On Jan. 29, a swastika was found in a GDS bathroom. There was a staff meeting on the morning of Jan. 31, scheduled the evening before, at which an emergency all-school assembly to address the swastika was announced.
The assembly was at 10 a.m. on Jan. 31 and took place instead of regularly scheduled advisory meetings. High School Principal Yom Fox and Assistant Head of School for Equity and Inclusion Marlo Thomas addressed the high school community at the assembly. They announced that a swastika had been drawn in a bathroom in the high school and that there was an active investigation into the incident.
“It is painful for many of us to see this symbol, to know that it was in our school,” Fox told students at the assembly. “It directly contradicts the values of inclusivity, respect and understanding that we hold very dear at GDS.”
A similar incident happened in 2018 when swastikas were found in bathrooms and the choir room. High School history teacher Richard Avidon estimated that there have been three such incidents in the past ten years.
Monday’s discovery of the swastika followed the Holocaust Remembrance Day assembly on Friday, Jan. 26. The episode comes amid rising antisemitism and Islamophobia spurred by the events and aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and the ensuing war. Fox did not mention the war during the assembly.
An email from administrators notified the faculty of a staff meeting that would take place on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 8 a.m. The email was sent on Tuesday evening.
“The high school administration has been working with the DEI office and the security team as part of our ongoing investigation,” Fox said at the assembly. She added that given the setting in which the swastika was drawn, it is unlikely that the investigation into the perpetrator will yield results.
Fox sent an email to parents on Jan. 31. In the email, she stated, “We encourage open communication within our community and for you to connect with your children on this incident.”
Mike Wenthe, a high school English teacher and faculty advisor for the Jewish Student Coalition (JSC), said he appreciated Fox’s remarks at the assembly. “I thought her remarks were measured and straightforward. I was also moved by Yom’s personal remarks and grateful for the strength of leadership shown in being publicly vulnerable,” he said. Fox appeared to be close to tears at multiple points during her address to the school.
Wenthe said he was aware of the swastika before the faculty meeting. He declined to say when he was told or who told him.
During the assembly, Fox and Thomas announced that throughout the day there would be spaces for students to gather and process events if they felt the need. Wenthe and middle school counselor Sasha Clayton-Schapiro facilitated one for Jewish students. The other group was with the high school counselors and was open to all high school students.
“The most valuable part of that space was that those of us who were there were there to listen to each other and be supportive of each other,” Wenthe said.
JSC hosted a meeting on Feb. 1, the day after the assembly. According to the email sent to the entire high school announcing JSC’s meeting, they discussed the “recent antisemitic vandalism that occurred at GDS.”
“We don’t know if it was a member of the community,” Avidon said. “If it was, we don’t know what their intent was, whether they were making a joke or being stupid. Sometimes kids have said things just to bother people, to get everyone in a tizzy.”
Wenthe said that the reason the swastika was drawn is less important than the effect it has on those who saw it. “I’m less interested in the psychology and motivations of whoever drew the swastika than I am in caring for the well-being and feelings of people who feel attacked by it,” he said. “It would be a pretty shocking ignorance for someone in our community to not know the history and currency of the swastika.”
“I think the assembly was necessary, but I’m a little bit worried that the person who did this was rewarded with attention for their actions,” sophomore Leo Johnson-Goldfrank said. “They might be encouraged by an assembly and having regular advisory interrupted.”
“However painful moments like this may be, it also provides us the opportunity to affirm our values and engage in conversation that directly challenges this divisiveness that images like this represent,” Fox said in her speech to the school.
Avidon, who is Jewish, said, “I have never felt antisemitism at GDS.”
Johnson-Goldfrank told the Bit that he believed that the drawing of the swastika was indicative of larger issues at GDS. “It does reflect some current trends at GDS to some extent. The fact that this person felt like they could get away with this speaks to antisemitism at the school,” he said. “I was surprised that this happened at GDS. It is a very extreme thing.
“In STUVO [Student Voices] we’ve been talking about fostering respectful conversations about the Israel–Hamas conflict and keeping people away from the extremes,” Johnson-Goldfrank said. “One side of the extreme is antisemitism, one is Islamophobia, and I think if we have better conversations about this that could help mitigate the problem.”
Eleven teachers and eleven students declined to comment for this article, with many fearing that the topic was too controversial to comment on.
“I think our faith in the community regarding antisemitism depends in large measure on how we respond to this incident,” Wenthe said.
This article was updated on Friday, Feb. 2.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that, according to an anonymous faculty member, the swastika was drawn on a bathroom wall. The Bit has been unable to confirm the exact location of the drawing in the bathroom.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article referred to Marlo Thomas as director of diversity, equity and inclusion. Her title is assistant head of school for equity and inclusion.