. A resolution is just the first of many steps.
Jews, like all minorities, face our own unique type of hatred, which is why we are asking for our own antisemitism resolution.
Grouping all minorities together will not do any of us justice.
Please add the antisemitism resolution to the November 18th agenda.
Thank you,
SDUHSD Students (250 names)
SDUHSD Parent Petition
Garnered 400 signatures within 24 hours
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To the Board of Trustees of San Dieguito Union High School District:
We, the undersigned Jewish parents of San Dieguito Union High School District, are asking you, our district’s School Board Trustees, to vote YES WITH AMENDMENTS on Item 3b, the Resolution Condemning Antisemitism, on the November 18, 2021 Special Board Meeting Agenda.
Last week, our brave children wrote and signed a petition asking you to add an Antisemitism Resolution to this week’s agenda.
We thank you for hearing them and taking the steps towards protecting your Jewish students, staff, and teachers.
Unfortunately, the resolution that was posted does not yet reflect the nuanced concerns of our students, families, and community. We ask that you amend the resolution to adopt the one that members of the Jewish community worked on with the Board, dated 11/16/21.
Over the years, our community has engaged in many efforts (many of which are on record) to work within the system by submitting and escalating issues through the proper channels of reporting.
We have met with and educated various authority figures, principals, district administrators, and trustees.
We, our children, and our entire Jewish community were routinely disregarded, sidelined, or given responses that neither address the severity of the reported issues, nor implement any visible consequences towards their perpetrators.
Examples of antisemitism in our school district manifest in many forms: hate against our religion, race, culture, nationality, language, heritage, physical appearance, food, holidays, customs, association (real or perceived) with Israel, political affiliations (real or perceived), and far off geopolitical issues over which we (and certainly not our children) have any control over.
Many of the occurrences our children experience go unreported due to their learned fear of retribution from authority figures, teachers, or other students.
History has shown what happens when there are no consequences to antisemitism and it is allowed to spread like a cancer. Recent events have shown us the devastating and even deadly effects of escalating antisemitism.
At Thursday’s Board of Trustees Special Meeting, you have the opportunity to begin the process of healing the many years of discrimination our Jewish community has felt in this school district.
We are grateful to you for taking an unequivocally and firm stand against all forms and modern day manifestations of antisemitism.
We are ready to collaborate and proactively support your ongoing efforts to effectively condemn the existence of this unique and often misunderstood form of discrimination in our school district.
We hope that you will stand by our children -- your students -- now, and not be the next statistic or news headline.
Thank you,
Current, Former, and Eligible SDUHSD Parents from the Jewish Community & District Friends