A top private school in northern Virginia has agreed to sweeping reforms and a six-figure payout after expelling three Jewish students whose parents reported months of severe antisemitic bullying.

The Nysmith School for the Gifted, located roughly an hour outside Washington, D.C., settled the lawsuit this week following a blistering complaint filed in July by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Dillon PLLC. The parents accused the elite institution — which charges more than $46,000 per year — of violating the Virginia Human Rights Act when it abruptly expelled their children after they came forward about harassment.

According to the complaint, the bullying targeted the family’s 11-year-old daughter with shocking cruelty. Classmates allegedly called Jews “baby killers,” mocked her as “Israeli,” and told her that Jews “deserved to die because of what is happening in Gaza.” They reportedly insisted that “everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel,” and taunted her about the death of her uncle, saying they were “glad he died in the October 7 attack,” even though he had died years earlier. In a separate incident, the girl’s sixth-grade history class created a large artistic image of Adolf Hitler in October 2024 as part of a project portraying “strong historical leaders,” leaving parents stunned at the educational judgment on display.

When the parents first learned of the harassment, they assumed it was an isolated incident. But by February 2025, when another parent alerted them to a “disturbing pattern” of antisemitic behavior, their daughter broke down in tears and described the ongoing torment. She said students had plastered pro-Palestinian stickers on their laptops and lockers and would point at the stickers while taunting her for being “Israeli.”

The girl’s father, Brian Vazquez, met with the school’s owner and headmaster, Kenneth Nysmith, who allegedly promised to address the situation. Instead, tensions escalated. According to the complaint, the school canceled its annual Holocaust survivor talk — a longstanding educational tradition — with the headmaster claiming it might “inflame tensions,” and then hung a Palestinian flag in the school gym. As these decisions unfolded, the child’s harassment reportedly intensified.

When the parents returned in March to request action, the headmaster allegedly told them to instruct their daughter to “toughen up.” Two days later, he emailed the family notifying them that all three of their children — the sixth-grade twins and their younger brother in second grade — were expelled effective immediately. He wrote that he saw “no path forward without trust, understanding and cooperation,” and argued that the parents no longer believed Nysmith was “the right school” for their family. The lawsuit noted that all three children were high-achieving students with zero disciplinary problems.

The settlement reached this week imposes major reforms on the school. Nysmith will adopt a new nondiscrimination policy that incorporates the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which identifies certain anti-Israel rhetoric as discriminatory when it denies Jewish self-determination, applies double standards to Israel, or compares Israel to Nazi Germany. The agreement requires the school to create a dedicated committee to investigate discrimination complaints, employ an independent monitor for at least five years, and mandate annual antisemitism training for all administrators, faculty, and staff led by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. The school must also provide Holocaust education to students each year.

As part of the settlement, headmaster Kenneth Nysmith will issue a public statement expressing regret for the expulsions and declaring that stigmatizing or intimidating Jewish students contradicts the school’s values of respect and inclusion. The school will also reimburse the family $100,000 in tuition and pay their attorneys’ fees.

“Justice has been served for our clients’ family,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, head of the Brandeis Center. “The resulting actions underway at Nysmith School will help prevent this kind of discrimination from happening to others. These steps are critical as antisemitism in K-12 education continues to rise.”

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares also praised the resolution, saying that “every child deserves to learn in an environment free from hate, intimidation, or fear,” and that “no child should feel unsafe or unwelcome in a classroom in Virginia, and no parent should fear retaliation for defending their child.”

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