On Tuesday, February 4, a swastika constructed from pieces of masking tape was found inside a classroom desk at Lakeside Middle School.
The student who discovered the swastika reported it to their teacher. According to Middle School Director Reem Abu Rahmeh, the teacher took a photo and then removed the tape. Ms. Abu Rahmeh declined to share the image with Tatler.
Ms. Abu Rahmeh wrote in an email to Tatler that Lakeside was unable to determine who had taped the swastika because “desks are not assigned to specific students, they get moved around and the classroom is used by multiple groups of students” each day. She said the desk had been used on Sunday, February 2 for an SSAT test proctored by Lakeside adults, so the school was “not able to rule out the possibility of someone from outside of the community having done this.”
The Middle School held two assemblies to address the incident: one on Wednesday, February 12 for seventh and eighth graders, and another on Thursday, February 13 for fifth and sixth graders. She said the assemblies were delayed due to several snow days and because the school took time to investigate and plan their response.
At the assemblies, Ms. Abu Rahmeh said she described the incident, explained “the impact and meaning of a swastika,” discussed the importance of critical thinking in the face of “mixed messages…from celebrities or prominent figures,” and encouraged students to speak up.
“We will never tolerate hate represented in any way. Antisemitism crosses that line, hate language crosses that line, hate symbols and any hate expression is not allowed in our school and will never be acceptable in our community,” she wrote, describing what she told students. “Our values are clear – we value respect, kindness, belonging and love. We can debate many things, we can debate opinions, ideas, thoughts…. But we do not debate values, we do not debate humanity. Not at this school.”
She wrote that, prior to Wednesday’s assembly, the Middle School Jewish affinity group was gathered “to ensure they heard about this incident in the safety of the group.” Profe Bensadon met with the two Upper Schoolers who help run the group and the school sent out an email to group members’ parents and guardians to inform them about the incident. The school also sent an email to all Middle School families.
The swastika was discovered amid a nationwide increase in antisemitic incidents, which the Anti-Defamation League found have become more common since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023. Last year, swastikas were graffitied at Bellevue’s Phantom Lake Elementary School and Chinook Middle School.
Ms. Abu Rahmeh said this is the first antisemitic incident that she has dealt with in her five years at the Middle School.
“My call for our students is that culture is built and preserved by the work that every member in this community does,” she wrote. “Each student has a responsibility and an expectation to be ‘guardians’ of our values. The adults will always respond and step in when things surface, but when things surface it means others have already been harmed. Students can do a lot to prevent and call out behavior that is not aligned with our values before it gets to this point. Every member of this community is expected to care for, respect, be kind and show love to each other. Our values of kindness, inclusivity and belonging are at the core of what we do!”
