Walsh Bullying Log Omits Reported Student Hate Crime

“Kill the Jew!”

So one member of a crowd allegedly yelled while attacking a Jewish student earlier this year at Walsh Intermediate School.

That incident ended up in an official medical report that the school is required to keep by law. But somehow it didn’t show up in a different public report, a log entitled ​“Verified Acts of Bullying in Branford Public Schools.”

Now Adrienne Serra is trying to find out why.

Serra is an advocate for Orit Avizov, whose son was the victim of the hate crime. In July Serra received that system-wide bullying report, and couldn’t find the anti-Semitic incident anywhere in it.

Serra is a longtime advocate for bullied children, stemming from the experiences of her son, who is now 19. She works with an advocacy organization, Connecticut Kids First. She and Avizov have been friends for 16 years.

The incident involving Avizov’s then-12-year-old son and a group of students took place on Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. That date is missing from the log given to Serra. 

The discrepancy stems from a difference of opinion about whether the incident fits the definition of ​“bullying.”

In a meeting with Walsh Vice Principal Peter Anaclerio after the incident, Serra said, she and Avizov were told the school had ​“verified this bullying incident.” A nurse’s report, which was apparently not sufficient to reach the level of a bullying incident, confirms the student had been hit on the head. A video of the assault is in dispute; some say it existed and has now disappeared.

In an interview earlier this summer, Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez said, ​“Not every altercation is a bullying act.”

“Parents do not verify bullying acts. Schools do. Bullying is repeated over time,” Hernandez said, alluding to the definition of how an incident makes it into the log.

The January bullying incident first came to light when a group of parents spoke out about bullying at a Board of Education meeting on May 18. Avizov was among the parents speaking at that meeting.

At that time top school officials did not comment but promised a thorough investigation. Since then Serra reached out to the U.S. Justice Department, the state Board of Education and State Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr.’s office. In the last month the state’s top civil rights coordinator met with Branford’s school superintendent about how this case was handled and why there is a directive forbidding school administrators from speaking with the media about it

The police were not called about the assault and no formal report was made to them, Serra said.

The school bullying log cites five incidents, one each on the following dates: Nov. 5, 2015; Nov. 10, 2015; Nov. 19, 2015; April 1, 2016; and May 25, 2016. The school is prohibited by law from disclosing the particulars of each act and the identities of the students involved. As part of the detailed policy from Branford Public Schools (Series 5000/5111), the list must be made ​“available for public inspection, and to report such number annually in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner of Education to the Department of Education…”

Despite the precise protocol Branford has established for school bullying incidents, this case raises issues on how bullying is defined, how evidence is gathered and maintained, and how information is relayed to parents and the general public. 

Under the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) policies within the Branford Schools website, bullying ​“means any overt acts by a student or group of students directed against another student with the intent to ridicule, humiliate, harass or intimidate the other student while on school grounds, or at a school-sponsored activity or on a school-sponsored activity school bus which acts are committed more than once against any student during the school year.”

While the assault on Avizov’s son was the only single ​“verified” incident, Serra said in a interview that there had been episodes in which the perpetrator kept asking for his lunch money, assuming that because he is Jewish, he had money, she said. Because the lunch money episodes were not verified, that behavior cannot be considered part of the bullying log.

“Get Him To A Nurse!”

The January incident was subsequently outlined in a March 2 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division/Educational Opportunities Section from Avizov and Serra. According to the letter, there was video of what was described as a physical and verbal assault by 20 students in the locker area around the time of dismissal. Orit’s son said the students yelled, ​“Kill the Jew! Jews don’t deserve anything nice! Give us all your money!”

Hernandez said the students had yelled, ​“Kick the Jew,” not ​“Kill.”

The letter goes on to say that Avizov and another mother were waiting in the dismissal area for their children and saw her son crawling toward them, crying and unable to speak. Serra explained that it was actually the other mother who first spotted Avizov’s son clutching his side. Betty Finnegan, a secretary, said, ​“Oh my god, get him to the nurse!”

He was taken to the nurse’s office where ​“a mild injury to his head” was documented via a standard medical form along with symptoms to watch for. Principal Robin Goeler came in and the student told his story; the principal responded that it was only one side of the story and would have to be investigated. Serra said Avizov later saw a bruise on her son’s side.

