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Parent recounts antisemitic and racist incidents, urges districtwide approach to tolerance
Summary
Parent Jennifer Lindenbaum reported several racist and antisemitic incidents involving students and asked the board to institute top‑down diversity and sportsmanship practices; she said prior outreach efforts had not led to changes.
Jennifer Lindenbaum, a parent and resident, used the public comment period to recount multiple incidents involving students — carved offensive content in a desk, derogatory remarks in a team chat and a remark that "Hitler was right" by a student in a group chat — and said previous offers to bring in speakers and programs produced no sustained change.
"I'm not asking that the Rhinebeck athlete be punished. That will not take back what happened. I'm asking that we incorporate practices from the top down," Lindenbaum told the board, urging districtwide approaches to diversity, sportsmanship and classroom instruction about the Holocaust and civil rights.
Lindenbaum said she had helped bring programs (a play about civil rights, a mobile museum of tolerance) to the district through the PTSA and asked the board and administrators to make those practices systemic rather than sporadic. The board had announced public participation rules before the comment period and reminded speakers not to discuss individual personnel or students in detail during this forum.
The transcript does not include a response from district leadership during the public comment segment recorded.
