NEW ROCHELLE – Another
anti-Semitic incident has occurred in the Hudson Valley, this time a four-inch
swastika scratched into a bathroom door in the boys’ locker room
at New Rochelle High School this week.
In a letter to the community, Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Magda Parvey said they are disappointed, “but we know that the vast majority of our high school students are respectful, responsible young adults.” She said, though, that “when something like this occurs, it reminds us of the importance of educating our young adults about the powerful impacts certain symbols carry.”
She reminded the community that the district code of conduct prohibits “expressions based upon race, color, creed, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, sex, gender (identity and expression), sexual orientation, physical characteristics or disability, which have the foreseeable effect of creating a hostile environment for another person or group of persons.”
Dr. Parvey said that “an act that attacks one group attacks all of us. While we are a diverse district, we are one.”
The incident into who carved the offensive graffiti is under investigation.
Meanwhile, the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center in Westchester County announced the agency is “here to support the school district as they move forward to educate the students on the evils of anti-Semitism.”
The “horrific events” in Charlottesville, Virginia in July 2017 and the massacre at a synagogue in Pittsburgh just two weeks ago indicate “the symbols of hatred are still evident,” wrote education center Chairman Joseph Kaidanow and Executive Director Millie Jasper.
The officials noted that November 9 marked the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when over 100 synagogues in Germany were torched, thousands of Jewish-owned businesses and homes were destroyed, and 30,000 men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. “From this pogrom and the horrors of the Holocaust that ensured, we learned that intolerance and hatred must be confronted in their earliest manifestation,” they wrote.
They said many high school teachers have participated in both teaching Holocaust and human rights trips to Germany and Poland. “We hope to see these teachers work together with Interim Principal Joseph Starvaggi to use this incident as a teachable moment.”