Serra said in an interview later that Avizov’s son did not see a doctor after the assault. He was scheduled to spend the night with her former husband, a Branford police officer, and Avizov ​“assumed the father would do something.” She also did not realize that she should have photographed his injuries. Following the May 18 BOE meeting, Serra said that Goeler ​“wrote an email suggesting that staff not speak to media” and had Avizov sign it.

After the January assault, Avizov and her former husband met with administrators, who told her that two of the perpetrators had apologized and that the primary perpetrator had a history of bad conduct. The meetings are part of a protocol set down by the schools in responding to bullying incidents. 

Video Account of the Assault?

After the attack Avizov and her former husband were told the assault was captured on video and that there were statements from witnesses confirming Avizov’s account of the incident. Avizov’s son said he saw Hernandez, Goeler, and Anaclero viewing the video. According to Serra at one point Branford Youth Officer Art Ferris said police can’t view the video without there being a criminal act; Ferris did not view the video.

The meetings with administrators are indicative that the assault was ​“verified,” Serra said. She wrote that the family was told they could view the video, adding, however, the video has not been supplied despite requests. Serra believes it has been destroyed.

Amid all this, Hernandez says this was not a bullying incident and denies that there was ever a video. He said, ​“There are numerous allegations that have not been substantiated.

“The mom does not believe our accounts of the incident,” he said. ​“The parent fabricated things through the advocate,” referring to Serra. ​“Everything she had said recently has not been substantiated by school or police.” It was later determined that police were not notified.

Hernandez said Avizov’s son was clearly in an altercation, but the term ​“kick” does not make for a hate crime. ​“It’s highly inappropriate, but not a hate crime,” he said.

Perp Stays On ​“Team”

The protocol also mandates that ​“a plan” must be put in place to deal with the perpetrator. In this case, the perpetrator, a Project Choice student, was suspended for three weeks. (Project Choice is a longtime program that enables the two-way movement of urban and suburban students in the areas neighboring Connecticut’s three largest cities.) Serra said Avizov’s son kept asking daily if he was returning. He did return to school after the suspension and to Avizov’s son’s ​“team” (the middle school operates with student teams in place) despite Goeler’s belief, after a meeting with the perpetrator’s parents, that he would not be returning to school. As part of the remedial plan, the perpetrator was supposed to be accompanied by a teacher or aide, but that was not always the case.

Case in point, Serra said the perpetrator, who was without his aide, confronted Avizov and her son in a stairwell on June 10, shortly before the end of the school year. Serra said Avizov ushered her son behind her and shook her finger at the perpetrator and said, ​“Stay away.”

At the end of the school year, Serra said Avizov’s son remained fearful, anxious, and had headaches. He had encounters with the perpetrator, including one in which the perpetrator said, ​“I don’t think I’ll beat you up any more.” It was suggested that her son be moved off the team, which she believes penalizes him as a victim. Serra noted that the school was aware of the perpetrator’s conduct in his previous school.

Avizov had stated shortly after the January assault that they were told that Assistant Principal Anaclerio had verified the bullying incident as required by the Branford Public Schools CABE policies and administrative regulations.

The current safe schools coordinator Lisa Alberino could not be reached by phone or email for comment. She is not mentioned in any of the correspondence between the school, Serra, and Avizov.

In June, Serra delivered what she identified as 69 pages of evidence relating to the case to the Department of Justice’s office in New Haven, but could not obtain a receipt; she was able to get a note from a receptionist on an unrelated matter to prove that she had been in the building.

In July, Serra received a long response from Connecticut U.S. Attorney Deidre M. Daly and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc H. Silverman. The letter concluded, ​“I understand from your submission and from my conversation with EOS [Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice] that you sent your complaint and supporting documentation to EOS and that EOS will review those materials in due course. Accordingly, the United States Attorney defers to EOS as to whether any further action on the part of the Department of Justice is warranted in response to the concerns you have raised.”

Serra said that because Avizov’s son was assaulted based on his religion, it should be considered a hate crime and a violation of his federal civil rights. She said hate crime goes beyond the scope of the school district and she plans to speak with federal prosecutors this week.

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