Elite DC private school launches probe after swastikas displayed during assembly

An elite private high school in Washington, D.C., which has educated several children of former U.S. presidents, has launched a “thorough investigation” after swastikas and racist usernames were projected during a school assembly this week.

There were around 500 students between 9th and 12th grades gathered at Sidwell Friends School on Wednesday for a student talk about a nonprofit organization that uses soccer to connect refugee communities in the area, HuffPost reported Thursday. 

{mosads}Audience members were invited to use their cellphones to log into Kahoot, a game-based platform, to project their answers for a trivia contest onto the screen in real time.

Kahoot usernames are selected by the participant. Two usernames picked by students included pictures of swastikas, according to an email from Bryan Garman, the head of the school.

Other students used racist insults about Asians and Native Americans.

“Nobody saw the swastikas at first,” one senior who participated in the game told HuffPost as hundreds of usernames began appearing on screen.

As answers rolled in, a username consisting only of two swastikas was shifted into first place after a correct answer to an immigration question, the outlet noted.

“It was big on the screen,” the senior said. “Everyone went quiet. … A swastika is not something that you have in your emojis on your phone. You have to go out of your way to search for a GIF or something, copy it and paste it into Kahoot.”

Craig Narveson, Kahoot’s U.S. general manager, said in a statement to The Hill that the platform plans to release an update to “prevent a wide array of offensive symbols” from being used with nicknames.

“We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the incident at Sidwell Friends School. It is simply unacceptable use of our platform to promote hate or bigotry. Inclusivity has been a guiding value for our company from the very beginning,” Narveson said.

Garman’s letter to parents said that the projector was turned off and the presentation ended as soon as a school administrator recognized the images.

The school wrote that it was “disheartened and disturbed” by the incident which included a breach of the school’s honor code and harassment policy.

“Racism and anti-semitism will not be tolerated in this community,” Garman’s letter, obtained by HuffPost, said.

The prestigious school has educated the children of some of Washington’s most powerful residents, The Washington Post reported.

President Obama’s eldest daughter, Malia Obama, is a graduate and his younger daughter is currently a senior. Former President Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, is a graduate and the children of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Nixon also attended.

Tuition at Sidwell costs more than $42,000 a year.

This is not the first time a swastika has appeared on the school’s campus in recent months.

An unidentified person drew the symbol on a whiteboard in the school after a teacher’s written notes during an a etymology lesson about the naming of the Nazi political party, The Post reported.

HuffPost also noted that swastikas were found carved into benches in the “Meeting for Worship” room, a place where students can speak openly to the assembled school.