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Wissahickon School District Superintendent Mwenyewe Dawan (Screenshot by JE staff)<\/p>\n Wissahickon School District Superintendent Mwenyewe Dawan (Screenshot by JE staff)<\/p>\n
By JE Staff<\/p>\n
The principal of an elementary school north of Philadelphia is set to be fired after he was heard making antisemitic comments on the voicemail of a Jewish school parent.<\/p>\n
In a message to families of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School, Mwenyewe Dawan, the superintendent of the Wissahickon School District, said she was recommending the immediate termination of the principal, not named in the message but widely identified in news reports as Philip Leddy.<\/p>\n
In the voicemail, reported on by Philadelphia-area news stations and shared on social media, Leddy, talking to another school employee, is heard referring to a \u201cJew camp,\u201d says the father he called has \u201cJew money\u201d and says \u201cthey control the banks.\u201d When the employee wonders if the father is a lawyer, Leddy says, \u201cthe odds probably are good.\u201d
The remarks were made after Leddy returned a phone call to the father and did not realize he had failed to hang up.<\/p>\n
In response to the remarks, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said it was \u201cdeeply disturbed\u201d by the voicemail.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is most concerning is not only the language itself, but the mindset it reflects,\u201d the Federation said in a statement. \u201cThe comments rely on well-known antisemitic stereotypes that reduce a parent to caricature and signal hostility rather than respect. For a family entrusting their child to a school community, hearing this kind of language, particularly from a principal, is profoundly unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one promoting antisemitic rhetoric should be leading and teaching our children,\u201d said Andrew Goretsky, Philadelphia regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. \u201cADL Philadelphia has worked with the Wissahickon School District over the years, and we are relieved that district is working quickly to address alleged antisemitic statements made by a school administrator.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her message, Dayan said the school district received a copy of the voicemail the morning of Dec. 19. She said the principal \u201cself-reported\u201d to the administration that he had left the voicemail.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the impact this will have on our school community, and in particular the Jewish members of our community, and we want to be strongly and immediately clear that antisemitism will not be tolerated,\u201d Dayan said. \u201cAs Superintendent and an administrative team we are truly shocked and sickened that a school leader, trusted with the safety and well-being of students and staff, would speak this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leddy was placed on administrative leave by the school district ahead of a Dec. 22 hearing where he would be given a chance to explain his actions.<\/p>\n
Dayan said the school employee \u200awhom Leddy was speaking to \u201cdid not engage in antisemitic rhetoric or discussion, but did not appear to be alarmed or concerned by what had been said, and instead continued on with the conversation. That employee has been placed on paid administrative leave subject to further investigation and further due process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The voicemail follows other incidents where parents have complained of alleged antisemitic or anti-Israel viewpoints being expressed in the Wissahickon School District, which serves about 5,000 students in Ambler, Whitplain and Lower Gwynedd. In June, the school board eliminated a World Studies class at the Wissahickon Virtual Academy that critics said presented a one-sided, pro-Palestinian view of Israeli history. In November, Jewish parents brought attention to a booth at a school fair where students from a Muslim Student Association chapter placed a Palestinian flag at the table and offered other students the chance to wear a keffiyeh. One student at the booth wore a stole that bore the phrase, \u201cJerusalem is ours,\u201d written in Arabic.<\/p>\n
The Federation said that in the wake of the Leddy incident, it wants to see action on the part of the Wissahickon School District.<\/p>\n
\u201cWords spoken behind closed doors matter. When those words reflect bias, they erode trust and harm entire communities,\u201d the Federation statement said.<\/p>\n
In addition to accountability for Leddy and the other employee, the Federation said it wants to see an in-person meeting between the superintendent and local Jewish families so the school district can hear directly from the Jewish community, \u201cacknowledge the harm done, and begin the necessary work of rebuilding trust. Open dialogue and responsiveness will be essential in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n
It said the Wissahickon School District must also \u201ccommit to meaningful, comprehensive, and sustained education on antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination.<\/p>\n
Continued education must be available to all student-facing faculty and staff. \u2026 This work must be proactive and continuous, not limited to moments of crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJewish families want what all families want: to know that their children are respected, supported, and safe at school,\u201d the Federation said. \u201cAddressing this moment with clarity, care, and accountability is essential to restoring confidence and ensuring that every student can learn in an environment rooted in dignity and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wissahickon School District Superintendent Mwenyewe Dawan (Screenshot by JE staff) By JE Staff The principal of an elementary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28847,35994,35995,16062,12385,35996,35997,35998,35999,69,71,70,36000,36001,36002,36003],"class_list":{"0":"post-68019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-adl","9":"tag-ambler","10":"tag-andrew-goretsky","11":"tag-antisemitism","12":"tag-jewish-federation-of-greater-philadelphia","13":"tag-lower-gwynedd","14":"tag-lower-gwynedd-elementary-school","15":"tag-muslim-student-association","16":"tag-mwenyewe-dawan","17":"tag-philadelphia","18":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","19":"tag-philadelphia-news","20":"tag-philip-leddy","21":"tag-voicemail","22":"tag-whitplain","23":"tag-wissahickon-school-district"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}