• 2025-12-22 16:48:14
• Racial Discrimination

LOWER GWYNEDD, PA — Details of the antisemitic voicemail left by a Lower Gwynedd Elementary School principal emerged over the weekend, as the community grapples with the fallout from the incident.

Principal Philip Leddy believed he had hung up after calling a parent of students in the school, but kept speaking to others in the room while the voicemail continued to record.

Apparently referencing the parent he was calling, Leddy made comments about a summer "Jew camp," said the family had "Jew money," and then added later that "they (the Jews) control the banks." He also said "the odds are probably good" that the parent was a lawyer, according to widely circulated audio recordings and advocacy organizations.

Wissahickon School District Superintendent Mwenyewe Dawan said that Leddy was placed on administrative leave and that the legal process required to fire him had been initiated.

"What is most concerning is not only the language itself, but the mindset it reflects. The comments rely on well-known antisemitic stereotypes that reduce a parent to caricature and signal hostility rather than respect," a spokesperson for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia shared in a statement. "For a family entrusting their child to a school community, hearing this kind of language, particularly from a principal, is profoundly unsettling."

Leddy was appointed principal in Sept. 2023, and has years of experience in elementary education, including with the Spring-Ford Area School District Grades 5-6 Center. Prior to Spring-Ford, he taught both elementary and middle school students in the Norristown Area School District.

Dawan said that the school district has partnered with the Anti-Defamation League for training for the administrative team and the rest of the district. She added that it reveals structural issues in the district as a whole.

"The fact that any employees entrusted with the care and well-being of students could make, or passively tolerate, such remarks raise concerns that extend beyond the conduct of a single individual," Dawan said. "This incident underscores concerns for broader, systemic issues related to antisemitism that must be examined and addressed."

Montgomery County Commissioner Jamila Winder said it raises alarms about the nature of leadership in the county's educational systems.

"The recent accusations involving a principal in the Wissahickon School District are deeply troubling, not just because of the nature of the remarks alleged, but because they raise a larger question about leadership and responsibility in our public institutions," she said.

The Jewish Federation said that Wissahickon must be transparent in their investigation, as well as directly engage with the larger Jewish community to prevent future incidents.