'Shame on you': East Brunswick school administrators under fire for yearbook mistake

EAST BRUNSWICK – Admitting there was "a gross lack of oversight," Superintendent of Schools Victor Valeski announced a special counsel will investigate how the 2024 East Brunswick High School yearbook published a photo of Muslim students instead of members of the Jewish Student Union (JSU) with all the Jewish students’ names removed.

But the announcement did not calm many of those who came to Thursday's Board of Education meeting to criticize the district's administration over what has been called a "blatant act of antisemitism."

"Shame on you East Brunswick administration, whose obligation is to provide oversight to these young students who are expected to generate the contents of this yearbook, and completely failing to do so adequately," said Heba Megahed, a mother of two district students. "Shame on you for creating a clear divide in a time where there's heightened sensitivity globally."

Megahed was one of the audience of nearly 750 that crowded into the high school auditorium who spoke to the school board about the controversy which has roiled the suburban school district.

Abby Aranovich, a junior, recounted for the school board several antisemitic acts directed against her − being called names, having pennies thrown at her, taunted with slogans of antisemitic rhetoric, trauma in the high school hallway and then following her to her gym.

She said she was reluctant to report these acts because of past inaction by the administration and she feared backlash.

"It doesn't matter what I say or report, nothing will be done," Aranovich said. "I'm not standing here to demand attention or sympathy, but to convey a message that has been blurred, lost and overlooked. Our school is one of the most diverse institutions I've ever seen. And that's the beauty of it. Every one of every color, sexuality, gender, race, background is protected and respected. But from the latest action, this clearly doesn't apply to the Jewish student body."

Hasan Sayin, co-president of the school's Muslim Student Association, said the group's members have been bearing the blunt of blame for the controversy with some being called names and being threatened.

Sayin said the Muslim community "is completely in support of any kind of condemnation of antisemitism."

"But, when you act so quickly, to label something that is unknown as antisemitism, and you take hours to half-heartedly apologize to the Muslim community, not being specific whatsoever, you are separating the unified community of East Brunswick," he said. "It's supposed to be one community. But taking one side and not defending the other side, you are separating the community."

'Should have never happened'

Valeski said the independent investigation by the special counsel would begin immediately.

The superintendent said the investigation will "validate what we've already seen and to draw an independent, thorough, fair conclusion that we can deliver to the community."

The school board has hired Yaacov Brisman of Brisman Law of Passaic, at the suggestion of Board Attorney Matthew Giaccobbe, to conduct the investigation.

"From that initial investigation, we've determined at a minimum that there was a gross lack of oversight and the creation of that page for the yearbook," Valeski said. "And we acknowledge it is unacceptable. We also know the impact to students in East Brunswick and the entire East Brunswick community because of this oversight. I want to assure everyone that we have just taken the commentary, the passion, the anger; we have taken it seriously."

The incident "should have never happened," Valeski said.

Safeguards will be in place "to make sure it never happens again," he said.

"This investigation will be fruitless if we don't have controls in place to make sure this never happens again," Valeski said.

Seniors have been asked to return their yearbooks to the main office so that the page will be replaced by a new page by a representative of Varsity Yearbooks, the publisher, who will be in the school district. The proof of the new page has been produced, the superintendent said.

Valeski assured students that their own copies will be protected, and the repaired books will be ready by "Senior Send Off" on Wednesday.

'Alienated and disillusioned'

Valeski's words did little to assuage many at the meeting.

Many expressed outrage over the yearbook incident and all − Jews, Muslims, Christians, studenst, parents, residents − demanded answers and action.

Many also placed blame for the current climate of division and vulnerability in the lap of the district administration and school board for their "poor response."

Some said Mayor Brad Cohen inflamed the situation by calling the incident an "act of blatant antisemitism" before any investigation had been conducted.

Others called for Valeski's resignation and others warned school board members they would be voted out of office.

On Friday, Cohen said they "missed a teaching opportunity."

"The events of this past week could have been an opportunity to show everyone around us that we stick together when one group is hurting, targeted or discriminated against,' Cohen said. "Unfortunately, that did not happen."

He added that the "years of deep-seeded pain felt by Muslim and Jewish students due to acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia that was reported and dismissed" must be "addressed immediately."

