Jewish parents in one of California’s wealthiest counties are furious over what they see as a yearslong failure to confront bigotry — amid a disturbing rash of antisemitic graffiti and hate speech by children at local public schools.
Just last week, a swastika was scrawled over a set of lockers at a middle school in Ross Valley School District — at least the sixth instance of antisemitic graffiti since 2020 at the district in leafy Marin County outside of San Francisco, The California Post has learned.
“The system is failing us, and it feels like without a real shake, it’s just going to be kind of like some nice words. We’ve heard many nice words and a lot of verbose statements,” said Yair Levin, who is Jewish and has two kids in the district.
The swastika graffiti, which was quickly removed, was the second hate incident in one month after a 12- and 13-year old were cited in a possible hate crime after allegedly scrawling “I hate Jews” on the grounds of Brookside Elementary School.
Parents told The Post they were forced to take matters into their own hands — knocking on doors and putting up a $10,000 reward to help locate the teen perpetrators.
At least two swastika incidents between 2020 to 2023 were never reported to the police nor immediately communicated to parents by district officials, parents said.
Ross Valley School District Superintendent Tyler Graff said his district takes all incidents seriously.
“I personally cleaned the graffiti within 2 hours of being notified of the incident even though it was on a weekend evening,” he said on the graffiti allegedly drawn by two students.
“We take all incidents of hate speech seriously and will continue to apply the approach we took here to any future events that happen.”
The first incident, in February 2020, happened at Brookside with a swastika chalked on campus over the break. The district the following March barely mentioned it in a newsletter, viewed by The Post, admitting it was likely drawn “by a teenager” and there would be class discussions.
In 2021, a parent found a swastika at Brookside with his children. In an email viewed by The Post, the parent told the principal he saw it on a pavement and that it was potentially drawn by a child that was nearby. Multiple children asked him why he and other adults were washing away the “art,” he recounted.
There was never any response or follow-up action on those incidents, said Dani Cohen, a parent at the district since 2019.
“The thing that is so frustrating that I’ve dealt with at the schools since 2019 is that there has been incidences over and over, and they haven’t dealt with it properly, in my opinion,” Cohen said.
Diana Masarsky, who pulled her daughter out of the district last year, said in late 2023, a swastika was drawn in the dirt on the baseball field when her son was a student at White Hill.
“Kids were going around and asking, ‘Are you a Jew? Are you a Jew? You better not be a Jew,’” Masarsky recounted to The Post.
A message from the school’s co-prinicipals condemned the drawing and the “racial slurs.” They said those caught would be disciplined and that they notified local law enforcement. It mentioned students were in the middle of an “anti-bias lesson” series but asked parents to help educate their children.
Parents said they only heard about many of the incidents secondhand from parents or activist groups.
“Honestly, not surprised,” said parent Diana Masarsky on the lack of communication then from the district. “They just quickly try to sweep it under the rug, minimize it. I think that’s really what it is.”
Only recently — after parents shared their concerns with the press — did officials at Ross Valley School District, located in the Bay Area town of San Anselmo, acknowledge this October’s incidents in a community-wide email and commit to taking steps to fix the problem.
“I understand the community frustration and share it, especially given this is the fifth incident of this kind on district property since 2019,” Superintendent Graff said in an Oct. 17 letter to all parents.
“Swastika graffiti is antisemitic, hateful and unacceptable in our schools,” added Graff, who pledged explicit education on antisemitism, security camera investments and a curriculum review.
“The feeling is that we’re not seen, and we’ve been talking for years, and it’s as if now the school decided to come and to look into it a bit more, because we as a team kicked up a storm because we were so upset,” Levin said.
Graff, in an email to The Post, said he could only comment on this month’s incidents and not on anything before his tenure. He insisted that for the Brookside graffiti, the district took swift action and was treating the incident seriously. He declined to say what the punishments were, citing student privacy laws.
Graff said he committed to action items such as including more Jewish perspectives in the school library and curriculum after meeting with parents.
Parents called Graff’s response to the latest graffiti drawing a significant improvement, but called the seeming spike in antisemitism in the ritzy district a sign of the times.
“Think about all the Jewish kids that go to the school and how uncomfortable they now feel and othered they feel,” Cohen said.
For some parents, it’s already too late. Masarsky, whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors and whose family fled the Soviet Union due to antisemitism, pulled her child out partly due to the lack of urgent action.
“It hits really close to home, when we came to America, the land of promise and opportunity, to be free, to express who we really are,” she said. “I never imagined that I would have to worry about the safety of my Jewish children in Marin County in 2026.”
