Mockery of Jewish boy slips past Cupertino yearbook editors [View all]

[YoungDemCA]

CUPERTINO -- At first glance, Monta Vista High School's yearbook looks impressive, the successful result of an all-out effort to put out a pristine product. But buried among its slick photos and creative captions is an anti-Semitic slight -- purposely planted by a student against a Jewish classmate from Israel.

The insult passed unnoticed by the yearbook adviser -- and was published in all 1,600 copies -- because the boy did not use an obvious racial slur. Instead, he has admitted to school officials that he intentionally changed the last three letters of his classmate's name to "jew" while labeling a team photo.

Discovered during the last week of classes, the subtle taunt has created heartache for the victim's family, who fled Eastern Europe after barely surviving the Holocaust. It's also created a predicament for the school, which prides itself on its diversity and is struggling with few options to fix the problem since the yearbooks have already gone out.

"The administrative leadership teams at Monta Vista High School and the Fremont Union High School District are outraged by this incident," spokeswoman Sue Larson said. "We do not and will not tolerate racial slurs of any kind."

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_25932759/mockery-jewish-boy?source=social