More Hate In Summit Schools

SUMMIT, NJ - During his report during the Board of Education on Valentine's Day, traditionally a time to celebrate love, Superintendent June Chang shared two new incidents of hate in the district.

Chang said another hate symbol was found in the Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School bathroom and a student at Washington Elementary School used "the N-word."

This is the first time Chang has spoken publicly about the incidents that have plagued the district since deciding the district will no longer 'broadly communicate' additional incidents of hate graffiti found in the district back in December.

In November and December swastikas were discovered on the bathroom walls in Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School and Summit High School as well as other offensive graffiti, according to officials.

Mayor Nora Radest, who was in attendance Thursday, echoed her earlier sentiments about hate having no safe harbor in Summit.

"To help ensure that hateful speech has no place in our schools or in public places, the Summit Board of Education is taking substantive actions to put programming in place for students and families,” Radest said. “These detestable incidents mirror the current national trend toward divisiveness and incivility, and will not be tolerated here in Summit.”

Chang did note in his report, that parents should be diligent in monitoring the social media accounts of their children. He told Patch that any type of media can be places where there is inappropriate language. He also noted that students can mimic things they have see on they have seen on all media, such as You Tube.

Chief of Police Robert Weck also offered Patch an update.

"“The investigation by the Summit Police Department into hate speech and related incidents in Summit schools is still ongoing,” Weck said. “The police department provides an immediate response to any reported incident and works closely with school administration and the district to vigorously investigate each account.”

Related Stories:

• Swastikas Found In Summit Middle School
• Investigation Into Summit Schools Swastika Graffiti Continues
• Swastikas Found In Summit High School
• Summit Mayor: Fight Against Hate At Interfaith Menorah Lighting
• Summit Declares 'No Home For Hate' At Menorah Lighting

The decision not to share updates as publicly was met with mixed reaction on social media when Chang first made the decision.

"Why in the world would the Superintendent NOT want to announce future incidents," Anne Plaut posted on the Summit Patch Facebook page. "In WWII, residents of the European countries where the Holocaust was occurring later claimed they did not know what was happening, a bold untruth. Shedding light on these incidents is one way of stemming the tide."

Aubrey Tejada said that the district want to stop reporting so they can try to hide the hate going on in the schools. Jeff Goldstein posted that those responsible for the graffiti were doing it for attention.

"This is all about publicity and causing an uproar so the less publicity incidents like these are given the better," he said.

Goldstein's sentiments were echoed by Andrew Myers, who posted to the Summit Patch Facebook page he saw why the district was tightening their lips.

"I understand why, because whomever is doing it expects notoriety," he said. "They're trying to cause a big uproar."

(Photo courtesy of Google Earth)

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