Three Swastikas Drawn in Crayon on Window of Middlesex Middle School

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Middlesex Middle School

Middlesex Middle School

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Someone drew three swastikas in crayon on an outside window of a first floor  Middlesex Middle School classroom on Monday, Sept. 9, according to school and police accounts.

Police think the Nazi symbols were put there sometime between Tuesday and Friday, Sept. 6 to 9, according to an announcement from Sgt. James Palmieri, the department spokesman.

Palmieri indicated that the incident was reported to police at 5:58 p.m., however Middlesex Principal Shelley Somers emailed parents about the incident in a message that began “good afternoon.” [Update, Wednesday Sept. 18: It was emailed at 3:25 p.m.]

“School Officials were investigating the possible identification of the suspect(s),” Palmieri wrote in the announcement.

Although Somers sent an email to parents at the school that afternoon (see text below), the matter was otherwise not mentioned in public by officials until this morning, Monday, Sept. 16.

“[W]e have zero tolerance for this type of behavior,” Somers said in the email. “[W]e will be vigilant in patrolling our campus, in discussing the impact of symbols and hate crimes with our students,  and in communicating with you.”

The Middlesex school resource officer (a police officer) was told of the swastikas and took pictures of them before school custodians cleaned them off the windows.

A Middlesex school parent passed on this emailed message from Somers (apparently sent Sept. 9) to Darienite.com:

Good afternoon Middlesex Parents. This morning our SRO discovered a swastika drawn in soap or crayon on the outside of one of our first floor classroom windows.

He notified the Darien PD [Police Department], who photographed and documented the incident, and the symbol was then removed by our custodians. As you know, we have zero tolerance for this type of behavior, and hate has no place at Middlesex.

Although I am hoping this is an isolated incident, we will be vigilant in patrolling our campus, in discussing the impact of symbols and hate crimes with our students,  and in communicating with you. Thank you.

Shelley

Update, Wednesday, Sept. 18: The school district released Somers’ email to Darienite.com, and it matches the text above.

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