A student who recently graduated from a New Jersey high school was bullied by a former gym teacher over her Egyptian heritage, dark skin, and Muslim faith, a lawsuit claims.
Jana Gadalla, 19, has named the teacher, Kathie DeBonis, Bridgewater-Raritan High School principal Vincent DelPriore, and her school district as defendants in her suit.
Gadalla alleges that DeBonis — who was also a longtime girls' lacrosse coach and health teacher — made numerous insulting comments to her about her ethnicity and religion during the 2022-2023 school year.
The Independent has requested comment from DeBonis and the school district.
On one occasion, DeBonis allegedly told Gadalla that "this is America" and that "by the time you are 16 you will probably be in jail anyway."
DeBonis allegedly told the girl during Ramadan that "if I were you, I would just go drink alcohol" and allegedly asked, "Do you think you're going to go to hell or something?"
Gadalla also claims that DeBonis called her obese and assigned her a three-page paper on obesity that she had to finish before she was allowed to use the bathroom.
During another Ramadan-related incident, DeBonis allegedly told Gadalla, “It’s good that you’re fasting during Ramadan, maybe you’ll lose some weight.”
According to the lawsuit, Gadalla went to the principal and her school counselor about her treatment, and she was moved out of the woman's class. DeBonis allegedly asked, "Who snitched to the principal?" when Gadall was being moved from the class.
The lawsuit claims that Gadalla suffered “physical manifestations of emotional distress as well as personal hardships including anxiety, adjustment problems, sleep disturbance, humiliation (and) mental pain and anguish," stemming from the interactions.
It further alleges that DeBonis' behavior was targeted, noting that she did not “mock, shame or make inappropriate comments to light skinned non-Muslim, non-Egyptian students.”
The district has to respond to the lawsuit by August 29.
According to NJ.com, DeBonis retired in the 2023-2024 school year and is now collecting an annual pension of $70,000.
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