DANVERS — Town of Danvers public-school officials posted an online letter informing residents “of racist, homophobic and anti-semitic graffiti that was found in a student bathroom at the Holten Richmond Middle School.”
The letter, posted on Tuesday, stated that “A student or students wrote homophobic and racist statements, along with two swastika symbols. The police and school administration continue their investigation and will be following our student handbook for appropriate student discipline and legal action, as well as counseling/therapeutic support for the individual(s) responsible.”
The Salem News reported that news of the graffiti came after a day after an emotional School Committee meeting in which residents blasted school officials over their handling of allegations of racist, homophobic and anti-semitic behavior by the Danvers High School boys hockey team.
The News reported that Danvers officials have refused to disclose the full results of investigations into the incidents, which one hockey player has said included him being held by teammates and struck in the face with a plastic sex toy for refusing to shout a racial slur as part of a locker-room ritual.
Danvers officials referenced the boys’ hockey team allegations in the online letter, stating, “We are acutely aware that this most recent incident fits into a broader pattern – both within our schools and in the broader community – that includes allegations of racial profiling at a local business, an apparent noose left outside a local church, an investigation into racist and homophobic behavior last year by student athletes, a Confederate flag flown in our downtown as part of a political rally, and a swastika discovered in the woods behind the middle school.”
The letter goes on to state that officials are “working collaboratively with our curriculum center and middle-school team to put together a plan to process this event immediately with the entire middle school student body this afternoon, and will continue the work tomorrow morning and throughout the remainder of the year.
“We will continue to put into place curricula and activities to help educate our students, including working with outside organizations who can help support this work. This incident does not reflect the core values, mission and vision that we seek for our school system. We do not tolerate, and will continue to address, hate speech and actions.”
