City Schools President David Banks denied reports of heinous “Death to Israel” and “Kill the Jews” chants at a Brooklyn high school at a Congressional hearing this week, but critics said the D.O.E. claims not to have conducted any investigation.
“We have found no evidence that that actually happened,” Banks told House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, saying Jewish teachers and students were terrorized by anti-Semitic teens. He talked about the suspicion of chanting at Origins High School, which he claimed to be a part of.
“Just because something is written on the front page of a tabloid doesn’t mean it’s true. . . . It needs to be investigated,” Banks said in later testimony.
The chant was one of many disturbing incidents at the beleaguered Sheepshead Bay school, first exposed by the Post and now being carried out by campus manager Michael Beaudry and a former teacher at Origins. It is part of a lawsuit on behalf of Daniel Kaminski.
Lawyer Jim Walden said his clients had never been contacted about the investigation and that Banks was “just talking the talk, not the reality.”
“The very idea that the Origins allegations were investigated is ridiculous,” Walden told the Post after a House Education and Labor Committee hearing.
Provided by Sidney Sutherland
“Banks isn’t bringing in anyone to actually understand what happened in Origins or to talk about some grand solution he professed,” he said.
Banks told Stefanik that the DOE had found “pervasive and highly troubling anti-Semitic material” at the school, but on Oct. 11, just four days after the Hamas attack on Israel. Kaminski’s claim that students chanted hateful rhetoric during the march was not covered.
“She wasn’t hallucinating,” Walden said. “I highly doubt why the DOE couldn’t find any evidence to support that.”
Walden noted that if asked, he could have given the names of students who participated or who likely filmed the activity on their cell phones.
“They’re going to be pretty embarrassed if I do discovery right away.”
The April 3 lawsuit details the chronic hostility that Kaminski and other Jews experienced at the school, including times when she was called a “dirty Jew” and given Nazi salutes. , including an email sent to teachers saying, “All Jews must be exterminated.”
The administration failed to address the complaints and retaliated against Kaminsky and Bewdley, according to the complaint.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Banks said “a number of students” had been suspended, but said he could not comment further because of the lawsuit.
“I visited the school after these allegations were raised,” he said. “I have met with parents, families, staff and students. I am extremely concerned about what happened there and we will get to the bottom of the incident.”
A DOE spokesperson referred questions from the Post to Wednesday’s hearing.
Additional reporting by Susan Edelman
