Simsbury School Officials Identify Student Who Wrote Anti-Semitic Graffiti

School officials and police have identified a student responsible for writing anti-Semitic graffiti within Simsbury High School this week.

The student was not named, and no word was given as to disciplinary action that may be taken.

Superintendent of Schools Matt Curtis sent a letter to parents Thursday to inform them of the recent hateful language and racism that has troubled the high school.

“Obviously, I am deeply troubled by what has happened at Simsbury High, but I also have great confidence in the ability of the administration, the faculty, and the students to move past these incidents and to build an even stronger school culture,” Curtis wrote.

Principal Andrew O’Brien delivered a video message to students Wednesday morning, stating, “Over the past few weeks we have found a number of hateful comments that have been written in our school, specifically swastikas and anti-Semitic statements.

Most recently a class was playing a game of Kahoot and someone logged in with a screen name that was a statement against the Jewish people.

I’m speaking to you directly this morning because I want everyone to know that hateful racist comments and acts such as this have no place in our school.

Racism exists only to divide and destroy communities. No one in our community should be made to feel that they are any less worthy or important based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, or their mental or physical abilities.

Whenever a community is confronted with ignorance such as this, it is incumbent on the members of that community to work together to address it.

On Friday October 2nd, the administrative team briefed the faculty in a special meeting afterschool. We discussed the events and steps that teachers could take to support our students and address the issue.

Concurrent with these efforts to inform faculty and to address the issue with our student body as a teachable moment in the school community, our assistant principals continued their investigation into the incidents that occurred. On Wednesday afternoon, our administrative team, in conjunction with the Simsbury Police Department, identified a student who was responsible for incidents that involved disturbing graffiti.

For reasons of confidentiality, I am not able to provide further details in this public communication, but please know that we are responding to that student’s actions through both serious discipline and mental health supports.

At this point, our school community will move forward productively – continuing the dialogue that has started about the environment in our school. I am engaging with our faculty and our student leaders to process what has happened and to plan for future events and programming that will celebrate the diversity of our school. By coincidence, we had already contracted with the Anti-Defamation League for an interactive program entitled, “The Truth About Hate,” which will be held next Wednesday, October 14th for our 9th grade students. It is our fourth year hosting that program at SHS, and we look forward to a productive morning with our freshman students.”