"In the meantime, we all need to take a step back and turn down the heat," Cohen said, referring to the escalations of tensions between communities and onslaught of "posts, letters, and texts" that "show levels of bias, racial slurs, and intimidation that are not any different from the yearbook fiasco itself."

Charlotte Friedman, president of the East Brunswick High School Jewish Student Union, said she felt "shock and hurt" when she discovered her group's photo in the yearbook had been replaced. She said she has lost sleep and has not been studying for finals.

"It feels as if our identity as Jewish students has been symbolically erased," Friedman said. "It is extremely upsetting to witness the club for which I have served two years as president to be unseen and unrecognizable. I will always be reminded of this distressing event every time I open my high school yearbook."

A new photo of JSU members was taken Thursday and more than 50 students showed up, Friedman said.

Justin Ockun, who graduated from the high school last year, said the incident and its response has been "a failure in leadership at multiple levels."

"Now, as we've heard today, while all evidence, logic and reason for this yearbook incident lean to it being an intentional act of hatred against the Jewish community, we are not the only group hurting right now," Ockun said. "And with that being said, how is it possible that the response to this incident has been botched so badly that every single member of the community, regardless of what groups they may align with, feels completely alienated and disillusioned. We as a community have been devastated by this incident. Yet no one in the district has stepped up to the plate and unified us. The appalling stories of discrimination we've heard today need to be denounced in no uncertain terms by this administration."

Sayin, the co-president of the school's Muslim Student Association, questioned where the empathy was for himself and fellow Muslim classmates when their photo was posted online.

"A majority of the kids in that picture are minors, and nobody, as it was getting spread around on social media to the national news, nobody cared for the safety of those minors," Sayin said. "And to think, to automatically assume that we, the MSA, would do this intentionally, as an act of antisemitism is disgusting. We've been exposed to Islamophobia and further harassment because of a lack of authority on your end."

School board members expressed pride in the students who spoke at the meeting, apologized for the polarization in the school and hoped for healing.

"It does break my heart because I've never seen this in East Brunswick," said Board President Laurie Lachs. "I am incredibly heartbroken for them (students). I'm not telling you that this was handled perfectly. I don't think there's anything that's ever handled perfectly, and we have to learn from our mistakes. And some people have asked for an apology, and I can only speak for myself. My apologies and I am incredibly sorry for what's going on for these children. And I'm devastated to hear some of the things that have gone on in the high school. These are kids' lives and no kid should ever be made to feel that way and I'm sorry."

“I look forward to the day when a student can come forward and not have to say 'I am a Jewish student' or 'I am a Muslim student,’" said Board member Vicki Becker. "Just 'I'm a student.'"

Lachs added she did not know "why we're not giving you answers, but no matter what we say you're not going to believe us."

"And in my heart of hearts, I don't believe this is antisemitism," she said. "And the reason that the call for the outside investigator is because no matter what we say, we're accused of keeping secrets, of having transparency issues, but the reality is there's a very fine line between transparency and confidentiality."

After Thursday's meeting, the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey asked school officials to return to conversations with the organization and Jewish community families affected by antisemitism and its mishandling in district schools to "construct a path forward and correct the district's, schools', administrators', and teachers' unacceptable missteps of the past, including dismissing one student's report of antisemitism − not once, but twice − saying the student 'wasn't offended enough,'" according to Susan Antman, executive director of Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey.

"The failure to parse details to accurately reflect events as they unfolded, the muddying of issues, conflating of facts, lack of regard for timelines, blanket statements, misrepresentations, false equivalencies, and crafting narratives to conform with preconceived hypotheses or biases was on full display at the June 6 Board of Education meeting, on social media surrounding the yearbook incident, and in fact long before and far beyond the yearbook incident," Antman said.

The Federation also called upon the state Legislature to cease in its delays and cancellations of voting on two bills. S1292 helps people responsible for recognizing and responding to antisemitism understand what constitutes antisemitism through adoption of a standard definition of antisemitism, and S2937 ensures that if a public entity is using DEI-based standards, then the standards must include Jewish people. Current public DEI initiatives do not, the Federation said.

"While it is true that we will never legislate away hate or generations of baked-in bias, these bills provide guardrails to support school leaders who otherwise lack the education, themselves, or the moral compass, courage, or acumen to do the right thing at the right time," Antman said.

Email cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: East Brunswick NJ schools under fire for yearbook mistake