Swastikas and “Heil Hitler” messages were scrawled on the bathroom walls of two high schools in East Cobb in September, prompting an outcry from the local Jewish community, and leading to the passage of a resolution condemning the actions by the Cobb Board of Education.
The messages at Pope and Lassiter high schools were similar, but the responses to them by school officials triggered different reactions in the community.
Rabbi Larry Sernovitz of Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb spoke to Pope students but he and other Jewish leaders said the Cobb school district’s response was inadequate. In a letter to the Pope community, principal Thomas Flugum didn’t specify the anti-Semitic nature of the graffiti.
At Lassiter, principal Chris Richie was specific in a letter that went out to the school community, and further denounced the “deplorable symbols and language.”
Later, the Cobb school district issued a response that didn’t make a reference to anti-Semitism but only to “hate speech” and urged “families to talk to their students about the impacts of inappropriate and dangerous trends circulating on social media.”
The incidents took place apparently as part of a stunt on the Tik Tok social media app in which students vandalize school property and boast about it.
But Jewish leaders said the incidents showed that an educational program teaching about anti-Semitism was needed. The Anti-Defamation League of Atlanta, among others, called for the Cobb school district to reintroduce its “No Place for Hate” materials.
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That did not happen, but school board chairman Randy Scamihorn attended a Yom Kippur service at Kol Emeth, and in October he introduced a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and racism.
The resolution passed by a party-line vote after some members and citizens complained that the matter was added to the agenda late, and saying that the district still needed to do more to address acts of hate in the school system.
A student at Pope was brought up on disciplinary charges that the district did not explain; the district did not indicate any similar punishment for the incident at Lassiter.
Related stories
- Cobb school board passes resolution on anti-Semitism, racism
- Response to anti-Semitic incidents: ‘A lesson in solidarity’
- Cobb school district responds to anti-Semitic incidents
- Anti-Semitic graffiti found in restrooms at Lassiter HS
- Cobb school board delays September meetings for Yom Kippur
- Pope HS bathrooms vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti
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