Hate crime sparks inquiry

BURBANK — The Burbank Police Department and Burbank High School officials are conducting a joint investigation into a hate crime that occurred this month in a campus classroom.

The perpetrator — who police believe is a student, but not necessarily from the school — reportedly scrawled anti-Semitic epithets on a teacher's whiteboard on two separate occasions during a one-week period, Burbank Police Sgt. Matthew Ferguson said. The teacher is Jewish.

Incidents like these become a police matter once they cross over into racial or religious territory, and any alleged perpetrator would be arrested, Ferguson said.

"Certainly, if the student were to write a derogatory comment about the teacher by name, that would be something that the school handles," he said.

"But when they make it into a hate crime — which this certainly is — based on race, sexual orientation, religion and those kinds of things, then we take it as a serious matter. We will certainly investigate it to the fullest point, make an arrest if possible, and then refer it to the district attorney for a criminal filing."

The inflammatory comments appeared on the whiteboard on May 9. When more appeared on May 17, the teacher contacted the police, Ferguson said. Officers interviewed the teacher, photographed the whiteboard and a detective was assigned to the case, he added.

School officials are working closely with the Police Department to find the student responsible for the incident, said Heather Haug, assistant principal of discipline at Burbank High.

The incident hit the campus by surprise and there were no similar occurrences in the recent past, she added.

"This is shocking," she said. "And it's disturbing to the teacher and to us, too."

The comments were written in a classroom used for after-school Regional Occupational Programs, or ROP, so the perpetrator may be from outside Burbank High, said Hank Jannace, director of student services for the district.

But that does not take disciplinary procedures out of the hands of district administrators, he added.

"There are disciplinary policies regarding hate crimes in our state education code and punishments can range anywhere from suspension to expulsions," he said.

District officials always respond seriously to incidents of this nature and are doing so in this case, Superintendent Dr. Greg Bowman said.

"This is very alarming and we do have a zero-tolerance policy, so what we will be doing is working with police to determine who it is," he said.

"We've had some very isolated incidents over the years of either comments or swastikas, or that sort of thing. And we take these matters very seriously because they are hate crimes — the fact that it happens at all is very much a concern to all of us."

Police have also referred the matter to the Burbank Human Relations Council, a citizens group that provides resources and referrals related to hate crimes and discrimination, Ferguson said.