Swastikas Found At Clarkstown High School South

CLARKSTOWN, NY — Clarkstown police are looking into reports of swastikas discovered at Clarkstown High School South in March.

A school resource officer assigned to the school in West Nyack was informed March 22 that swastikas had been found in a classroom. The drawings were reported by a teacher who observed the two swastikas over the past month in her classroom. The first was observed on a wall near the exit door accompanied by the words "F*** this class." The teacher followed up with students who recalled seeing the first drawing during the week of March 6. The second drawing was discovered when the teacher searched the room for additional obscene or hate markings. She found a lone swastika, with no additional wording, in the rear of the same classroom on a bulletin board.

On Thursday, SROs at CSHS were notified of two additional swastikas found in a locker room. There is no concise determination as to how long the drawings have been in place, police said.

The department is currently investigating an incident where a swastika was drawn on a student desk at the school.

"I am appalled and angered by this abhorrent vandalism once again surfacing in our beautiful County," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. "Words matter and hateful language such as this is an insult to the people of Rockland. Any act of hate is an insult to our entire County and will not be tolerated and I am confident school officials will get to the bottom of whoever is responsible."

Rockland County Human Rights Commissioner Spencer Chiimbwe said while these incidents do not always violate the law, they should always be reported for investigation.

"We condemn antisemitism or any act or attack that targets an individual or group because of who they are, what they look like, or how they identify," he said.

Residents should continue to call 911 in an emergency but Day and Chiimbwe ask residents to speak up and report if they have been the victim of or have witnessed a hate crime, bias, or hate incident to the Rockland County Commission on Human Rights by calling 845-364-3886.

Rockland County Legislature Vice Chairwoman Aney Paul said she was angered and disappointed to hear about the swastikas the night after a workshop she sponsored on community safety and hate crimes drew about 50 people.

"Imagine how you would feel if you were Jewish and had to return to the school, maybe even the classroom where these anti-Semitic symbols of hate were found," she said. "Last evening, myself and a group of some 50 people gathered to discuss this very issue - community safety and hate crimes – to build ties and bridges between different groups so that collectively, our Rockland County community sends a clear message that this sort of behavior is not accepted.

"The law enforcement officers who attended were extremely clear in what the immediate reaction should be: If you see or experience, or believe you’ve seen or experienced, a hate or bias crime or incident, report it to the local police department. The only way an investigation can be done is if the police are made aware of what has happened.

"Also at the gathering, an attendee reported that two Orthodox Jews were shopping at a grocery store when a woman made an angry gesture. They asked if anything was wrong and it was reported that this woman told them they didn’t belong there, they belonged in Monsey. This reportedly happened just yesterday.

We are better than this and thankfully, these kinds of incidents are few in Rockland County. While demoralizing, I am hopeful the culprit or culprits will be identified and through education, can learn why this action was so terribly wrong. I believe the only way we will see a turnaround in the number of hate incidents and crimes across the nation is through education."

The Clarkstown Detective Bureau asks anyone who may have information regarding this to please call Clarkstown police at (845) 639-5840.

If you have an anonymous tip, you can submit it by sending a text message to 847411, then type the keyword ROCKLANDCODA, add a space, type your tip info, and hit send. You can also download the RocklandCo DA app for iPhone and Android to submit anonymous tips from your smartphone.