5 Pascack Valley H.S. Students Suspended For 'Racially-Charged' Behavior, District Says

Five students have been suspended from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale for “racially charged” behavior, including posting swastikas in the hallways.

P. Erik Gundersen, superintendent of the Pascack Valley Regional School District told FiOS1, confirmed the suspensions Monday night. The most recent suspension occurred last week.

White-supremacy aligned students have reportedly been taunting fellow students, NorthJersey.com reported.

There were two instances of swastikas that were found in the school and the letters “WP,” which students said stands for “white power” were discovered in a boys bathroom. One of the swastikas was etched into the back of a stairwell doorway.

It is unclear who exactly committed those acts despite an investigation by school authorities.

Two of the five students no longer attend the school, NorthJersey.com reported, but they were not expelled.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has expressed alarm of the allegations and racial behavior at the school, calling the allegations “deeply disturbing.”

Gundersen will meet with the ADL Thursday.

Gunderson said that less than 1 percent of the school’s 1,200 students are African-American and added that “one or two” of the racially-charged instances “were directed toward that 1 percent.”

Gundersen said that officials have no idea if the suspended students were connected to ”some sort of movement that is official outside of the school.”

“The Police are looking into it,” Gundersen told NorthJersey.com.

Students said that students have displayed racially-charged behavior before the most recent instances occurred.

“I hear it in the hallways,” Mackenzie Farrell said.

Kayla Evans, another student, said she has seen ”WP” engraved into desks.

Students signed a pair of banners Monday with the message “Bringing Respect Back to the Valley” as a pledge to show unity and respect others. Students also designed a mural with inspring words on it a reminder to others of the school’s ideals.