Open meeting at Newport Harbor High focuses on compassion after photos from party of Nazi salutes, swastika

A member of the audience reacts to a discussion at Newport Harbor High School on Monday night concerning pictures from a student party showing teenagers saluting a swastika made of red plastic cups during a drinking game.

Newport Harbor High School sophomore Gina Leaman speaks during Monday’s town hall-style meeting at the school. She told of social and racial divisions on campus that foment a culture in which racial and anti-Semitic prejudices rarely are challenged.

Rabbi Reuven Mintz of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life addresses the audience during Monday’s community meeting at Newport Harbor High School concerning pictures that emerged from a party showing students saluting a swastika made of red plastic cups.

Rabbi Reuven Mintz of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life shakes hands with Newport Harbor High School Associated Student Body President Jack Rogers during a town hall-style meeting Monday night at the school to discuss an off-campus weekend party where students were pictured saluting a swastika made of red cups during a drinking game.

Newport Harbor High School seniors Ben Kwong, left, and Max Drakeford speak during Monday’s community meeting at the school to address Nazi symbolism that some area students used during an off-campus party over the weekend. “What we need to focus on is educating people to the point that they aren’t ignorant enough to commit something like this,” Drakeford said.

Newport Harbor High School students Gina Leaman and Max Drakeford embrace after she spoke at Monday’s town hall-style meeting at the school.

High school principals, Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials and other community members give a standing ovation to a Holocaust survivor who attended Monday night’s discussion concerning pictures that emerged from a weekend party showing students saluting a swastika made of red plastic cups.