Swastikas found drawn on desk in Jewish teacher's classroom

ANDOVER, Mass. – Police in Andover say swastikas were found drawn on a desk at the high school on the first day of Hanukkah Tuesday.

Andover High School Principal Philip Conrad announced that the school will be working with police, local faith leaders and the Anti-Defamation League of New England to denounce the hateful graffiti.

This is the third swastika found in just the last week.

“We decided that this was not isolated that this is something we needed to deal with. In particular because the latter two found in classrooms of Jewish teachers, we thought that particularly on first day of Hanukah, we found that this may have been much more intentional,” Superintendent Sheldon Berman said.

Police Lt. Edward Guy called the graffiti disturbing and unacceptable, noting that drawing swastikas is a hate crime.

“Yeah - the first day of Hanukah to me is a message. Some people think it’s a joke but I personally think it was a point of hate,” parent Susan Cooper said.

Members of the school committee said they plan to "Formally and unequivocally oppose bigotry, racism, violence, and hate…" at their meeting Thursday night. That’s when they plan to vote on adding that language to the student policy book.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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