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Elite NJ private school closes after ‘threatening’ racist graffiti found in bathroom
An elite New Jersey private school was closed on Wednesday after a threatening message targeting the Black and Hispanic communities was found written on a bathroom wall.
nypost.com
Elite NJ private school closes after ‘threatening’ racist graffiti found in bathroom
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Published April 24, 2024, 1:28 p.m. ET
An elite private school in northern New Jersey was closed Wednesday after a threatening message targeting the black and Hispanic communities was found scrawled on a bathroom wall Monday evening, according to school administrators.
The hateful messages were discovered at the posh Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood around 6 p.m., according to an email sent to parents that night by school head Jeremy Gregersen and obtained by The Post.
The school would not detail what exactly the graffiti said. Gregersen wrote that it was scrubbed away and reported to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, the school would remain shuttered Wednesday while cops and administrators investigated the act.
3 Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, said hateful, threatening graffiti were discovered on campus Monday night. Google maps
“While we are confident the community can return to school safely, we are nonetheless delaying school by an additional day our return from our Passover holiday so we may continue the investigation and prepare for a thoughtful and reassuring return,” a statement from a school spokesperson said.
Gregersen declined to comment when reached Wednesday by The Post.
Neither the Englewood Police Department nor the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office responded to a request for comment.
It’s not the first racism scandal the school has dealt with involving its student body.
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Early last month, Gregersen sent out another email notifying parents that several middle schoolers had created a group text in which they shared racist jokes and other offensive language, according to the Record newspaper.
The text chain included more than 30 seventh-grade boys — including Gregersen’s own son, the newspaper said.
The school brought in outside counsel to help administrators decide how to discipline the boys, Gregersen said in his email.
Details remain sparse about Monday’s incident, however.
In his initial email, Gregersen said only that an “unknown individual wrote a message threatening the entire community and mentioning Black and LatinX communities on the wall of the boys’ bathroom adjacent to the Middle/Upper School Library.”
3 Dwight-Englewood School canceled all classes and extracurricular activities on Wednesday. Dwight-Englewood School
“With the investigation ongoing, we are refraining from sharing the specifics of the message at this time,” he continued, before promising to reveal the “threatening, hateful language” later, upon request.
But sources said baffled parents are concerned that they haven’t been better informed about a threat that administrators considered serious enough to close the campus.
“While we believe that our numerous additional security precautions are adequate to ensure our community’s safety, we want to pause on returning to campus for several reasons,” the school’s head wrote in a follow-up email announcing the closure.
The one-day break will give administrators time to investigate — and let the school “provide our faculty and staff with the support and reassurance that they need,” he wrote.
Police are analyzing campus security footage from that evening, he added.
3 Dwight-Englewood School officials have not said what exactly was written in the boys’ bathroom. Facebook / Dwight-Englewood School
Gregersen also urged parents to speak with their children about the incident.
“I understand that discussions about topics like this with your child can be incredibly difficult,” he said. “It’s important to provide them with information appropriate to their age, to answer questions directly, and to validate their feelings.”
Nearly half of Dwight-Englewood School’s 1,015 pupils — 47% — are students of color, according to the school’s website.
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For the 2024-2025 school year, tuition for students in grades 6-12 costs $59,235.
Those in grades 1-5 pay $52,230 per year, and kindergarten costs $45,320.
About 20% of those enrolled receive some form of financial aid.
