Syosset Investigating Bias Incidents At South Woods Middle School

SYOSSET, NY — The Syosset School District said it is investigating multiple bias incidents at South Woods Middle School that occurred between students.

According to Superintendent Dr. Thomas Rogers, the district has been investigating the incidents for the last five days. Rogers said the district didn't release information about the incidents earlier because it didn't want to compromise the testimony of students who witnessed the incidents.

"At this point, the investigation has progressed to a stage where we can share that there were multiple incidents where different students verbally expressed different types of bias and at least one of those incidents became physical," Rogers said in a statement.

The district did not say what kind of incidents occurred, nor did it say what students were targeted. In his statement, Rogers did mention that hatred toward Asian-Americans has no place in the district.

"Over the past several days, I’ve received a lot of email — too many to reply to — from Asian-American and non-Asian parents alike, angry and anguished that this could happen in their community, their Syosset," Rogers wrote. "I am glad I work in a community that is upset by an incident like this and asks that we do everything we can to make their schools safe and inclusive. We have more work to do, with our investigation and with our learning community and we will see both through."