A librarian at District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) who allegedly forced third-graders to reenact the Holocaust has a prior criminal record in New Jersey, according to records from the New Jersey Department of Education.
Kimberlynn Jurkowski, Watkins Elementary School’s librarian and media specialist, was placed on a leave of absence after third-graders reported that she assigned students to dig ditches to serve as mass graves, simulate shootings, and asked one student to play Hitler, according to the Washington Post. (RELATED: D.C. Public School Staff Member Reportedly Told Third-Graders To Reenact The Holocaust Because ‘Jews Ruined Christmas’)
Jurkowski has a prior criminal record charge after she allegedly committed theft and falsified records at a school district in New Jersey, according to records from New Jersey’s Education Department reported by FOX 5.
OUTRAGEOUS – Kimberlynn Jurkowski, the 3rd grade library aid that forced 3rd graders to act out a Holocaust scene at Watkins Elementary School in DC is a FELON!
She had her license suspended & was convicted in 2013 of defrauding the Hamilton Township school district of $24,000. pic.twitter.com/x39NVGXuNb
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) December 21, 2021
The DCPS employee lost her teaching license for three years, from 2017 to 2020, according to court documents. Jurkowski was found guilty of employing an at-home tutor for her children wherein she asked the tutor to submit time sheets to the district and raked in $24,000, though the tutor had not provided instruction “for a period of time.” Following the guilty verdict, Jurkowski was forced to forfeit her employment.
“In October 2013, an Atlantic County jury found Jurkowski guilty of Theft by Deception and Falsifying or Tampering with Records, which allegedly involved falsifying Hamilton Township School District time sheets [sic] for tutoring services that were not provided,” the court documents read.
Jurkowski was never convicted for her crimes, instead, she was placed in pretrial intervention, according to an Atlantic-City-based news outlet that originally reported about Jurkowski’s theft and fraud allegations in 2015.
When pleading for her teaching certificates to remain in good standing, Jurkowski argued that “signing tutoring verifications that contained inaccuracies was an error in judgment and did not impact her fitness as a teacher or demonstrate her inability to be an educator,” per the New Jersey court documents.
Jurkowski has allegedly been employed with DCPS since 2014, according to her LinkedIn Profile. DCPS and Watkins Elementary School did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
The librarian reportedly has a cruelty to animals charge from 2019, according to FOX 5.
Jurkowski is accused of making “anti-Semitic statements,” according to Watkins Elementary Principal MScott Berkowitz. She also allegedly told students that the Germans were angry “because the Jews ruined Christmas,” according to the Washington Post. Another student was allegedly told to pretend to ride a train to a death camp.
Students alleged that Jurkowski told them not to talk about the activity with anyone else.
Jurkowski spoke with FOX 5 and said she believes “somebody’s misquoting what happened in the library that day.” She claimed she was “shocked” to see a letter from the principal condemning the assignment. The district is still investigating the incident.