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Administrators at a top-performing high school in Northwest are looking into an incident involving the drawing of a swastika inside of the school’s building.
School Without Walls High School associate principal Sylvia Isaac said in a letter released Thursday evening that administrators were told several days ago that a swastika and “inappropriate language” appeared on a wall in a boys’ bathroom.
This comes after students, teachers, parents, and administrators “were appalled that racist images” were posted on an Instagram account that belonged to a Walls student last month, she said.
“Administration will not tolerate acts of bigotry and hate in the school community,” Isaac said. “We take this very seriously, and we will address incidents and behaviors that do not conform to our community values and norms.”
Isaac said security looked at camera footage to try and identify who drew the swastika in the restroom, but the tape showed too many students “to be able to effectively investigate each one of the boys.” However, the investigation is ongoing.
She also said that students have “responded exceptionally and have demonstrated a level of maturity and action” in addressing the issues. Some students are working with a newly formed climate and culture committee to create plans “to move our school community in a direction to ensure respect of all groups and individuals is evident” in the building.
The incident at Walls comes amid an increase in acts of racism and anti-Semitism at institutions locally and across the country.
On Monday, officials at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville and Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax responded to bomb threats, as part of a national wave of threats that affected Jewish community centers and schools in 12 states.
“This is a continuing and very disturbing pattern that we’ve seen in the past number of weeks,” Doron Ezickson, the D.C. regional director for the Anti-Defamation League told DCist in regard to the bomb threats.
In a statement about the incident at School Without Walls, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson said that the system “serves and respects all students and staff regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or immigration status. These signs of hate are not acceptable and in no way reflect the staff and students at D.C. Public Schools.”