OAK PARK, Ill. —An Oak Park and River Forest High School student has been charged in connection with the electronic distribution of a swastika during an assembly last week at the school, police announced.
Oak Park police confirmed that a 13-year-old boy, who is from Oak Park, was charged with dissemination of harmful material and was scheduled to appear in Cook County Juvenile Court on Wednesday.
The charges stem from something that took place at the high school on Nov. 7. During the school’s period 2A assembly for “Tradition of Excellence,” an image of a swastika was “air-dropped” from somewhere inside the school auditorium to student cellphones, OPRF spokeswoman Karin Sullivan said.
“AirDrop is a feature on Apple devices that allows a user to share photos with other Apple users nearby,” according to apple.com.
School officials said police were immediately notified, and by the afternoon, it appeared the person who spread the material had been found. A news release from Oak Park police said the agency worked in conjunction with school administrators and security staff, and the resulting investigation led to the identification of a boy who may have been responsible for distributing the photo.
The swastika incident and two other recent reports of racist and hate-filled graffiti found on campus led to a community march on Nov. 11. Dozens of attendees gathered outside OPRF High School and marched to protest the hate messages.
On Nov. 11, OPRF Superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams sent an email to families stating that the school “cannot, and will not” share any disciplinary action taken in cases of student misconduct.” She also addressed the recent incidents, stating that, “as unsettling as the events of the past week have been, I do believe that they are a sign that change is coming.”
“When systems feel threatened, they tend to react in unhealthy ways to hold those systems in place,” she wrote, adding that the recent Starz series “America to Me,” which focused on OPRF, showed that “change is sorely needed in Oak Park and River Forest if we are to be a place that truly lives its values of racial justice.”
Police said after the distribution of the swastika image, a student reportedly told a parent that two students were talking about shooting up the school, prompting the parent to call police. The report turned out to be a misunderstanding, officials said.
“Students, parents and high school staff are understandably on edge given these incidents,” interim Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds said in a news release. “I want to assure them and the entire community that the Oak Park police and our network of law enforcement agencies across the region are focused on bringing such troubling incidents to an end.”
The first discovery of graffiti was reported Nov. 2 outside the school building on a shed near the campus tennis courts. The racist and anti-Semetic graffiti included a racist message directed at OPRF teacher Anthony Clark, images of two swastikas and a phrase synonymous with white supremacy.
On Nov. 7, a second piece of “hate-speech graffiti” was discovered inside a campus bathroom. An image purported to be the graffiti was circulated on social media, which shows a swastika and other racist comments.
In response to the initial graffiti report, the school held a panel discussion Nov. 7 with students, religious leaders and OPRF board members titled “Community Conversation Around Hate Crimes: coming Together for Change.” Pruitt-Adams said the event was also in response to recent hate-driven events, such as last month’s shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
Administrators said they are aware of the concern community members are currently feeling, and vowed to ensure the safety of all on the high school campus.
“The safety of your children and everyone in this building is our highest priority,” Sullivan said in a letter sent Nov. 9 to parents. “These incidents generate a great deal of email to the board, superintendent, security, myself and others. Please know that we read them all, but with a swift moving and broad investigation such as this, we are not always able to respond.”