Kansas City prep school leader: Whoever was behind swastika incident will be punished
Pembroke Hill School officials say disciplinary action will be taken against whoever drew a swastika and wrote offensive LGBTQ language on student desks last week.
But first they have to find out who did it.
“We have spent several days reviewing seating charts and class schedules and interviewing possible witnesses, but have been unable to identify the person(s) responsible,” Brad Shelley, head of school, wrote in a letter to parents Monday. “If we determine those responsible, disciplinary action will be taken.”
The letter comes days after Pembroke parents told The Star they were frustrated because such incidents had happened before and students had not been punished
But Shelley, in his letter, said others had been disciplined for those previous incidents but the school has kept quiet about the punishment.
“Confidentiality balances our commitment to helping individuals learn from their mistakes, because we are educators above all else,” Shelley said, adding that he also understands that “our practice of private discipline may give the impression of a lack of action or transparency.”
Some Jewish parents, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation against their children, said Monday they were happy and surprised to see Shelley’s letter because informing parents about these situations has not been a school practice in the past.
“That is impressive and transparent,” one parent said. “But the fact that I am impressed that the school sent out an email shows how low the bar has been set. And the fact that parents are afraid to speak openly about what’s been going shows how big a problem there is.”
On Jan. 27, officials at Pembroke’s high school discovered the racist symbol and offensive language and sent a letter to parents telling them about it and outlining the school response.
Mike Hill, the high school’s principal, spoke to an assembly of students about unity and “the impact of all slurs and symbols of hate” and the need to build a climate in which all individuals in the school “feel respected, cared for and safe,” according to last week’s letter. The school showed a video created by several students after they learned about the incident, followed by a discussion among students and school leaders.
Several parents told The Star last week they wanted those responsible to face punishment. They said they weren’t aware of any Pembroke student being disciplined after several anti-Semitic incidents a few years ago, including swastikas drawn on a Jewish student’s locker and a bathroom wall. One student raised his arm in a Nazi salute while calling a Jewish student an offensive name.
Last summer, a Pembroke teacher posted on a private Facebook page a photo of train tracks leading to the Auschwitz concentration camp with the words: “The horrific truth is … if people were told to get into boxcars to be taken to ‘virus protection camps’ many of them would rush to get in line.”
That teacher is still at Pembroke.
In his letter on Monday, Shelley said school officials “stand in solidarity with,” parents and students who said they want the discriminatory behavior stopped and for those doing it to be dealt with. And he said the school shares the “community’s disappointment and concern about these events. These actions will not be tolerated at Pembroke Hill.”
He said the school is “doing its best” to find out who is responsible and then will discuss “an appropriate approach” with the school leadership, which sometimes includes Pembroke’s board of trustees.
In the past Shelley said, “faculty members who violated discrimination or harassment school policies have undergone disciplinary proceedings, completed sensitivity or empathy training, been suspended, had their employment contracts held or terminated.”
Students have been made to have counseling; meet with individuals who were subjected to the discrimination or harassment; or placed on probation, suspended or expelled.
Shelley also said that this month the school is starting diversity, equity and inclusion training for teachers and administrators.
On Monday, a parent told The Star that he and others hope the latest letter is a sign that Pembroke leadership “will take bigotry of any kind very seriously” from now on.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
