Peticioni i drejtohet: The Syosset Board of Eductaion

The Jewish community of the Syosset Central School District is concerned that we do not have a clear path forward for Syosset's Jewish community to safely coexist with our neighbors. Since October 7th, there has been an alarming increase in both oral and written communication that leads us to believe that our children are in imminent physical and psychological danger. The Board's actions to date are well-intentioned, but are not stemming the tide of hate that is lapping at our shores.
We the undersigned specifically request that the Syosset Central School District:

1. Adopt a resolution that reinforces the District's commitment to the Code of Conduct, stands against all forms of hate and unequivocally condemns the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
2. Develop and execute a plan to teach the Code of Conduct to all SCSD students. We do not find reading the Code to students on a single day to be an effective way to communicate the values the Code seeks to instill on our community.
3. Ensure that all administrators and faculty recognize that acts and speech that are threatening to the Jewish community are prohibited by the Code of Conduct. Threatening acts and speech include - but are not limited to - swastikas, calls for intifada, references to "from the river to the sea", and the suggestion that the rape and butchering of Israeli civilians (Jewish and otherwise) was a legitimate form of resistance.
4. Teach students that misinformation about the Israel/Hamas war leads to threatening behaviors that violate the Code of Conduct. Providing all teachers with clear, factual talking points about the Israel/Hamas war that clarify the roles of Hamas, the Israeli government, civilians in Gaza and civilians in Israel (Jewish, Muslim and other). Set clear guidelines as to how and by-when this information needs to be relayed to the student body.
5. Enforce the Code of Conduct to the strictest possible extent, and make it known to the entire community that actions and speech rising to the level of a hate crime will be immediately referred to the Nassau County Police Department.
6. Implement the above with a clear understanding that there is a difference between traditional bias incidents and the acts and speech that are threatening to the Jewish community. Do not allow name calling from years ago to be conflated with current hate crimes and distract you from your responsibility to protect our children from immediate harm.