{"id":269906,"date":"2026-06-17T19:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/269906\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:04:10","slug":"student-disciplined-for-drawing-swastikas-at-mira-costa-high-school-in-manhattan-beach-daily-breeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/269906\/","title":{"rendered":"Student disciplined for drawing swastikas at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach \u2013 Daily Breeze"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Mira Costa High School student is facing consequences for drawing antisemitic graffiti<\/a> in restrooms on campus twice over the past two months, school district officials announced recently.<\/p>\n

A swastika was found in late April scrawled in a boys\u2019 restroom stall, officials reported, and the second swastika was found in the same bathroom stall less than a week later, in May. The student, whose identity was not disclosed because of privacy reasons, could be suspended or expelled for the actions, according to Manhattan Beach Unified School District policy.<\/p>\n

Mira Costa administration and security staff have since investigated the incidents, reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing students who entered the restroom during the time frame of the incident and have identified the student who drew the antisemitic images, officials announced earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese incidents were deeply concerning,\u201d the announcement said, \u201cand do not reflect the values of Manhattan Beach Unified School District or the culture we work hard to cultivate across our schools each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 30, a student reported seeing multiple swastikas drawn inside a handicap stall in a boys\u2019 restroom on campus. School officials immediately reported the incident to the Manhattan Beach Police Department and began conducting a campus investigation. Staff promptly removed the graffiti.<\/p>\n

An anonymous student report alerted campus administration to the second incident, officials said on May 4. Staff responded immediately, filed a police report and removed the offensive vandalism once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSymbols of hate have no place in our community,\u201d the district\u2019s announcement said. \u201cActions like these undermine our commitment to ensuring every student and staff member feels safe, welcomed, respected, and valued at school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disciplinary action has been taken in accordance with school and district policies, officials said, although student privacy laws prohibit them from sharing specific details ,including the student\u2019s name and the consequences given.<\/p>\n

But MBUSD Superintendent John Bowes said in an announcement following the initial incident that \u201cany individuals found responsible will face serious consequences, which may include school discipline up to and including suspension or expulsion, referral to law enforcement, and appropriate interventions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Per MBUSD\u2019s Board Policy and Administrative Regulation on Discipline, a student may be suspended or expelled for bullying, which includes any act of hate, violence, harassment, threat or intimidation, as well as for attempting to cause damage to school property, and for committing an obscene act or engaging in habitual profanity or vulgarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our school community to know that this matter has been thoroughly addressed,\u201d the district said in a June 8 statement.<\/p>\n

In a previous statement, on May 4, the district said acts such as putting up antisemitic graffiti are unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese actions,\u201d the May 4 statement said, \u201care harmful, deeply offensive and contrary to the values we uphold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under state law, students can be suspended or expelled for bullying, according to the California Education Code, which includes writings that can cause fear among peers or interfere with the academic performance and mental health. Suspension or expulsion is also warranted when a student commits an obscene act or engages in habitual profanity or vulgarity, per the state education code.<\/p>\n

\u201cMBUSD recognizes the pain and concern incidents like these cause, particularly within our Jewish community,\u201d Bowes said on May 18 after the second incident was discovered. \u201cAntisemitism and hate in any form are taken extremely seriously and stand in direct opposition to the values of safety, belonging, and respect that the district is committed to upholding across all campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

School and district leaders supported students during the investigation process, officials said, through counseling and other resources. Campus officials also reinforced expectations around respect, inclusion and responsible citizenship at school.<\/p>\n

District officials said they will continue to foster respectful, inclusive campus communities following this situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we move forward, MBUSD remains committed to fostering learning environments grounded in respect, belonging, accountability, and care for one another,\u201d Bowes said in the June 8 statement. \u201cWe will continue working alongside students, staff and families to ensure our schools remain places where every member of our community feels seen, supported, and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time this has happened on the Mira Costa campus, however.<\/p>\n

In 2022, antisemitic images were found at the high school in four different incidents, a series of events that officials at the time said could be physical examples of a more general undercurrent of discriminatory attitudes among some students in the district.<\/p>\n

Later that year, racist hate speech and vulgar images were found scrawled on walls at Meadows Elementary School<\/a>, which prompted a community panel that sought reasons and solutions for such negative actions<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Mira Costa High School student is facing consequences for drawing antisemitic graffiti in restrooms on campus twice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[9965,2136,266,67,15582,11874,267,9966,75,9967,84,83,9,24,12,63,32476,31296],"class_list":["post-269906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-beach-cities","tag-california","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-education","tag-hate-crime","tag-high-school","tag-local-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-beach","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-tbr-manhattan-beach","tag-top-stories-tbr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}