Arlington High School feminist club Zoom-bombed with misogynist language, gun on screen
A teacher quickly ended the meeting of the Young Feminist Alliance after the Zoom-bomber appeared.
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Someone impersonating an Arlington High School student invaded a videoconference activity hosted by a student feminist group on Wednesday, making misogynistic comments in a group chat and displaying what appeared to be a gun, according to the school’s principal.
A teacher quickly ended the meeting of the Young Feminist Alliance after the Zoom-bomber appeared, Principal Matthew Janger said in an e-mail message to families Wednesday evening Arlington police believe the intruder joined the call from overseas, Janger said in a follow-up message to families Thursday. There is no reason to believe the act was initiated locally or that a student was involved, he said.
“There is no room for this kind of behavior, and we continue to work with the Arlington Police Department to investigate this incident, as well as to review our security policies to prevent intruders from gaining access to school Zoom meetings,” Janger said in the Thursday e-mail.
Kathleen Bodie, Arlington’s schools superintendent, said in a separate statement Thursday that she was “very disappointed” by the incident and that the sight of an apparent gun “was naturally upsetting to students and staff given recent gun violence events in our country.”
“We will continue to review our security policies to prevent intruders from gaining access to school Zoom meetings, and have made resources available to students and staff in response to this incident,” Bodie said.
The high school has notified families of the students who participated in the meeting and has reported it to the Arlington Human Rights Commission, Janger said. He added that counselors were available for students or others in need of support.
“Unfortunately this incident comes in the context of recent gun violence and hate incidents involving violence against women,” he said Wednesday. “We worry both about the corrosive effects of bias on our community and our sense of safety overall.
“Arlington High School is committed to creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environment. Bullying, bias, harassment, degrading language, and other mean-spirited behavior are not tolerated at Arlington High School.”
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