ADL 'Concerned' After Swastikas Found In Glen Rock

GLEN ROCK, NJ — The Anti-Defamation League and other groups are working with community leaders after two swastikas were found at Glen Rock schools recently.

The ADL is working closely with law enforcement and school district officials during a bias-incident follow-up investigation by Glen Rock police detectives, said Jerry Dargan, the ADL's director of Jewish community security.

"We are extremely concerned about the second hateful anti-Semitic incident in as many weeks at the Glen Rock School District," Evan Bernstein, ADL's regional director for New Jersey and New York said in a statement.

The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey is working with the ADL to implement educational programs "to help instill in students the values required" to keep similar incidents from occurring, said Ariella Noveck, the federation's director of Jewish Community Relations Committee.

A teacher found a swastika etched into a classroom wall Thursday, police previously said.

Police took photographs, but found "very little" evidence related to the symbol of hate. Police and school officials searched school property for any other swastikas.

The first swastika was found May 28 in a bathroom shared between the high school and middle school.

Mayor Bruce Packer and the Borough Council released a joint statement Wednesday condemning hate speech in the borough.

"Hate speech and hate in any form are not welcome in Glen Rock," the statement read in part.

Local officials urged the community to come together and for parents to speak with their children about the impact words and actions can have on people. The ADL and JFNNJ welcomed borough officials' statement.

From 2016 to 2017, incidents of anti-Semitic bullying at kindergarten through 12th-grade schools nationwide have doubled, according to the ADL.

Swastikas were found in Ridgewood and Pascack Valley Regional high schools late last year.

A swastika was found in a stall in a girls' bathroom at Ridgewood High School. Swastikas and a racial slur were etched into the partition walls in a bathroom at Pascack Valley High School.

Related:

• Swastika Found In Glen Rock School Bathroom: Police
• Another Swastika Found At Glen Rock High School
  
• Glen Rock Officials Condemn Swastika Written At School
  
• ADL Works With Ridgewood Officials After Swastika Found

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com