BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Turkish family says Boca Prep International School punished their child — then kicked her out of school — when she reported that another student said that “Turks do bad things to Jewish people.”
Their lawsuit, just filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, claims the school expelled their 8-year-old daughter after she reported a classmate’s remark, then kept the full year’s tuition. The school, SEK Institutional Communications Corp., which shares its Diego Drive South address, and Head of School Carissa Karakaedos are all named as defendants.
It allegedly started in the lunchroom on Oct. 18, 2024, when a classmate allegedly told the third-grader, identified as E.A., that “Turks do bad things to Jewish people.” E.A. reported the comment to a school employee. A short time later she was called into an administrator’s office. Waiting were the boy, his mother, a supervising teacher and Karakaedos. Her parents weren’t there. The complaint says the school had another person with limited Turkish interpret, and that the boy’s mother mocked E.A.’s English while the child who allegedly made the comment about Turks and Jews denied the remark.
The girl got sick, fled and locked herself in a restroom stall, according to the suit. A school employee then threatened to call the fire department if she didn’t come out, says the complaint. When she opened the door and tried to run, staff and security chased her down and held her by the arms, wrists and legs. She was left with bruises and an injured knee, the family says, and Bethesda West Hospital allegedly documented the injuries.
The school barred her from campus that same week. On Oct. 29, Karakaedos signed a withdrawal notice accusing the family of hiding “extreme anger issues” and stating the school “cannot safely accommodate” her. The classmate stayed in school without comparable discipline, the suit says. A psychologist later found the girl’s symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder.
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The complaint alleges battery, false imprisonment, negligence, breach of contract and ethnic discrimination under federal civil rights law. It seeks damages exceeding $50,000, including the retained tuition, the cost of a roughly $25,000 replacement school an hour from home, and long-term therapy. The family is represented by Joseph W. Montgomery of Montgomery Law Group in North Palm Beach and has demanded a jury trial. Read the complete complaint below.
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