Students who formed a human swastika on a high school football field and spread imagery of the spectacle online will face administrative “justice” this week, the school’s principal said.
A photo of the swastika, formed on-field last week, was shared through an anonymous tip line Wednesday night, before it spread online Thursday, sparking a probe, Branham High School Principal Beth Silbergeld said.
“We are responding in accordance with education code and our district’s commitment to restorative justice,” she said in a statement over the weekend. “The students who were involved are committed to taking accountability for the harm that was done.”
The California Department of Education said it plans to offer “statewide resources” to Branham High School as it investigates and responds.
“We unequivocally condemn the use of any hate symbol such as a swastika on a school campus,” department spokesperson Liz Sanders said in a statement Monday night.
Silbergeld said the school in San Jose, in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, informed police about the incident. NBC Bay Area reported that the photo was posted to social media with an antisemitic message.
San Jose police said officers responded Friday to a report of a “human swastika” created on campus. The matter, reported as a hate crime, was under investigation, the department said.
“People were just shocked to see that this is happening at their school, in broad daylight, students purposely doing this,” Maya Bronicki, education director of Bay Area Jewish Coalition Education and Advocacy, told NBC Bay Area. “There was clear intentionality. The caption under the post itself was horrifying.”
State Sen. Dave Cortese, a Democrat who represents the community where the high school is located, said in a statement Monday that the display was an act of hate.
“I am deeply disturbed by the discovery of the anti-Semitic ‘human swastika’ at Branham High School,” he said. “Acts of hatred—no matter where they occur—have a profound impact on our young people, our families, and our broader community. There is absolutely no place for anti-Semitism, or any form of bigotry, in our schools or in our society.”
Silbergeld said administrators are prohibited by law from discussing details of student discipline. The number of participants was unknown.
“We recognize our responsibility to address and repair the harm caused by this incident,” Silbergeld said. “We are taking deliberate steps to support healing, learning, and restoration.”
In April, the state Education Department affirmed a complaint from Bay Area Jewish Coalition Education and Advocacy that instruction by two teachers at the school on Israel-Palestinian conflict was “biased,” with each ordered to undergo one hour of anti-bias training, according to the department’s investigation report on the matter.
The coalition said in a statement that it has warned about incidents of antisemitic expression and anti-Israel bias at the school for two years.
“The time has come to confront this challenge directly, with transparency, collaboration, and moral clarity,” the group said in a separate letter to district leaders.
A spokesperson for the Campbell Union High School District, which Branham High School is a part of, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on the education department’s report.
The school, within 20 miles of Apple and Google headquarters, will work with Jewish organizations to “support healing, learning, and restoration,” Silbergeld said.
She said the swastika display does not represent the school or its community.
“This was a disturbing and unacceptable act of antisemitism,”she said. “Actions that target, demean, or threaten Jewish students have no place on our campuses.”
On Oct. 7, marking the date in 2023 when Hamas militants launched a deadly terrorist attack against Israel, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation designating guidelines for unbiased teaching in public schools and establishing the California Department of Education Office of Civil Rights with an “antisemitism prevention coordinator.”
