Suffern Central Residents Start Antisemitic Comments Following Two Candidates Running For Suffern School Board | Suffern Central School District Watchdog
Two candidates recently announced their candidacy for the Suffern Central School Board. The comments on Facebook blew up when the candidates stated that they were parents of children that went to private religious schools and they were from the Jewish Orthodox community. These two candidates state that they are upset over Suffern Central ignoring their concerns when it comes to busing their children. During past school board meetings, many private school parents showed up, and during public comment, they voiced their discontent. They claim that the district was tone-deaf to their concerns.
Antisemitism is nothing new in Suffern Central. Three years ago, when Chris Nicpon and Matthew Kern were running for election, an antisemitic flyer was sent out to staff and community members, supporting both candidates and attacking several people with antisemitic rants. A parent that was the target of the flyer reported it to the school district, yet they performed no investigation. The parent even had evidence showing that a teacher was involved and yet no investigation occurred. The same parent got up at a school board meeting and asked Matthew Kern (President of the School Board at the time) and Chris Nicpon if they were going to denounce the flyer, but instead Matthew Kern, attempted to interrupt the parent multiple times and chill his speech, in order to protect the teacher. Matthew Kern later states that this was he was afraid that the teacher’s name would be mentioned even though he did not know whether the parent was going to bring up the name, however wanted to protect the teacher. The teacher is a member of the Suffern Education Association that gave Matthew Kern thousands of dollars for his campaigns, as well as the fact his wife is a member of the same union. No conflict of interest here! #sarcasm
Suffern Central Antisemitism Explodes
There were always subtle antisemitic remarks, such as “them” and “those people” when referring to the members of the Jewish faith, however, when the two candidates announced their intentions to run for school board and their statements were published on Facebook, the Suffern Central Community unleashed with antisemitic comments.
Here are just a few comments:
One commenter claiming that there will be voter fraud because the two candidates are Jewish? Citing Williamsburg, which is a large Jewish community.
Here are a few more comments:
Referring to the Jewish community as “Like cancer takes over a body one cell at a time !” and “for their own racist reasons !”.
Ignorant Comments That Private School Children are a Burden on The Public School Community
Here is one commenter stating that children ARE a burden because they don’t go to public school:
We are talking about children here and they are a BURDEN?
Let’s continue:
So according to this commenter refers to the two candidates running for school board are “The devil in disguise!” . Nope nothing to see here, no antisemitism to be seen here at all! #sarcasm Does this commenter have a relative that works in the school district?
Although there so many comments, this one surely stood out!
The commenter wrote: “the people that live in these communities (Hasid communty) are the most rasist,tax dodging, under educated (even with private school education),taking of government funding,giving or not carting about anyone or anything that does not help them,failure to abide by zoning or fire codes. I could keep going but you got my jest. The school system will never be the same. Spending will be cut from public school and be diverted to their private schools. When look for homes look for a place that fits your needs not try to change what works to what you just mover from. Pray no one from the Hasid community wins school system will never be the same. Remember this is my opinion but check the facts what I say its true.”
The funny part of this comment is that while the commenter claims that the Jewish community members are under educated, his comment is riddled with grammatical and punctuation issues besides being completely ignorant.
Posters on The Suffern Central Article Support Taxation Without Representation
Many people commenting on the announcements seem to share the same uninformed sentiment:
Many people were commenting that if you do not have a child in the school district then you should not be allowed to be on board. There is a few issues with this concept. It is what the Boston Tea Party was based on. There are people that are being taxed that feel as though they have no representation. These two candidates are legally allowed to run, but some commenters feel as though because they are Jewish and their children go to private school they should just shut up and keep paying their taxes and allowing the taxes to increase every year, while the student population decreases every year.
More Than Half of The Current Suffern Central School Board Members Have No Children In The District
The second problem is that the current board members would have a little issue meeting those requirements.
Matthew Kern — Does have children in the district / Does Have Family Members Employed By The District
Jen Hodge — Does have children in the district
Marlo Dickman — Has one child going to private school, unsure about any other children in the district
Thomas Donnelly — No children in the school district / Does Have Family Members Employed By The District
Paul Shapiro — No children in the school district / Does Have Family Members Employed By The District
Darrell Frasier — No children in the school district
Chris Nicpon — No children in the school district
ALMOST ALL RECEIVED MONEY FROM THE SUFFERN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION! What did the Suffern Teachers get for their money?
So more than HALF of the current school board members do not have children in the district, so maybe the commenters should have rephrased their comments to say, if you are part of the Orthodox Jewish community AND don’t have children in the public schools then you should not be able to run for school board. However, if you are not a member of the Orthodox Jewish community then it is ok for you to not have a child in the district schools and still it on the school board. The hypocrisy is startling!
Originally published at https://www.sufferncentralschoolswatchdog.com on April 22, 2022.