Larkspur-Corte Madera School District faces bigotry outbreak

The Larkspur-Corte Madera School District is coping with a flurry of antisemitic, racist and homophobic incidents reported on its middle school campus.

“Parents are outraged; we are outraged,” Brett Geithman, the district superintendent, said of the incidents reported in recent days at Hall Middle School in Larkspur.

Twice, a student made antisemitic gestures with hate-motivated statements towards another student, Geithman said. The same student was again targeted by another child who threw a small rock and used hate speech. There were also separate incidents targeting Black and Latino students and those in the LGBTQ+ community.

“These acts cause pain and trauma,” Geithman said in a letter to parents sent last week. “This is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in our schools.”

Geithman said the discipline policy for hateful speech or actions is clear: suspension for a first incident, and expulsion if the student continues to send hateful messages.

“LCMSD takes all forms of antisemitism and hate speech seriously,” he wrote. “We have explicit consequences if students engage in such behavior and have followed through with them in light of these incidents that recently occurred with Hall Middle students.”

The school also held a private forum Wednesday for concerned parents prior to the regular district board meeting. A student education session on hate speech and “dehumanizing language” followed the next day, Geithman said in his letter.

“This is a school issue, this is a home issue, this is a community issue, this is a global issue,” Geithman said. “We collectively raise our children and it takes all of us to prevent, respond to, and denounce acts of hate.”

An increase in hate and antisemitic incidents has come around the world in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. The war started Oct. 7 with the massacre of more than 1,200 people in Israel by the terrorist group Hamas and the subsequent bombing in Gaza that killed an estimated 11,000 Palestinians.

Local Jewish leaders have reported an increase of more than 300% in antisemitic incidents since the start of the war.

In southern Marin, a incident involving a video with a racial slur at Tamalpais High School earlier this fall enraged residents and triggered a strong response from the Tamalpais Union High School District administration.

John Carroll, the Marin County superintendent of schools, said he is monitoring all the events, providing support to the school districts and responding to concerns from parents countywide.

“Our goal through Marin County Office of Education is to create a learning environment that has the least amount of anxiety, so kids can go to school and feel safe,” he said Monday. “At school, we want every student to be comfortable and be able to learn.”