She wore a Magen Dovid around her neck to Desert Shadows Middle School. She was 14, open about being Jewish, and according to a federal civil rights complaint filed last week, that is what made her a target.
Between April 20 and May 21 of this year, the complaint says, at least five classmates went after her. She was called an "ugly Jew." She was told her parents should send her to a concentration camp to be gassed. She was given a Heil Hitler salute, to shouts of "Jew, Jew, Jew." When she reported it, she was threatened for snitching. And on the last day of school, the complaint says, the same boy who called her an ugly Jew shoved her across a desk and into a cabinet.
Her parents did what parents are supposed to do. They reported it, in writing, again and again. Her father's emails to school officials are attached to the complaint. Today she attends school in a different district.
At a glance
School: Desert Shadows Middle School, off 56th Street near Sweetwater Avenue, Paradise Valley Unified School District
Student: a 14-year-old Jewish girl, named in the complaint only as "Student A"
When: April 20 to May 21, 2026
Filed: a Title VI complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, by the ADL and the law firm Reed Smith, at no cost to the family
The district: says it condemns antisemitism and that every reported incident was investigated and addressed
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A family that kept asking
The heart of the complaint is not only what the other children did. It is what the family says happened each time they asked the adults for help.
According to the complaint, the school knew from the first report. Her teacher allegedly told her the slurs were not his problem. Administrators allegedly would not call her parents because staff were too busy. An assistant principal allegedly suggested the boy who gave the Nazi salute probably had a crush on her. The principal allegedly excused another of the boys because he was very religious.
Instead of moving the harassers, the complaint says, the school moved her: first into a class with one of the boys, and finally into the principal's office, where she fell behind by more than 45 missing assignments. Her grades dropped. By the complaint's count, only two of the five students were suspended. Her father asked the school to bring in a Holocaust survivor to speak; the complaint says that was refused.
After the shove into the cabinet, the Arizona Mirror reported, officials told the family there was nothing they could do because it happened on the last day of school, and no incident report was filed.
"No child should be told she belongs in a gas chamber."
Sarah Kader, deputy director, ADL Desert Region
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The community stands up
The family did not have to hire a lawyer. The complaint came through the ADL Legal Action Network, a group of more than 55 law firms that represent victims of antisemitism for free. Gregory Speier, the Reed Smith partner leading the case, said the family followed every step they were told to follow, reporting, asking for help and trusting the school, and that the goal now is to make sure no Jewish child at the district goes through the same thing.
Sarah Kader of the ADL's Desert Region said the girl was not the only one: other Jewish students at Desert Shadows have also been harassed for being Jewish, she said.
For Valley families, the story lands close to home. Paradise Valley Unified serves about 24,000 students in some 50 schools across north Phoenix and north Scottsdale, not far from many of the Valley's shuls.
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What the district says
Paradise Valley Unified says it "unequivocally condemns antisemitism." In statements to local news outlets and an email to parents, the district said it values its relationship with the Jewish community, that hateful speech has no place in its schools, and that each incident reported last school year was immediately investigated and addressed. Federal student privacy law, it said, keeps it from sharing what discipline was given.
The district also said Desert Shadows students sat through presentations on antisemitism and respectful behavior last year, and that the work will continue this year. Spokesman Mat Droge gave the Arizona Mirror the same account.
The complaint is a set of allegations. The Office for Civil Rights has not ruled on it, and the district has not answered it point by point in public.
How we reported this: drawn from the ADL's Oct. 29 announcement of the complaint, coverage by the Arizona Mirror, 12News, ABC15 and JNS, and the district's public statement. Kol Phoenix has not reviewed the full 33-page complaint and has not spoken with the family, whose names have not been made public; we did not try to identify them. Quotes attributed to school staff are allegations in the complaint, not findings. The publisher is rabbi of Congregation Phoenix Torah in Phoenix. Corrections and additions are welcome at [email protected].
Kol Extra
There is more to this story. What the family is asking Washington to require. How these complaints have ended elsewhere, including a Colorado district this fall. And what to do if it happens to your child.
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