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Anti-Semitic Note Found At School

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

GULFPORT - Geoff Kingberg, an Orthodox Jew who dons a yarmulke, was at the end of his day substitute teaching Wednesday when he picked up a student assignment on which someone had scrawled: 'Jews will die soon.'

Now authorities are trying to figure out who wrote the anti-Semitic remark - along with one almost identical to it, plus some swastikas - on the social studies assignment handed in at Boca Ciega High School.

The assignment was tracked to a student, but the threat was not in the same handwriting as that student's, said Howard Coombs, the Gulfport Police Department's acting chief.

In addition to the 'Jews will die soon' remark was the phrase 'Jews will die,' followed by Thursday's date, according to authorities and Kingberg.

'We're looking into it,' Coombs said. 'It's a vague statement, but it's serious enough.'

'I'm hoping one of the students catches wind of it and they'll come forward,' Coombs said.

Kingberg's wife, Tina, said her 54-year-old husband's livelihood hinges on substitute teaching. Teaching is one of the few lines of work that allows her husband not to work Saturday, which is the Sabbath in the Jewish faith. He is attempting to get a full-time teaching job.

On Monday, someone had written 'I hate Jews' on a blackboard in her husband's class, she said. Her husband had hit a call button to summon a school administrator, but the schoolchildren then erased it, she said.

Tina Kingberg also said her husband has been a substitute teacher in Hillsborough County. She said there were anti-Semitic incidents there, too, 'but they didn't rise to the level of death threats.'

The Hillsborough County School District has no record of complaints filed by Geoff Kingberg, district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said.

The assignment handed in Wednesday touched on ancient history, Tina Kingberg said.

'They were talking about the Roman Empire and the early church,' she said. 'We don't want to come across as paranoid but we wonder whether the kid who did this is growing up in a climate of bigotry. The material about how the Jews killed Jesus probably fueled it.

'And then having an orthodox Jew come into the classroom,' Tina Kingberg said. 'Who knows what was going through the kid's head. Before you know it you have Columbine on your hands because no one is taking the message seriously,' she said.

Pinellas County schools spokeswoman Andrea Zahn said the district is taking the incident seriously. She noted that in general the school system takes a proactive stance toward promoting sensitivity among students and staff.

'An isolated incident doesn't reflect the student population of Boca Ciega High School,' Zahn said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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