East Brunswick Yearbook Incident An 'Unfortunate Error': Investigator

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — The East Brunswick High School yearbook incident was a “highly unfortunate error” and not a result of “malice,” an independent investigator found.

The Board of Education appointed an independent counsel to look into the matter after the 2024 edition of the high school yearbook has a picture of Muslim students replacing the original photo of Jewish students who are part of the Jewish Students Union Club. The names of Jewish students are also missing.

The investigator, Yaacov Brisman of Brisman Law, completed his investigation and presented his findings to the school district.

According to the findings, the ‘Lead’ Yearbook Advisor acknowledged that she placed the incorrect photograph on the page. “I found [her] credible, and I have no basis to find that she acted out of any animus, racial, religious, or political, towards Jewish or Muslim students,” Brisman concluded.

“I find that the Lead Advisor was at best careless, but her actions can also be considered negligent. She should have exercised greater attention to detail when selecting the photograph. She admittedly only “assumed” it was the correct photograph. The photograph clearly has a number of students who are identifiably Muslim. Even accounting for diversity among students, this should have triggered greater awareness. Moreover, as an experienced educator, in light of domestic and international events, [the Lead Advisor] should have had a heightened sense of awareness and sensitivity surrounding students of Jewish ethnicity and/or faith. This sensitivity also holds true for students of the Muslim faith who were clearly identifiable by their dress and who were also mislabeled.”

The lead advisor’s name was redacted from the report.

The report further outlines in detail how the error occurred.

Historically, the photos for the Coptic Club, Muslim Student Association, and Jewish Student Union clubs have been commingled in one shared folder and the photo of the Muslim students - like other photos in the folder - was assigned three keywords, including the tag “MSA/JewishSU.”

When the Yearbook Advisor searched for “Jewish” to find a photo of the Jewish Student Union, the photo of the Muslim students appeared as a result, the report said.

Additionally, although an Editor contacted the Jewish Student Union advisor to request a photograph and roster, the “Yearbook Club did not receive a JSU roster for inclusion in the Groups section,” according to the report.

“While I’m grateful that the results of this investigation show that these actions were serious mistakes without malice, we must now focus on repairing the deep hurt and division that has been created in our school and community,” Superintendent Victor Valeski said.

“We take great pride in our diversity and celebrate all of the students, teachers and faculty that make East Brunswick an exemplary district. Working with the Board of Education, we will make sure that there is accountability for the mistakes that were made and take measures, including implementing a tolerance training program for the start of the next school year, to ensure something like this never happens again.”

The error was brought to light after East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen sent out a press release.

Calling the incident a “blatant antisemitic act” Cohen called on the school administration to investigate the matter and hold the accused accountable

The report also includes several recommendations for revising the Yearbook production process with more sophisticated review measures and leaves the decision regarding appropriate disciplinary measures to the Administration.

“This has been a very difficult time for students, parents, teachers and our entire community,” Board of Education President Laurie Lachs said.

“We will work with the Superintendent to make changes to the Yearbook creation process and to bring more oversight in the Yearbook review process so that receiving a yearbook will once again be a rite of passage all students will enjoy.”

After the error came to light, all students and parents were urged to return the yearbook to have the old club page removed and a new page professionally inserted.

While many students were upset with their photo being replaced, members of the Muslim Students Union said they had to bear the brunt of the controversy.

They expressed disappointment at the school district and BOE for failing to protect the students and stop the spread of the photo, as many students in it were minors.

The entire report and exhibits can be seen here: www.ebnet.org/yearbookinvestigation.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com