(JTA) — A North Carolina Jewish day school closed for two days and the FBI is investigating in response to a threatening letter.
B’nai Shalom Day School in Greensboro received a letter on Monday containing racial epithets and threats of violence, Fox 8 News reported.
In a news release sent Tuesday, Marilyn Forman Chandler, executive director of the Greensboro Jewish Federation, confirmed the threat but declined to provide specifics, saying “it is not appropriate for us to discuss specific security measures we are taking at any individual institution.”
Forman Chandler’s statement said that her organization is “working closely with the Greensboro Police Department, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security” and that all local Jewish institutions “remain vigilant in taking special precautions to ensure the safety of our staff members, our students and all community members.”
In a statement provided to Fox8 News, an FBI spokesman said the agency “is assisting our law enforcement partners at the Greensboro Police Department investigating a letter sent to a school in Greensboro that included racially charged language.”
An estimated 3,000 Jews live in Greensboro, according to the 2009 American Jewish Year Book. In addition to B’nai Shalom, which has 112 students in nursery school through eighth grade, Greensboro is home to the American Hebrew Academy, a Jewish boarding school for high school-age students.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that an estimated 16,000 Jews live in Greensboro. That estimate is for the Jewish population of the Piedmont Triad, which includes Greensboro, High Point and Winston Salem. It also misstated Marilyn Forman Chandler’s name as Marilyn Forman.
