A 14-year-old Jewish girl at Desert Shadows Middle School in Phoenix was called “dirty filthy jew” and “ugly jew,” targeted with a Heil Hitler salute, and told her parents should send her to a concentration camp to be “gassed,” according to a 24-page federal civil rights complaint filed Oct. 16. The complaint alleges that when one of her classmates allegedly shoved her into a cabinet weeks later, a school administrator chalked the incident up to a crush.
The complaint, filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office, accuses the Paradise Valley Unified School District of dismissing, delaying its response to, and blaming the victim for a monthlong campaign of harassment, as reported by azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic. The Anti-Defamation League filed the complaint on the student’s behalf, and the law firm Reed Smith LLP submitted it through the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, with attorney Gregory Speier leading the firm’s representation of the girl’s family. Speier said the family reported the harassment, asked for help, and trusted the school to act.
According to the complaint, the girl, identified in the filing only as Student A, attended Desert Shadows Middle School, located on Sweetwater Avenue off 56th Street, and was targeted by five classmates between roughly April 20 and May 21. The harassment allegedly began the previous fall, when the same students reportedly told her she did not believe in God because she was not Christian. She wore a Star of David to school but stopped after the harassment intensified, the complaint states, and one classmate allegedly threatened to “steal her pennies.”
Assault, Bruising and a Disputed Explanation
The complaint alleges that on May 21, one of the harassing students pushed Student A against a cabinet, causing bruising and what the family believed was a possible concussion. A school nurse examined her and found bruising but no concussion, according to the complaint. Paradise Valley Unified did not file an incident report that day, the complaint alleges, though a police report was made the following day.
Assistant Principal Shawn Bell allegedly told the family the student behind the earlier Nazi salute probably had a crush on Student A, according to the complaint, and the school reportedly offered the same crush explanation after the physical assault weeks later. Principal Leah Knaeble allegedly excused another student’s behavior by describing him as very religious and just defending himself, the complaint states. The complaint also alleges that the school used an individualized education program to absolve some students of responsibility and that the student accused of the assault was not disciplined.
Parents Say Complaints Went Unanswered
Student A’s father sent emails to school officials alleging harassment, and her parents complained repeatedly to the district, according to the complaint. A teacher allegedly dismissed the slurs directed at her as not his problem. After the “gassed” comment, the school did not call her parents, the complaint alleges. Only two of the five students accused of harassment were suspended, according to the filing, and the district’s responses overall fell short, the complaint states.
The complaint says Student A’s grades dropped significantly after she was moved to a different classroom, and that she is now receiving counseling. It also alleges that other Jewish students at the school faced harassment, including a swastika placed in a backpack and another unspecified incident. The complaint states that district failures allowed antisemitism to spread throughout the school community, warning that antisemitism spreads when institutions fail to contain it. Paradise Valley Unified School District serves students in northeast Phoenix and north Scottsdale.
What the Complaint Is Asking For
The filing seeks a zero-tolerance antisemitism policy, related staff training, district compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, appointment of a Title VI coordinator, and an independent monitor. It also asks the district to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and requests that the Education Department open an investigation and pursue mediation. Title VI prohibits discrimination in any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance, and the Department of Education has said the law extends to Jewish students based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, protecting religious groups including Jews, Muslims and Sikhs. A 2019 executive order states that discrimination against Jews may give rise to a Title VI violation when based on race, color or national origin.
ADL regional leaders framed the case as avoidable. James Pasch said what happened was preventable and that the district needed to be held accountable. Sarah Kader said schools should protect all students and respect their heritage.
A Pattern Playing Out Beyond Arizona
A similar complaint surfaced in Colorado earlier this year, when the ADL alleged that a Jewish eighth-grader at Boulder’s Southern Hills Middle School endured two school years of escalating harassment, including slurs, Nazi salutes, Holocaust mockery, threats and physical assaults, according to Colorado Public Radio. That complaint also alleged the school and district shifted responsibility onto the victim rather than stopping the students accused of harassment. Boulder Valley School District later acknowledged it had fallen short of its ideals and said it would review policies, expand training and strengthen consequences for repeated hateful behavior, per the Boulder Valley School District.
Boulder Valley also announced plans to create a Superintendent’s Title VI Advisory Council, and a reported settlement had the district agreeing to clarify that its discrimination policies cover national origin and shared ancestry, improve bias-incident reporting, publish annual reports for three years and provide antisemitism training, according to the Cleveland Jewish News. As of mid-August, Boulder Valley had voluntarily entered mediation with the ADL, and that process was still ongoing, the Daily Camera reported.
Nationally, the ADL recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents in 2025, down from 9,354 the year before but still higher than every year between 1979 and 2022 except for 2022 itself, according to jewishaz.com. In Arizona specifically, reported incidents fell to 69 in 2025 from 122 in 2024 and 163 in 2023, though the total remains above 2021 and 2022 levels. Incidents at non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide held roughly steady, with 825 reported in 2025 compared with 860 in 2024, even as antisemitic incidents dropped sharply on college campuses, from nearly 1,700 in 2024 to 583 in 2025, per k12dive.com.
