New Trier High School officials informed students’ families Thursday that an image of a swastika was found in a boys’ bathroom at the school’s Winnetka campus.
The swastika was scratched onto a toilet paper dispenser inside a boys’ bathroom stall, according to letter co-written by District 203 Superintendent Paul Sally and Winnetka Campus Principal Denise Dubravec. They added an investigation has already started into locating the responsible party.
“This symbol of anti-Semitic hate has no place in our school, and we condemn it. We are working to find the person responsible,” Sally and Dubravec wrote.
A school spokeswoman, Nicole Dizon, said the school had been in contact with police, but that the investigation is internal, as generally happens with student disciplinary matters.
Sally and Dubravec noted the school would offer support to any student who requested it.
“We want you to know that we take this incident seriously and understand its impact at a time of increased reports of antisemitism locally and across the country,” the letter added. “Bias incidents and expressions of hate hurt our efforts to be a place where every student, staff, and family member feels welcome and that they belong. We commend the bravery of the student who reported this incident and will continue to work to stamp out hate in all its forms in our school community.”
David Goldenberg, the Midwest Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, said his organization regularly receives reports of vandalism in elementary and high schools, including anti-semitic symbols such as swastikas in bathrooms, classrooms and other public spaces.
Goldenberg said the ADL appreciated the “direct and compassionate communication” from the New Trier administration to families.
“When a school finds a hate symbol, as we saw at New Trier, they should not pretend it didn’t happen. Instead, acknowledge the symbol, its meaning and the impact it may have had on students, educators and families,” he wrote in a text. “Then honestly and directly explain to students and educators why it is unacceptable and work to build a culture that rejects this type of hate.”
In the 2017-18 school year, there were three reported incidents of racist graffiti at New Trier’s two school campuses.
“Incidents of graffiti are rare at New Trier, though as a large school with nearly 4,000 students on two campuses, they do occur,” Dizon said. “For the graffiti to include hate symbols or speech is exceptionally rare.”
