Port Washington Schools Continue To Work With Police: Supt.

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Port Washington Superintendent of Schools Michael Hynes told parents the district will continue to work with law enforcement as a case involving the scrawling of swastikas — a hate symbol synonymous with the Holocaust led by Nazi Germany — outside of a school wends its way through court, according to a letter to parents.

He delivered the news Thursday after the arrest of a suspect accused of painting swastikas outside Philip Sousa Elementary School. District officials will continue to work with both the Port Washington and Nassau County police departments, as well as Nassau’s District Attorney's office as the investigation of the “deplorable act continues within the court system,” he wrote in a ConnectEd letter.

Hynes commended the police for their swift action in apprehending the suspect “allegedly responsible for the reprehensible and hateful act of anti-Semitism” and said he was proud of the district’s staff and students for their instrumental roles throughout the process in identifying “a student and peer to protect our community.”

Detectives identified the suspect, who is not being named because he is a juvenile, Wednesday after photos were distributed in the community through social media, police said.

Port Washington police "received information from community members" over their tip line that helped identify the suspect, and he was then located and placed under arrest, according to police. He has been charged with multiple crimes, including first-degree aggravated harassment and third-degree criminal mischief as a hate crime, police said.

Hynes said district officials “appreciate the community's understanding of confidentiality laws, which prohibit us from identifying the minor individual involved or commenting further.”

Hynes went on to say that both the school district and its community should be resolute in their “commitment to zero tolerance of bigotry, hatred, and discrimination in any and all of its forms.”

“From our classrooms to our homes, we must continue to engage in dialogue to educate our children on the impact of such hateful acts and their repercussions,” he said. “The district is focused on [the] next steps to better confront this within our schools at a much deeper level.”

Assemb. Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) said he was outraged but the vandalism, which came in the last week of Genocide Awareness Month, a time the victims of the Holocaust are remembered. He urged “better education about the tragedies befallen upon the Jewish people in recent history.”

Lavine, who lost family members in the Holocaust, has sponsored the Hate Education bill, which will make learning about the swastika and noose mandatory for children in 6th through 12th grades to learn in schools.

“We must never cease in our efforts to attack hatred through education,” he said.

Lavine was one of several lawmakers who joined state Sen. Anna Kaplan at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove on Thursday as she announced legislation that will require a study of and report on school Holocaust literacy, as well as the drafting of regulations to enforce education law.

The legislation was prompted by findings that New Yorkers between the ages of 18 and 39 scored poorly in a Holocaust literacy study.