Flyers posted by tony Scarsdale High School’s Israel Culture Club were torn down and dumped in school bathroom urinals in an ugly act of antisemitism, according to local officials and parents.
The disturbing incident — which occurred in a Westchester County town that boasts one of the country’s wealthiest and highest-rated public-school systems — unfolded Friday when flyers promoting the group’s upcoming “Israelfest” were trashed in the local high school’s bathrooms as well as online.
Scarsdale school-board member James Dugan, whose daughter attends the high school, denounced the loaded vandalism online.
“Recent events have provided a profound teaching moment for me as a parent and have impacted me and my family,” he said. “As a parent I will focus on healing my family.
“But as a school board member, my focus will continue to be on our students, our schools, and our education program.”
In a letter to district parents, Scarsdale High School Principal Kenneth Bonamo said the Israeli club’s flyers were torn off walls, with many hurled into boy’s room urinals, while an Instagram post promoting Israelfest prompted “vulgar” comments, including by a non-student.
“These behaviors are unacceptable and more broadly should be disturbing to the entire school community for the intolerance they represent,” Bonamo wrote. “Please be assured that we take these concerns to heart as we work to uphold our standards of conduct and community values.”
He said some in the New York school community complained that the map of Israel on the club’s flyer included “disputed territories as part of the State of Israel” but said that was no excuse for the vandalism.
“This is a core conflict in this debate, one that is worthy of exploration in civil discourse,” Bonamo said. “But responding in this way is still no appropriate.”
Scarsdale Superintendent of Schools Drew Patrick addressed the incident in a separate letter to parents.
“We live in a time of rising antisemitism, political polarization and a degraded civil discourse,” Patrick said. “I want the community to know that we take these complex challenged seriously and work to confront them every single day.”
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