A Brooklyn lawmaker and Jewish advocates called on the city’s education chancellor and a Sheepshead Bay principal to be removed following shocking allegations of antisemitism at a public high school.
The call came for the removal of chancellor David Banks and Origins High School interim principal Dara Kammerman during a Sunday press conference after multiple staffers outlined a series of alarming incidents, including a claim that dozens of teens had marched through the hallways chanting “Death to Israel” and “Kill all the Jews” after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
“This is a school where there are things happening every day and this has become a culture where this behavior is tolerated and accepted and the [Department of Education] is OK with it. This is now a pattern, a systemic problem,” said Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Republican.
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Jewish advocates have called for the removal of School Chancellor David Banks and Origins High School interim principal Dara Kammerman after allegations of antisemitism at the Brooklyn school. Gregory P. Mango
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Footage of a student at Origins High School giving a Nazi salute. Courtesy of Sidney Southerland
The fiery claims, previously outlined by The Post, included one teacher lamenting that she was “scared to come to work every day” after she was called a “a dirty Jew” by a student who said he wished “she was killed” in the Holocaust.
In another alleged incident, a student donning a Hitler moustache was caught on security footage going from class to class doing the Sieg Heil salute, according to employees.
“This is a place where swastikas are painted on teachers’ offices, on walls, in classrooms, on boards, on students’ laptop,” she alleged. “This has become the norm at this school. The complaints fall on deaf ears. There’s been no discipline, which is why this behavior’s been encouraged.”
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Former Assemblyman Dov Hikind speaking at a press conference outside the school on March 3, 2024. Gregory P. Mango
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Supporters holding Israeli flags at the press conference. Gregory P. Mango
Dov Hikind, who served in the Assembly for decades as a Democrat before retiring in 2018 and switching his political affiliation to Republican last year, called it the “school from hell.”
Hilkind blasted students who allegedly distributed flyers last week for a “Vigil of the Marauders of Palestine” at Brooklyn College
“Are those marauders also the Hamas terrorist Nazis that butchered 1,200 Jews on Oct.7?” he asked. “I assume so.
“When a teacher says ‘I live in fear going to work everyday,’ should anyone live in fear of going to work?” Hilkind added. “Especially in a public school, a public high school where are tax dollars pay for everything.”
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City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said the school’s antisemitism is a “systemic” problem. Gregory P. Mango
Advocates claim that no serious discipline has been doled out by interim principal Kammerman, who Hikind said issued a letter to parents allegedly telling them “not to worry” because she herself is Jewish.
The speakers called for her removal as well as the firing of Banks as DOE chancellor.
“Banks does nothing and he will do nothing,” said Hikind, as he citied a DOE statement from the front page article of Sunday’s Post.
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Danielle Kaminsky, a teacher at the school, has faced antisemistm from students. Gregory P. Mango
Kammerman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
The DOE had said there was investigating the antisemitic allegations, adding there was “no evidence that these claims are true.”
In response to the statement, speakers at the rally accused the nation’s largest school district of “gaslighting” the Jewish community.
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