Accusation Of Antisemitic Remark Investigated By Staples High School

WESTPORT, CT — Staples High School officials are investigating a report of an antisemitic incident that the advocacy group StopAntisemitism claims occurred during a recent student trip to Germany.

In a post on Twitter, StopAntisemitism wrote that while students were visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp, "a Jewish girl was told 'you should have burned here' by a fellow classmate."

Westport Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice addressed the incident in a message to families over the weekend, but said that thus far, the investigation has "not found any evidence to support the claim."

"Although I do not typically address allegations posted on social media in community-wide messages, I am doing so now because I want our school community to know that we take claims of antisemitism and other hate-based conduct extremely seriously," Scarice wrote. "Staples Principal Stafford Thomas and his administrative team are in the process of thoroughly investigating this matter and thus far have not found any evidence to support the claim posted on Twitter. I urge anyone in the community with additional information about this matter to share it promptly with the administration so that we may review it as part of our ongoing investigation."

Scarice continued, "It is with tremendous sadness that I acknowledge antisemitism, racism, and other forms of discrimination still exist in our community. Whenever allegations of hate-based conduct, harassment, or discrimination come to the attention of our administration, we treat them with the utmost seriousness, investigate them, and find appropriate ways to address substantiated claims. In the past we have successfully worked side-by-side with our local clergy and the ADL to help work through difficult moments in our school community. We stand ready to do that again should another incident come to light that warrants attention of that nature.

"While I am disappointed that a rumor borne of social media has upset our community this week, I want to take this opportunity to share an important reminder that we must all remain vigilant in the face of discrimination and hate-based remarks. As school administrators we take extremely seriously our responsibility to create and maintain a physically, emotionally, and intellectually safe educational environment free from bullying, harassment, discrimination, and hate-based conduct. In fact, two years ago, the Board of Education adopted a hate-based conduct policy to assert the priority of eliminating hate-based conduct in the school environment (BOE Policy: Hate-Based Conduct #0525).

"To that end, I encourage any member of our school community to immediately report concerns about discrimination, harassment, or hate-based conduct to our administration so that we can address these concerns promptly."