Updated Aug. 19 at 7:30 p.m. to include comments by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC)
Hate vandalism at two Montgomery County high schools and two elementary schools greeted staff on the first day back to school for teachers Monday.
“A number of our schools were illegally vandalized with politically charged graffiti, antisemitic iconography (including swastikas), and, in some instances, anti-LGBTQ+ language,” said a Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) spokesperson.
The vandalism occurred at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Thomas Wootton High Schol in Rockville and Strathmore Elementary School in Silver Spring and Fallsmead Elementary School in Rockville.
This follows recent antisemitic graffiti that was spray painted at Bethesda Elementary School where the Bethesda Farmers Market was being held.
Principals are asking staff to report these incidents and also to provide “the supportive resources necessary to address the harm and anxiety these actions may have caused,” the spokesperson said.
The district reported these instances to the police Monday morning and “will fully cooperate with any investigative needs of our partner police agencies.”
A statement from MCPS noted, “We are committed to maintaining a safe, inclusive environment where all students, staff, and caregivers feel safe, valued, seen, heard and have a sense of belonging. We firmly denounce divisive actions that perpetuate hate, inequality, and injustice against any person, family, or community. We must unite to recognize and embrace our differences and not let them divide us.”
Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer of the JCRC, expressed her outrage at the antisemitic graffiti.
“For the second consecutive week, MCPS school buildings have been vandalized by individuals with vitriolic, ill-informed comments directed towards the state of Israel, as well as other antisemitic images. We thank MCPS and MCPD officials for their quick response to these damaging incidents — as well as other incidents targeting the LGBTQ+ population — and for ensuring that security and law enforcement patrols are being stepped up as necessary.”
She called it “no accident that the perpetrators of these incidents have defaced schools that are located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Jewish residents and have significant numbers of Jewish students and faculty members. These schools are also blocks away from multiple synagogues. This pattern of behavior — in impact and almost certainly in design — targets Montgomery County’s Jews. In doing so, it causes tremendous harm not only to Israelis and Jews, but to our entire shared community. We are confident that people of goodwill across all backgrounds and faiths will see these acts for what they are: hateful words designed to tear our communities apart rather than bring them together.”
Referring to the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza, Franklin Siegel noted that “litigating the war on school walls will do nothing to achieve peace in the affected region and only further inflames tensions and divisiveness here at home. MCPS is rightly proud of the rich diversity of its student body and staff; each morning, our school buildings bring together tens of thousands of children and adults from all corners of the world, with differing identities, viewpoints, and lived experiences. For schools to remain secure environments for each and every one of these individuals, we must all rise to the challenge of this difficult moment and affirmatively choose to treat one another with civility and respect.”
Graffiti was found at 4 schools Monday. Police said the "bias-related vandalism" occurred at Churchill and Wootton High Schools and Fallsmead and Strathmore Elementary Schools. Police are investigating. A JCRC spokesperson called it "very disturbing." @mymcmedia @JCRCgw @MCPS
— suzanne pollak (@SuzannePollak) August 19, 2024
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