Edison High assistant principal accused of threatening Muslim students

By Alvin Wu + Siddarth Perikala
Domestic Affairs
Edison High assistant principal accused of threatening Muslim students

A view of the entrance to Edison High School in the afternoon of Thursday, July 25. ZFJ/Zoe Wu

EDISON, N.J., July 24 (ZFJ) — Muslim students from Edison High School are alleging that one of the school’s assistant principals intimidated them over their club’s annual iftar event during a February meeting.

Iftar is the breaking of the daily fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), a Muslim civil rights group, says that Assistant Principal Nicole Himmelstein met with eight board members of the school’s Moon and Stars Association (MSA) following their request to hold a joint iftar event and invite students from Piscataway and North Brunswick.

On Friday, July 19, CAIR-NJ released an audio recording of this meeting, which it says occurred on February 29, 2024. CAIR-NJ says that it has verified the authenticity of the recording but will not release the creator’s identity due to a confidentiality agreement.

The audio clip begins with Himmelstein telling the MSA board members that they could only hold the iftar event with only Edison High students.

“The iftar party—your choice is you have it with just you guys…or you don’t have it all,” she says. “That’s the choice you have, so you can make it. The arguing back and forth with Ms. Jimenez, ‘cause it’s not her decision, it’s Mr. Ross’ and mine, ends here. So if you don’t want to have it at all, we can cancel it.” (Jimenez is the club’s adviser, and Ross is the school’s principal.)

Himmelstein then cites issues with non-EHS students the previous year to support her restriction on the event’s attendance.

“If you want to have it with just EHS students, it did not go well last year. My security had to deal with things with people from other schools that they shouldn’t have to deal with, and Ms. Jimenez had to deal with personalities from other schools that she should not have had to deal with.”

Numerous MSA members, current and former, have completely denied any security issues at previous iftar events the club has held. Himmelstein was not available for comment because any details of the school district’s investigation into this incident cannot be released due to personnel confidentiality laws.

The assistant principal is next heard warning the MSA board members about “any problems moving forward,” saying that she has “no problem contacting [their] universities.”

“So, that’s where we’re at, um, if we have any problems moving forward, ‘cause I heard, you know, there were threats, especially you, Taha, that you’re gonna go to this person and that person,” Himmelstein says. “You know you’ve done things where, and, several of you in this room, where your position could be revoked, and I have no problem contacting your universities where you got in and explaining what’s going on, if you want to take it further.” (Taha Shaikh was the club president then.)

“That’s the route that I’ll take it if you take it further. ‘Cause you guys are not upholding good leadership skills, and I don’t think any university would want to have students who don’t fulfill good character and values. Do we understand?”

Himmelstein finally directed Shaikh to “be a positive leader” before dismissing the students.

“I know you’re the leader of this, Taha, so people are following your lead, so it’s time to step up and be a positive leader.”

CAIR-NJ said in a press release that the MSA board members were scared about their college acceptances and the future of their club following this meeting.

Many members of the Muslim community spoke during the public comment session of the Edison Board of Education’s action meeting on Monday, July 22, to condemn Himmelstein’s actions and call for an investigation and disciplinary measures for the assistant principal.

“This situation is serious,” said former MSA president Shaikh at the dais. “If a vice principal, an administrator, is able to and is comfortable with threatening a student, eight students, in a private meeting so publicly, where she does not second guess herself, imagine what happens when there’s no recording.”

Shaikh was applauded by the audience both when he approached and when he left the podium.

In a statement at the beginning of the board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Edward Aldarelli said that the district is currently investigating the situation.

“I understand that many of you are here this evening in regard to a complaint that the Board of Education members received as well as some content that has been posted on social media. I can assure you that from the Board of Education’s perspective and our perspective, we take matters like this seriously. We have immediately launched an investigation.”

“Due to the confidential nature of all personnel matters, myself, or any Board of Education members, cannot, and will not, discuss publicly any details or actions.”

Edison High School Principal Charles Ross spoke last in the public comment session to address the controversy.

“I think about Dr. Martin Luther King, and he had a statement about, ‘hate cannot drive out hate—only love can do that,’ and I personally choose love, and the people that know me know that after my family, what I love most is the time that I’ve spent as the principal of Edison High School.”

“Now, those students who know me, and the parents that know me, know I love my students, and my staff knows that I love them, and I love my administrative staff as well, and as another person to quote, Harry Truman said ‘the buck stops here.’ Decisions that get made in the building are at the end my responsibility, and I take full accountability for that.”

“One of the benefits of being the principal for so long is that you get to hire so many of your staff. I’ve hired all four of my assistant principals, and I feel that I’ve made great hires, because I feel that time and time again, Edison High, the staff, works with the love and works with the community to make this a wonderful place.”

“I’m not gonna discuss anything, obviously, with the investigation. How do I know that Edison High School is a great place? By some of the alumni that I see here today, by the product that comes out, by the families that keep deciding to send their kids to Edison public schools, and Edison public schools, I don’t care what anybody from another town says, are some of the best in the state of New Jersey, and I stand by Edison High School as a place where we respect all cultures and where we work every day to make sure that this happens.”

“Now obviously, this investigation, there’s not gonna be conversations, and I’ve had some people reach out to me. I welcome a time when in love, we come together as a community, and we can continue to work forward, but I recognize that as the administrator, I’m the person that makes decisions, and whoever gives them out to the students, in the end, I take accountability for that, and I can’t be the principal of Edison High and just accept the cheers and all of the good, but I know what this school is about, I know what the kids are about, I know what my staff is about, I understand the whole community and that forever it’s been an aspirational place where people come here for a better life, and generation after generation, all different types of people have always done that.”

“I take this as a sacred calling, what I do every day, and I’m going to continue to work, and I’m going to continue to stand by my staff and the community, and I know that we will make Edison High a place where everybody is loved.”

References