NEW SCOTLAND — In an occurrence that’s become too familiar in Voorheesville, an act of antisemitism was reported by the school district. 

The district, in a Dec. 18 post on its website, said, “On the afternoon of December 17, 2024, our safety monitor discovered vandalism during routine bathroom checks on our MS/HS campus. This included a racial slur and a swastika. We want to ensure you are informed of the incident and the actions taken by the district.”

The district said the hate speech was immediately removed and that its security monitor, former city of Albany Deputy Chief Vince Foley, launched an investigation. 

“Shortly after, a middle school student was identified as responsible for the vandalism,” the district said in its post. “Middle School Principal Brianna Olsen and Secondary Assistant Principal and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Liaison Cathleen Goodwin met with the student and their family to address this behavior. In accordance with our student Code of Conduct, all appropriate disciplinary actions are being taken.”

In April, the district announced, swastikas were found “etched into a music stand” in a district school. 

And at its Dec. 9 meeting, the school board heard from parent Lauren Mondanaro about the antisemitism she said her son has endured. “The unfortunate situation is my son has started to have a target on his head in the sense that every day he is being called a Jew,” she said.

But it’s her son who’s had in-school suspension, she said, because a “student pushed him to the limit at a school event,” which was on camera and witnessed by an adult who “did not know the pretense that led up to it.”

Mondanaro said her son’s situation is one that she herself “feel[s] daily,” because he’s being “called a dirty Jew on a daily basis.”

She said she tells her son, “Unless they’re being physical just try to walk away … Please play nice … I’ve said to him, ‘Keep your hands to yourself, but keep [the] recorder on your phone on so at least you have the verbal evidence to show what’s going on. Because somehow or another that’s what’s necessary.’”