A Brownsville charter school did nothing to stop Jewish children from being beaten and bullied by students who tormented kids for years, an $8 million lawsuit alleges.
Parents Rodopi Sisamis-Markman and Michael Markman levied accusations of religious discrimination against Uncommon Schools Leadership Preparatory Ocean Hill in a civil suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court Thursday, court records show.
“The school’s decisions regarding how to handle the bullying were based on the fact that the bullying was antisemitic, ” the lawsuit contends. “The school would have shown greater concern … had the bullying been Islamophobic or racist.”
Problems began for the three Sisamis-Markman children when they started wearing religious clothing to the Leadership Prep Ocean Hill at 51 Christopher Ave. in 2017, two years after they first enrolled in kindergarten, the suit claims.
The Sisamis-Markman’s son I.S.M. was tormented for wearing a yarmulke and tzitzit (a fringed garment worn underneath his shirt) by classmates who tore at his clothes, scratched at his arms and mocked him for having a tail, the suit alleges.
One student went repeatedly unpunished as he reached into the little boy’s pants looking for the tzitzit, hit I.S.M. in the knee, and split his lip with a punch to the face, according to the suit.
The Sisamis-Markmans first became aware of the problem when their son came home with a bruised knee and they asked him if he was often bullied, according to the suit.
The boy burst into tears and replied, “All the time, every day.”
The Sisamis-Markmans went to I.S.M’s teacher and asker her to tell students to respect his different clothing, but were refused, according to their suit. And when they set up a meeting with Principal Caroline Kerns, she allegedly told the concerned parents bullying was “part of life.”
The children’s parents eventually filed a complaint under the Dignity For All Students Act — a New York State law that protects students from discriminatory bullying — in 2018, the same year I.S.M. began crying out in sleep and his sister was told, “everyone here hates you,” the suit alleges.
After a Leadership Prep board member reportedly told the concerned parents an investigation found no evidence of bullying, they pursued legal action, the suit contends.
The Sisamis-Markmans are asking $8 million in damages and that all LPOH students and staff undergo annual training on antisemitism and bullying.
Their attorney declined to comment on the case.
Uncommon Schools, the nonprofit that runs Leadership Prep Ocean Hill, did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
