By any measure, these are perilous and challenging times. The coronavirus is at our doorstep.

Schools and restaurants are shuttered. Houses of worship have closed their doors. Fundraisers and dinners are postponed, concerts bagged, travel discouraged. The stock market has gone bear, and there are worries about the potential effects of diminished tourism on Wallowa County’s economy.

Amid this disquiet, many have stepped forward to help neighbors and friends, offering to shop, deliver food and help in any other way possible. Schools are providing meals to many qualifying students, albeit in the form of brownbag lunches handed out at the school door. As the county did in 1918-19, we’ll get through this, even if it’s a long, difficult haul.

But while the effects of containing coronavirus are easily evident, there is another pestilence that lies beneath the surface here. Its healing was begun by the thoughtful, diligent and courageous work of two Enterprise High School seniors. On the same day that the governor ordered school closings to battle coronavirus, Deedee Duncan and Tishrei Movich-Fields launched a campaign against an infectious blight of hate.

The two girls were deeply concerned about the appearance of swastikas in and outside of Enterprise High School, along with use of other racists and sexist slurs by some students. And so, Duncan and Movich-Fields developed a Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) project that brought Portland’s Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education to the school for presentations to students and teachers.

Their FCCLA adviser, Tamarah Duncan, encouraged their project. Superintendent Erika Pinkerton found funds to pay some expenses. Principal Blake Carlsen provided scheduling, space and funding. Building Healthy Families added a grant to help finance OJMCHE’s travel. We owe deep gratitude to the Enterprise School District teachers and staff and BHF for supporting and facilitating these workshops.

But we also wish that the administration had taken action on their own, rather than waiting for two talented, dedicated students to address the problem through their FCCLA project. That said, we are very glad that the school, inspired by its two stellar seniors, is now considering ways to continue its educational engagement with these issues. Kudos as they develop and implement longer term plans.

Local voices are powerful, and can be even more effective than westside experts in convincing our youths that symbols they may have thought were funny or innocuous actually represent hate and destruction. It is a problem that likely is not exclusive to Enterprise, and it would be wise for other school districts to follow Enterprise’s example.

Freedom of speech and expression are guaranteed by the Constitution, including the right of students to free speech and expression (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District 1969). But that doesn’t mean these words and symbols can be imparted without questions. The right of an educational institution to question students about their use of symbols, specifically a swastika, and to provide education and information about their import and effect on others was upheld in the 2018 U.S. Court of Appeals decision, in a case brought against the University of South Carolina. (Abbott v. Pastides, No. 17-1853 4th Cir. 2018).

In this case, several USC students filed complaints against Young Americans for Liberty and College Libertarians for displaying a swastika and other symbols at an on-campus rally. USC responded to the complaints by “meeting with the groups to review the complaints and determine whether an investigation or further action was warranted,” according to court documents. The court upheld the university’s right to ascertain the basis and facts of the complaints. Simply questioning the circumstances and motivations of swastika displays — and listening to the answers — can be, in itself, a powerful educational tool for high school students and the community.

While some of the events in the Enterprise schools occurred outside of school property and official events, at least three incidents of swastikas drawn in or on school property have occurred in the past six months, according to Randi Movich, Tishrei’s mother. The swastika was drawn on the car while it was parked in the school parking lot.

Hence, Enterprise administrators and staff have every right to question the meaning of those symbols, and to provide students with information about the history and significance of those symbols. This would be in accordance with the school district’s statement that it “does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color …”

The information imparted to students and teachers by Deedee Duncan and Tishrei Movich-Fields’ extraordinary FCCLA project has already engendered a deeper understanding of speech and symbols to all.

And we are especially heartened by Superintendent Pinkerton and Principal Carlsens’s sincere intent to continue providing education and information at multiple grade levels to ensure that Wallowa County students learn about history, hate and the importance of practicing respect for one another.

It may not forever eradicate the virus of hate, anymore than we can completely exterminate coronavirus, but it is a step toward a healthier and safer community for everyone.