By Cindy Mindell

WILTON – Several students arriving at Wilton High School on Monday, Sept. 8 noticed a swastika etched on a student locker, a discovery that incited a rapid response by school administration.

Students called their parents and alerted Principal Robert W. O’Donnell, who dispatched the school’s resource officer to consult with the Wilton Police Department. Later that day, after an internal investigation, the offending student had been identified, the locker panel replaced, and O’Donnell had sent a letter to the WHS community.

Gary Jones, director of the Anti-Defamation League Connecticut Region, was first alerted to the incident by a local rabbi, and later by parents of WHS students. Jones contacted O’Donnell, offering to support his and the school’s efforts to use the unfortunate incident as an educational tool for the perpetrator and school community.

ADL has worked with the school district on other acts of hate, Jones says.

“Our first concern, when an antisemitic incident occurs, is to make sure that the school is taking all appropriate action,” he says. “The school administration should of course investigate to identify the perpetrator. Perhaps more important, the administration needs to be the moral voice of the school community and make clear that hate will not be tolerated. A quick reaction on the part of the administration sets the appropriate moral tone for the school, and it sends an important message that those targeted by hate are not isolated or alone. This response is critical because bad things happen from time to time. A community is judged not by virtue of the occurrence of a hateful incident, but by how the community responds.”

Jones applauds O’Donnell’s letter to the school community, which establishes an appropriate moral tone and outlines the steps taken in the wake of the incident, as well as how the school will use the occurrence to strengthen its community.

“It is now time to create a shared vision about what steps will follow,” O’Donnell writes. “We want all students to develop intellect and compassion, thereby creating a world generously lit by both. Symbols of hatred, racism and anti-Semitism have no place in that vision. Like all sensible and just people, we consider publication of hate symbols to be a rank obscenity under any conditions anywhere. That revulsion is magnified when the symbol in question is found in a public school.”

Over the course of the week, students discussed the incident with advisors and in small groups with other staff-members. Together with the WHS student government, school administration plans to use the incident to encourage conversations on intolerance and proactive solutions to prevent future episodes.

In an email sent on Sept. 9, Rachel Bearman of Temple B’nai Chaim of Georgetown informed congregants that she had been in contact with O’Donnell and other school officials.

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.