Three Jewish siblings were expelled from an elite Virginia private school after their parents complained about antisemitic bullying, a move that’s raising serious questions about the state of free speech, religious freedom, and school accountability in America today.
At a Glance
- Parents say Nysmith School for the Gifted expelled their three children after they reported antisemitic bullying.
- The family alleges the school retaliated instead of protecting their daughter from harassment related to her Jewish identity.
- A formal civil rights complaint has been filed, and the Virginia Attorney General’s Office is investigating.
- The controversy highlights growing concerns about antisemitism and the erosion of parental rights in private education.
Expelled for Speaking Up? The Nysmith School Controversy
In the latest chapter of “You’re Not Allowed to Question the System,” a Virginia family finds itself in the crosshairs of a private school that apparently believes the best way to deal with a bullying complaint is to show the bullied family the door. The Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, a place that charges eye-popping tuition rates north of $46,000 per year to educate your “gifted” child, is embroiled in a firestorm after expelling the three children of Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy. Their crime? According to the family, it was daring to ask the school to do something—anything—about the antisemitic bullying their sixth-grade daughter endured. Slurs, death wishes, and the kind of harassment that’s supposed to be a thing of the past in modern America were all reportedly brushed under the rug, until the parents made noise. Then, in the blink of an eye, the school expelled all three siblings, conveniently after the deadline for transferring to another school had passed.
Headmaster Kenneth Nysmith, the man whose name is on the building, insists the expulsions weren’t retaliation. He claims the school is inclusive and that a Hitler drawing at the center of the dispute was merely part of a social studies project. The parents, meanwhile, say the school failed to intervene as their daughter was called “baby killer,” told she “deserves to die,” and was repeatedly ostracized for being Jewish—an experience that left the children and their parents isolated and desperate for help. Instead of support, the family alleges, they got the boot. The complaint, now in the hands of both the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, accuses the school of violating the Virginia Human Rights Act by discriminating against Jewish students and retaliating against their parents for speaking up.
The Bigger Picture: A Symptom of a National Problem
This isn’t just a story about one school’s lack of backbone. It’s a warning sign for anyone who believes in free speech, religious liberty, or simply the right of parents to advocate for their children without fear of institutional reprisal. The Nysmith episode is playing out against a backdrop of rising antisemitism in K-12 schools across the country, a trend that’s only accelerated since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Jewish families, already on edge, are watching as the playbook from radicalized college campuses trickles down into elementary and middle schools. As Attorney General Jason Miyares put it, if the allegations are true, they’re “beyond disturbing” and represent a clear legal violation. Yet the school’s leadership, rather than address the culture that allowed such harassment to fester, resorts to punishing the victims. Welcome to the upside-down world of modern education, where standing up for your child’s safety is now treated as insubordination by the very people paid to protect them.
The legal complaint, filed in July 2025, details how the family’s attempts to get help were met with indifference, then hostility. After their daughter endured months of taunts and threats, the parents met with Headmaster Nysmith, only to be told—according to their account—that perhaps their child just needed to “toughen up.” Two days later, all three children were expelled, their academic futures thrown into chaos with no warning and no recourse. The school denies any link between the bullying complaints and the expulsions, insisting the decision was about an inability to “work constructively” with the family. That’s a fancy way of saying: Don’t rock the boat, or you’re out.
What’s Next? Accountability, or More Excuses?
The stakes in this battle go beyond the walls of one overpriced private school. The outcome could set a precedent for how private institutions handle discrimination and the rights of parents to challenge authority when their children are at risk. If schools can simply expel the families who complain, what hope is there for accountability? The case is now under investigation by the state, and the Brandeis Center calls the school’s actions “disgraceful,” warning that such normalization of antisemitism is becoming the new normal. For parents across the country, the message is chilling: Keep your head down, or face the consequences. For those still clinging to the belief that parental rights and religious freedom mean something in America, this case is a clarion call to pay attention. When even the “best” schools can’t—or won’t—protect children from hate, where does that leave the rest of us?
Other families at Nysmith, both Jewish and non-Jewish, now watch nervously, some expressing support for the administration, others sharing the expelled family’s outrage. The Virginia Attorney General’s Office has promised a thorough investigation, and the school faces not only reputational damage but potential legal and financial consequences if found in violation of civil rights law. As this story unfolds, it’s a stark reminder that the fight for common sense, constitutional values, and basic decency is far from over—even in the toniest corners of American suburbia.
