AMHERST – School officials are investigating a report of an anti-Semitic incident in which a hate symbol was put on the back of another student at Amherst Regional High School.
On Friday, a swastika was taped to the back of a student, according to a letter sent Monday from Miki Gromacki, interim principal, and Michael Morris, superintendent, to school faculty, staff, parents and guardians. The incident was reported to a teacher who notified the administration.
The investigation, led by high school staff and administrators, involves gathering statements from witnesses and is nearing completion, Morris said in a phone interview Tuesday.
In addition, the letter states that the administration recently learned of a “classroom conversation around the use of the N-word in our curriculum,” that left some students feeling uncomfortable, the letter said.
When asked for more details on the N-word conversation, Gromacki said the school could not comment as it is a personnel issue.
In response, the school plans to work with groups such as the Anti-Defamation League for “educational follow up.”
“We are concerned,” said Rabbi Benjamin Weiner of The Jewish Community of Amherst, “both for the well-being of Jewish students at ARHS, and for the well-being of any students who might be targeted by such acts on the basis of their identity.”
Weiner noted that he and the JCA are confident that the school will handle the incident and applauded the school for reaching out to the Anti-Defamation League.
Gromacki and Morris stated in their letter that while the school has worked on responses to all types of bias, it needs to continue to advance its “competencies and practices, including the appropriate curricular use of words and symbols that have been historically used in derogatory ways.”
Gromacki said that at the district’s curriculum day in November, Smith College associate professor Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor led a workshop for teachers, “The N-Word in the Classroom: Teaching Racist Language without Harm.” The school is working to get all faculty to attend a training like this, Gromacki said.
“Our schools must be a place where all are free to learn in a safe and welcoming environment,” the letter to the school community states. “That is the work that lies before us.”
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com