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Jewish day schools in Montgomery County, Md. and Fairfax, Va. are among the many Jewish spaces that received bomb threats today, though both have received the “all clear” from local law enforcement.

At 9:22 a.m. Monday morning, the upper school receptionist at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville received an automated bomb threat, says Laurie Ehrlich, the school’s director of communications. She says that while she did not know the content of the threat, “whatever message was on there was a threat to the school.”

The school immediately contacted the Montgomery County Police, who brought canine units and “advised us to keep our students in class for the time being while they swept our halls,” says Ehrlich.

The school notified faculty and parents during this time, she says. The school has about 500 students and 100 faculty and staff at its upper school location, and 450 students and 100 faculty and staff at its lower school.

Rick Goodale, a spokesperson for Montgomery County Police, confirmed that they received a call about a threat at the school, swept the location for threats, and ultimately found nothing.

“The follow up is trying to determine who made the threat,” Goodale says.

Fairfax County Police has the same question after Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax called at 9:22 a.m. to report a bomb threat. The school chose to evacuate its 143 students and faculty, says Don Gotthardt, a spokesperson for Fairfax County PD.

After canine units swept the school’s interior and the grounds, they did not find any devices. “Our investigators aware of the connection” between the timing of the threats in Fairfax and Rockville, says Gotthardt, though he adds it’s “way too early” to determine whether the same person or people are responsible.

Gesher classes are back in session, confirms Jessica Vandell, the director of school services, and police remain on site today to patrol. She says the school is working on a statement with more details on the incident, and we will update this post when we receive it.

“This is a continuing and very disturbing pattern that we’ve seen in the past number of weeks,” says Doron Ezickson, the D.C. regional director for the ADL. In addition to the schools in Rockville and Fairfax, two other locations in the region—a school in Annapolis and a community center in Asheville, NC—also received bomb threats on Monday.

While Ezickson says the ADL has not published the latest statistics, he “can confirm there’s been an increase [in pace] and it’s been across dozens of states.”

“We can’t really get into the mind of who is doing this, but obviously the intent is to disrupt and sow fear,” says Ezickson. “This will not be successful. These institutions will continue to operate.”

In addition to the bomb threats, Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized and damaged this year, most recently over the weekend in Philadelphia.

Last week, President Donald Trump spoke on the issue of anti-Semitism for the first time while in office, following weeks of avoiding the topic amidst a wave of threats to Jewish spaces.

“The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are a painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” said Trump.

The statement did not assuage concerns from the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. “The president’s sudden acknowledgment of anti-Semitism is a Band-Aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism that has infected his own administration,” said executive director Steven Goldstein in a statement.

Trump continues to employ advisers like Steve Bannon, who ran a website accused of anti-Semitism and whose ex-wife reported him saying that “he doesn’t like Jews.”

Ezickson of the ADL advises Jewish centers to remain vigilant. “While none of the threats have proven to be a credible threat, we do advise that they are assumed to be credible threats,” he says.

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School is “constantly monitoring and updating and talking to our Jewish federation colleagues about security protocol,” says Ehrlich. “That has been ongoing, not just recently.” She adds that the school is “always doing evacuation drills” and remains in close contact with law enforcement.

It’s not just Jewish spaces that have faced increased threats. “Unfortunately we are seeing a number of minority communities—be they ethnic, religious, sexual preference, or otherwise—being targeted,” says Ezickson. “This is not appropriate conduct in a democracy. We remain optimistic that the vast majority of Americans find the targeting of children, the targeting of the elderly, as totally unacceptable.”

But in response to these events, he says the ADL has “been seeing an increase in the number of donors to our organization and the number of folks looking to engage in the work that we do. There’s also positive things we can do as a community—band together, educate one another, speak about important of tolerance and civil discourse.”

Charles E. Smith Day School is holding a panel to discuss the rise in hate crimes on March 21, which had been scheduled before today’s threats.