The NYHS girls’ volleyball team faced an early end to the season due to raw emotions around the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

The girls were scheduled to play their last two games against Summit Sierra High School in Seattle on October 26 and November 2. However, according to Mrs. Michelle Pearce, Athletics Director, NYHS was given information from a community parent that some girls on the Summit Sierra volleyball team wore free-Palestine attire during a previous athletic engagement. This was a concern to NYHS admins due to the Oct. 7th massacre where Hamas invaded Israel. This is an especially vulnerable time for Jews all around the world.  

“Since the information came to us, we took it as a red flag, and we decided it was safer for them and for us to cancel the games,” said Pearce. 

According to NYHS principal Mrs. Deirdre Schreiber, there wasn’t a direct threat, but NYHS administrators believed that the best decision was to cancel the games and plan out what to do in further situations like these. “When we get information like that it’s important to look into it further so that the decision being made is coming from a place of knowledge and education,” said Schreiber. “We followed up with the original community member who contacted our school and followed up with the school itself about their student body and the way that they handle things.” 

According to NYHS head of school Rabbi Gabay, “They were very understanding, and at no point did we feel hostility from Summit Sierra, but on the contrary, they understood where we were coming from and how raw things were at that time.” 

Leah Gooden, the head of school at Summit Sierra, chose to not comment on the issue and redirected questions about the situation to Pearce. 

However, both Mrs. Gooden and Mrs. Schreiber agreed that NYHS always has to evaluate safety based on any level of threat. In the end, Schreiber said, “The other school was respectful of our decision.”