Pennridge is investigating a swastika that was drawn outside its high school
Some Pennridge parents and advocates say the district hasn't done enough in response to the swastika, noting previous complaints about a discriminatory climate for marginalized students.
Pennridge administrators are investigating the drawing of a swastika outside the district’s high school, they told some parents last week, promising “next steps” to follow.
Pennridge’s high school principal told the community last week that a “symbol of hate” had been found outside the school building but that officials couldn’t determine from camera footage who was responsible. A school administrator privately told a parent-led advocacy group that the symbol had been a swastika.
“Our school community is deeply disturbed by this recent discovery on campus,” principal Tim Keddie said in an email to high school parents Thursday. Noting that Pennridge had reported the incident to police, Keddie said that “hate-filled symbols have no place here” and that “disciplinary action will be swift” for any students that create or display them.
The district has not said when the swastika was drawn. But Laura Foster, cofounder of the RIDGE Network — a parent and community group that advocates for more inclusive schools — said she learned of the incident on Nov. 25. Her group had urged the district earlier last week to address it.
On Thursday, Ernest Johnson, the district’s director of student services, acknowledged to the group that a swastika had been drawn.
“The superintendent and I share in your concern,” Johnson wrote in an email to the group.
Johnson, who called the swastika drawing “unacceptable,” said he had been tasked by superintendent Angelo Berrios with “conducting a full investigation into this matter. I intend to complete the investigation immediately and report back to the superintendent. Next steps will be formulated once the investigation is finished.”
A Pennridge spokesperson said Monday that the district’s investigation continues.
Some parents expressed frustration at what they saw as an inadequate response from the district, which didn’t address the incident until after members of the RIDGE Network pressed it to do so.
Jeffrey Bernstein, a parent of two elementary students in the district, said he learned about the swastika through a social media post, rather than district communication. He also said the principal’s message last week referring to the swastika as “a symbol of hate” was too vague.
“They drew a swastika, period, end of sentence,” said Bernstein, who is Jewish and said his children have faced antisemitism in school. “If you’re going to beat around the bush, you’re going to continue to embolden. This is a time to educate.”
Pennridge — which disbanded its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative in 2021 — has previously been accused of failing to address discrimination. A complaint filed against Pennridge last year with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights alleges that the district is responsible for creating a hostile environment for Black and LGBTQ students, including through a “chronic failure to take reasonable and necessary measures to address persistent and severe bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ students and students of color.”
The Bucks County district enrolls about 6,300 students. Nearly 80% of students are white, while 2.1% are Black.
The swastika “is another example of the types of incidents that have been occurring at Pennridge and, unfortunately, it seems are likely to continue until the school takes appropriate action to actually address the hostile environment that has been the school climate there for years now,” said Kristina Moon, senior attorney with the Philadelphia-based Education Law Center, which is representing community members in the federal civil rights complaint.
Moon said that under federal and state law, “it’s not sufficient to take action only relating to one harasser, when the totality of circumstances indicate a school has a broader environment or climate issue.”
She said there had been repeated instances of Black students in the district reporting they were called racist slurs.
In addition to immediately denouncing acts of hate and discrimination, Pennridge should produce a “specific plan to remedy harm” and support impacted students, as well as provide district-wide training and educational opportunities, Moon said.
She said the civil rights complaint, which was amended in August with updated allegations, was still pending before the federal education department.