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Jewish siblings expelled from Virginia school after reporting antisemitism, parents say

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Published  July 2, 2025 10:39pm EDT
Virginia Schools
FOX 5 DC
Jewish siblings expelled from VA school after reporting antisemitism

Jewish siblings expelled from VA school after reporting antisemitism

A Jewish family in Virginia has filed a civil rights complaint with the Commonwealth's Office of the Attorney General after all three of their children were expelled from Nysmith School for the Gifted.

The Brief

    • A Jewish family has filed a civil rights complaint against Nysmith School for the Gifted after their three children were expelled shortly after the parents reported antisemitic bullying.
    • The parents say their sixth-grade daughter was targeted with slurs like "baby killer" and "deserves to die" over the war in Gaza; the school allegedly retaliated by removing all three children.
    • The Virginia Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the complaint, which accuses the school of violating the state’s Human Rights Act through discrimination and retaliation.

HERNDON, Va. - A Jewish family in Virginia has filed a civil rights complaint with the Commonwealth's Office of the Attorney General after all three of their children were expelled from Nysmith School for the Gifted.

What we know:

Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy were shocked when they received a letter last March notifying them that their three children — now one 8-year-old boy and two 12-year-old daughters — would not be allowed to return to the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, Virginia. 

The letter came just two days after the parents had a meeting with the school's director, Kenneth Nysmith, begging him to intervene on behalf of their sixth-grade daughter, who was getting bullied for being Jewish.

"They picked up their children and after one afternoon in March, had to tell their children they weren't able to go back to school anymore," said the family's lawyer Jeffrey Lang. "That they were being kicked out of school. And this was two 11-year-old girls and an 8-year-old boy, and they didn't understand why they were being kicked out. They wanted to know what they had done wrong or what their parents had done wrong. So their parents and they are — it is a phenomenal family — they decided it was important to take a stand for their community and for their children."

Dig deeper:

Lang is an attorney with the nonprofit organization founded to combat antisemitism and fight for Jewish rights. The Brandeis Center has filed a civil rights complaint with Virginia's Office of Attorney General on behalf of the family against the school, which was ranked in the top 10 in the world by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

The parents claim the school and its leadership violated Virginia's Human Rights Act for discrimination and retaliation for complaining about their daughter experiencing anti-Semitic harassment. 

The parents say students pointed to her saying Jews were "baby killers" and "that they deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza." Their daughter was afraid to come to them. Her parents only learned about the harassment, according to the complaint, when one of the girl's classmates was worried about her safety and asked his mom to call her mom.

What's next:

The Office of Attorney General can now investigate the matter and may issue a right-to-sue letter that would empower the family to move forward with a lawsuit against the school. The school has not responded to FOX 5's repeated requests for comment.

Virginia SchoolsNews