High school students posted Nazi images online, authorities say

ALAMEDA — High school students are accused of posting and spreading images online that are anti-Semitic and racist, prompting an Alameda school district investigation.

The images include a boy giving a Nazi arm salute as well as another that was doctored so that a student appeared with an Adolf Hitler-style mustache.

About five boys at Alameda High School are suspected of having created and circulated the images, which surfaced Thursday and which students began sharing the next day, according to Glenann Bautista, a senior at Encinal Junior & Senior High School who spotted the images online.

“If there’s any sort of hate speech, people definitely need to be held accountable,” said Bautista during an interview Monday.

She takes part in Encinal’s journalism program and reported on the images for “The Horizon,” its website.

After students posted the images, they were shared through Instagram and other social media platforms among students in the Alameda Unified School District. The district has about 10,000 students.

The school district confirmed that the images surfaced online.

“This is unacceptable behavior for members of our community, and we adamantly denounce it,” the district said in a statement. “(Alameda High School) is investigating the issue, and we will support that investigation in any way we can. Hateful language and behavior has no place in AUSD. We want our schools to be inclusive, respectful and safe places for all of our students to learn, and we will continue to work with our site administrators to create those spaces.”

Joshua Linville, an English teacher at Encinal who advises the school’s journalism program, said he learned about the images after meeting with students.

“They were talking about it and it was clearly an issue,” Linville said Monday. “They wanted it  addressed.”

Alameda High School Principal Robert Ithurburn was not immediately available for comment.

Linville said he does not know whether the images were meant as an April Fool’s joke because they were posted on April 1. But Bautista said the images quickly spread online over the next few days, making her friends uneasy.

“I thought, ‘What is happening at Alameda High?’ ” she said.

In September 2017, a rope tied into a noose was found outside Alameda High School in what police said was a possible hate crime.

The noose was discovered lying on the sidewalk near the fence that borders the tennis courts of the school at 2201 Encinal Ave., according to police.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.