After a fourth antisemitic incident in a Skokie park, village officials assure actions are being taken

Seated before the dais at the start of a May Skokie Village Board meeting, Mayor Ann Tennes acknowledged what she described as a “pattern” of youths using antisemitic language in local parks.

Tennes’ remarks were in reference to three antisemitic exchanges that reportedly took place at Skokie parks since Oct. 7, 2025. While only one of those incidents has been designated a hate crime, all three involved youths physically attacking Jewish juveniles, Skokie police said.

But the mayor’s comments also were connected to a fourth incident that she said involved “antisemitic language” in a Skokie park, an encounter that Skokie police have not yet to publicly address in detail.

The incident, which reportedly took place on April 25, 2026, “did not involve physical contact, and has been reviewed and documented as a non-criminal incident with a noted religious bias,” said Denise Franklin, Skokie’s deputy chief of police, in an email to The Record. 

Documents The Record obtained from a public-records request show that the incident was reported to Skokie police after a resident told officers that three teenagers chanted “Jew, Jew, Jew” to his 10-year-old son while he was playing at Terminal Park.

Tennes listed actions during the May 4 Village Board meeting that village staff and partners are taking to respond to these incidents and possibly prevent more from taking place. 

The Human Relations Commission voted on April 27 to recommend staff coordinate with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie to provide antisemitism training to “key stakeholders in the community,” said Patrick Deignan, Skokie’s communications director in an email.

Jim Bottorff, Skokie Park District’s director of communications, said via email that the district is “building on its existing staff training by incorporating additional hands-on, scenario-based exercises for summer camp staff.”

“These exercises will help staff respond effectively to disrespectful interactions involving differences among campers or staff,” Bottorff wrote. “Cultural sensitivities, including those affecting Jewish and Muslim children, will be incorporated into the training.”

Trustee Alison Pure Slovin said on May 4 that she has received “numerous phone calls from the Jewish community” with concerns about the recent reports of antisemitic incidents but urged residents to stop the “rumors and conjecture” that the village is taking no action. 

“This village has been meeting with numerous, as the mayor pointed out, commissioners, with employees, with faith leaders, and we are going to continue on this journey,” Slovin said. “So you have to know, just because you haven’t heard that things are happening, doesn’t mean things aren’t.” 

The April 25 incident

A man came to the Skokie Police Department on April 26 to report that he had been sitting on a bench at Terminal Park, 9401 Kenton Ave., while his 10-year-old son was playing with a toy plane near the park’s baseball field around 5:30 p.m. on April 25, a Skokie police report shows. 

The report says the boy’s toy plane at some point flew toward the south end of the park, near the parking lot.

When the 10-year-old went to retrieve the plane, three teenagers — two boys and one girl — approached the boy “and asked if they were Jewish,” according to the report.

The 10-year-old backed away and the teenagers reportedly asked if they could “convert.” As the police report is heavily redacted, specifics on the context around “convert” are unclear.

The boy replied, “no,” and the three teenagers then “began chanting quietly but audibly ‘Jew, Jew, Jew,’” according to the police report. 

The boy’s father told police he did not witness the interaction, but his son told him what happened immediately afterward. The father walked to the south side of the park to look for the teenagers, but he did not see them there, he told police.

The 10-year-old allegedly said that he did not know the teenagers and had not seen them before, but the female teen had an electric scooter. The 10-year-old reportedly told his father that “no threats or additional comments were made.”

Skokie police later called the man who filed the police report to advise that, due to the fact there are no known cameras in the park and no known videos of the incident circulating on social media, the police department “would be unable to identify the teens” that spoke to his son. 

Skokie police advised the man to contact police if he or his son ever saw the teens again as officers would then respond, the report says. 

Actions being taken 

Village staff have reached out to the Illinois Holocaust Museum to begin coordinating antisemitism training, but a date has not been determined, Deignan said. 

The antisemitism training, he said, will be invitation-based for local faith leaders, business representatives and community organizations.

The commission apparently discussed four other organizations (including the Jewish United Fund, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Project Shema and Diversity Builder) before it recommended the Illinois Holocaust Museum. 

Bottorff said the new training for park counselors will come as the district is entering the fifth year of its Kindness Ambassador Program, which emphasizes a “welcoming community” at Skokie Park District camps with “activities, reflections and team challenges.”

Tennes also noted on May 4 that the park district is exploring the use of cameras in parks, but park officials informed her that state law will prohibit those cameras from capturing audio. 

The mayor’s comments came after she and other local leaders addressed a crowd of about 200 people at Central Park on April 21 to share information about the latest initiatives and urge people to get involved to address antisemitism.

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