14 Boston-Area High School Students Accused Of Painting Swastikas On Building

Arlington High School in Massachusetts. Image by Google Maps
(JTA) — At least 14 male students at a Boston-area high school are accused of spraying a swastika and anti-gay slurs on the school building.
The vandalism, using the spray from fire extinguishers at Arlington High School, occurred a week ago and was removed before school started for the day, the Boston CBS affiliate reported. The vandals also allegedly shattered the glass of vending machines, display cases and of the fire extinguishers.
“These actions represent a terrible breach of the peace and harmony we seek to instill as a welcoming, tolerant, and safe community,” said Arlington schools superintendent Kathleen Bodie in astatement. “Whether these students intended to or not, their words and actions are hateful and hurtful, and we must respond appropriately.”
The school district and police department are consulting with the Arlington Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Arlington LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission to “determine the best possible response,” the statement also said.
In February, two swastikas were found at an Arlington middle school.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 3
Opinion Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover
- 4
Film & TV How Marlene Dietrich saved me — or maybe my twin sister — and helped inspire me to become a lifelong activist
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants?
-
Opinion Trump’s followers see a savior, but Jewish historians know a false messiah when they see one
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
-
Opinion This Passover, let’s retire the word ‘Zionist’ once and for all
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.