Denver, CO, February 8, 2017 … The Anti-Defamation League is concerned about reports regarding an  eighth-grade student at West Jefferson Middle School in Conifer, CO who has filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Education after she said the school and Jefferson County Public Schools refused to do anything about anti-Semitic bullying. The student said she has been told she should be put in an oven like the other six million Jews and gassed like the Zika virus. “I constantly deal with anti-Semitism and other students saying that Hitler was a genius,” she said, according to reports. “I feel like I have no place to be safe besides my home,” she said. “I’m scared every day. I’m sad. I feel isolated.”

Scott L. Levin, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, issued the following statement:

The Anti-Defamation League is deeply disturbed to hear reports that a student has experienced such an alarming level of anti-Semitic bullying. If true, we call upon school officials to address the situation in an appropriate, timely and complete manner, and to send the message that our schools must never be a place where hatred and bigotry are allowed to flourish.

Every member of the community has a role to play in ensuring that there is no room in our schools for this type of hateful rhetoric or behavior. ADL stands ready to provide resources to West Jefferson Middle School and to any other school in our region.