In the six days since a Branham student posted a picture to Instagram of eight students forming a human swastika on the football field, news about the incident has spread rapidly through the student body and attracted the attention of numerous publications.

At 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Principal Beth Silbergeld announced through the intercom that all fourth-period teachers would go through a 10-slide presentation titled “Hate doesn’t belong at Branham.” The slides contained videos about the history and definitions of antisemitism, swastikas and hate speech as well as additional information about freedom of speech in schools.

A slide titled “Moving forward” contained a message about positivity: “Despite the tendency to define communities by the worst actions, it is important for us to uplift all the wonderful things happening on our campus — our academic achievement, our athletic success, our clubs, our music, dance, and drama programs.” 

The final slides reminded students of available resources on campus and provided a link to a feedback form. 

The slides expand on the email Silbergeld sent last Thursday, which stated that the incident circulating on social media didn’t reflect the school’s values and was under investigation. The announcement encouraged people to anonymously report concerns through the Say Something platform, through which administrators received initial reports about the Instagram post.

Read about community comments at a district board meeting (Dec. 12), a student walkout (Dec. 11), news coverage of Branham (Dec. 9) and the administration’s and Jewish students’ initial response to the ‘human swastika‘ (Dec. 5).