Antisemitic symbols found inside San Jose elementary school staff room after break in
Antisemitic graffiti discovered at San Jose elementary school
Parents at an East San Jose elementary school are grappling with how to address hate speech with their children after a weekend break-in left antisemitic and other hateful symbols inside a campus facility.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Parents at an East San Jose elementary school are grappling with how to address hate speech with their children after a weekend break-in left anti-Semitic and other hateful symbols inside a campus facility.
A mix of hateful symbols
What we know:
The incident occurred over the weekend at Robert Sanders Elementary School. Parents learned about the vandalism on Wednesday through an alert message sent out by the school.
According to photos obtained by KTVU, a mixture of hateful and benign symbols were discovered Monday morning drawn on surfaces inside the school's staff lounge. The graffiti included a swastika, an image appearing to be Adolf Hitler, and the phrase "Hail Hitler" spelled incorrectly across a table. A communist hammer and sickle symbol was also scrawled in the room.
School officials noted that while no children saw the symbols firsthand, some students heard about the incident from teachers.
One anonymous parent noted that their children reported hearing noises over the weekend, adding, "We saw three or four teenagers dressed in black. They sounded like teenagers."
The discovery has left many families wondering how or if they should discuss the incident with their children.
"Kids are really easily influenced, so it does scare me with everything that’s going on," said one anonymous parent. "He asks a lot of questions, so it just makes me really...I don’t know how to talk to him about that stuff so it’s really concerning."
However, the parent expressed faith in the campus community, adding, "I know Robert Sanders is such a good school. Teachers are great and staff are great, and they’ll do a good job of speaking to them about it."
Protecting children
Other parents expressed a desire to shield younger children from the situation entirely.
"It's kind of a touchy subject, especially when it comes to hate," said Daniel DeVargas, a father of daughters at Robert Sanders Elementary. "That's not something I'd like to lightly talk about."
Daniel Klein, the CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, emphasized that while those responsible may not understand the deeper meaning of the symbols they used, the impact on the community remains severe. Klein noted that these symbols also carry painful ramifications for the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups who were impacted by the Nazis.
"For every incident that actually makes the news, there's ten or 20 or 30 that don't," Klein said, sharing that he recently met a parent whose child had swastikas scrawled onto a school book in an unpublicized incident. "What I can say is this is one of the reasons why security costs for Jewish institutions in the Bay Area have gone up on average by about 200%. And so, unfortunately, because of these types of incidents, families are making threat assessments as to whether they show up to school."
Klein said he works with local school districts to serve as a resource for dialogue and conversation before crises happen. He hopes this moment can be utilized to educate children on how to be "upstanders" when they see wrong behavior.
"Can we solve most of the challenges we face through education? I think the answer is yes," Klein said. "Part of it is just making sure if there are things that are done, there's consequences to the behavior, right? So it shows that it's not acceptable. And that's part of being able to create change as well, education and showing consequences."
Klein extended an open invitation to school officials to collaborate and move forward constructively.
"I'd invite that district to come be with us and let's learn together so that we can make our community and our world better, not just around Jewish issues, but around the broader issues as well."
Police involvement
The Mount Pleasant Elementary School District confirmed to KTVU that it is fully cooperating with local law enforcement. In a statement, the district said, "At this time, SJPD has not determined whether this incident constitutes a hate crime."
The San Jose Police Department's investigation remains ongoing.
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