NY middle school vandalized with swastikas

In response, the principal convened the students to discuss the incident and the meaning and history of the swastika as a symbol of hate and prejudice.

By World Israel News Staff

Scrawled swastikas were discovered in three locations at a middle school in a suburb of New York City, reports the Forward.

According to the report, students found two images of swastikas in the boy’s bathroom and another one scrawled on a locker on Wednesday in the Pelham Middle School in Westchester, NY.

Lynn Sabia, the school’s principal, notified the authorities immediately after the incidents and convened the students to discuss the incident and the meaning and history of the swastika as a symbol of hate and prejudice.

During the meeting, she also said that the incidents have been reported to the police and if the student responsible was caught, he or she would face a five-day suspension and a referral to the superintendent.

The report also referenced the Pelham Police blotter that said, “according to the principal, the children switch lockers every day, and she doesn’t believe this was a targeted attack towards anyone in particular, but rather a random act of vandalism.”

The blotter reportedly added that “the principal further stated that the school will attempt to compile a list of students who had access to the locker room today [Wednesday] in an attempt to ascertain the culprit. A photograph of the damage was attached to the report.”

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) responded to the incident by saying that “children in school should never be subjected to hate, racism, or intolerance of any kind” and that “all of us in the public space have a moral responsibility to make sure our words and actions are combatting this hate, not fueling the fire.”

“I’m appalled that the President of the United States regularly extols intolerance and anti-Semitism, emboldening others to do the same,” Engel said. “We cannot let this behavior and rhetoric be normalized—we must fight anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism of any kind wherever it rears its ugly head.”