JANUARY 19 • 2023 | 19

cooperated with the officers 
at the Richmond Police 
Department and Chief 
of Police Tom Costello, 
providing investigators the 
antisemitic death threat note, 
access to security camera 
footage from multiple 
cameras in the building, log 
entry records of individuals 
utilizing the security swipe 
card readers for entrance to 
the building and restricted 
areas, names of individuals 
who work in Richmond 
Middle School or have access 
to the building, and names 
of individuals who have keys 
to the area where the note 
was found, including those 
individuals who work in 
other buildings with district 
grand master keys. 
The district also provided 
log entry records of district 
copiers and fingerprints of 
some employees have been 
taken by the Richmond 
Police. These fingerprints, 
along with the antisemitic 
death threat note, are in the 
police crime lab in Lansing 
for analysis.”
The letter continues, “The 
distress this incident has 
cause employees, students 
and parents/guardians, and 
the stress families have 
undergone over the past 48 
hours is beyond measurable,” 
wrote Walmsley. “Richmond 
Community Schools has no 
tolerance for discrimination 
or acts of hate in our 
community and encourages 
respectful dialogue. … the 
district takes swift action 
toward students who violate 
our zero-tolerance policy. 
“I call on the silent 
majority in our community 
to hold accountable the 

adults who speak of 
acceptance, but demonstrate 
otherwise through hate 
and malicious speech, 
particularly on social media.”

MORE UPDATES TO THE 
COMMUNITY
On Jan. 8, Walmsley 
revealed that the target of 
the threatening antisemitic 
letter was Michael Woodberg 
and his family. Woodberg 
began his position on Dec. 
13, 2022, and resigned before 
the start of the new year. 
Walmsley, saying that 
Woodberg described the 
position as his “dream 
job,” wrote: “Woodberg 
was excited for his first 
administrative experience 
and work with outstanding 
administrators, teachers and 
support staff — all dedicated 
to the success of students. He 
was equally excited to build 
relationships with the middle 
school students, who warmly 
welcomed him from day one. 
“As you can imagine, 
the threat affected Mr. 
Woodberg and his family 
and permanently changed 
the way they operate and 
view the environment 
around them. While Mr. 
Woodberg is going to 
be missed, I support the 
decision he made for his 
family and himself and wish 
him nothing but health, 
happiness and success in his 
future endeavors.” 

In his Jan. 8 letter, 
Walmsley wrote of a second 
threat, this time in an email 
received by an unnamed staff 
member on Friday, Jan. 6. 
The email indicated that 
the staff person would be 
harmed if they did not 

resign. 
Walmsley stated: 
“While this had personal 
information and threatened 
to harm specific individuals, 
it was different from the 
previous threat in that it 
came from an anonymous 
email and was not left in the 
building. The police were 
immediately notified, and an 
investigation was launched 
regarding the second threat. 
Police did not find any 
evidence in the threatened 
teacher’s classroom.” 
The statement from the 
superintendent continued: 
“Late last night, I had a 
telephone conversation with 
Chief Costello regarding 
the latest incident and 
opening school. After 
consulting with the police, 
I determined that school 
would open as planned. 
Prior to the latest threat, 
school and police officials 
determined they would 
have opened the school 
with uniformed officers in 
each of the district’s three 
buildings. The police officers 
are monitoring the safety of 
the students and staff and 
security of the building.” 

‘ANTISEMITISM 
UNPACKED’
According to an audit 
released in April 2022 by the 
Anti-Defamation League, 
antisemitic incidents reached 
an all-time high in the 
United States in 2021, with a 
total of 2,717 incidents of 
assault, harassment and 
vandalism. 
 At press time, the 
organization’s hate-tracking 
page has already listed over 
one dozen hate acts against 

Jews in 2023, including 
the incident at Richmond 
Community Schools. Locally, 
Jews have endured threats 
most recently at Frankel 
Jewish Academy in West 
Bloomfield, Temple Beth El 
in Bloomfield Township and 
additional threats with anti-
Jewish undertones, which 
were called in by a teen to 
Oxford High School. 
Because of this climate, 
Congregation Beth Ahm 
in West Bloomfield, in 
partnership with ADL, 
will hold “Antisemitism 
Unpacked,” a community 
forum at 7:30 p.m. Monday, 
Jan. 30. Ryan Woloshin, 
national ADL associate 
director of antisemitism 
programs, will speak. 
“We asked the ADL to run 
this program because I’ve 
heard several stories recently 
from congregants and 
others about encountering 
antisemitism,” said 
Beth Ahm Rabbi Steven 
Rubenstein. 
“These incidents 
haven’t been very 
threatening; in 
fact, sometimes 
it isn’t even clear 
if the offending 
person is being 
antisemitic or 
not. Jews are encountering 
jokes, comments and other 
actions, but they are caught 
off guard and aren’t sure how 
to respond. 
“My hope is that this 
program will help people 
feel a greater degree of 
control of situations and 
give them some ideas of 
how to respond to situations 
in which they might find 
themselves.” 

Rabbi 
Steven 
Rubenstein

