The hanging of a noose on a doorknob at Unadilla Valley Central School last week is under investigation by Norwich state police.
The noose tied from clothesline-type rope was found on the door of the Liberty Partnership Program counselor's room Wednesday while school was in session, said Investigator Jason Bessett.
The counselor was identified by the school as Mark Montgomery, who is black.
School officials issued a statement confirming the incident, but it indicated they would not be commenting on the specifics of the incident.
Bessett said the investigation was nearing closure, but he would not elaborate on what that meant or if arrests would be made.
Troopers said there have been no similar incidents in the New Berlin area recently.
Montgomery, a resident of Clayville in Oneida County, said Monday night he has been at the school for about 11/2 years and works with at-risk youth in his role with the Liberty Partnership program, which has a goal of reducing drop-out rates.
"I have sadly been exposed to racism my entire life," Montgomery said.
But he said the hanging of a noose brought it to a new level.
Noose displays have garnered national media attention in recent months.
In late January, a federal grand jury indicted an 18-year-old Louisiana man on hate crime and conspiracy charges for allegedly fashioning nooses with a 16-year-old that were then displayed toward marchers traveling from a civil-rights rally in September.
Earlier that month, the editor of Golfweek magazine was fired for using a noose on the magazine's cover to illustrate coverage of controversy over comments regarding lynching and Tiger Woods made by a Golf Channel broadcaster.
Montgomery said that whoever tied the noose and hung it on his door knob was not ignorant of the symbol's meaning.
"I would be totally opposed to that view," Montgomery said.
Montgomery said he was downstairs in the main office when another faculty member brought the noose from where it was found on his second-floor door. He said he took a quick glance but didn't know what it was until an office staff member showed it to him.
"She held it up and I said, Now that's interesting," Montgomery said.
The loop in the clothesline was a fully-tied hangman's noose, he said.
"This was not a partial attempt. This was someone who knew what they were doing," Montgomery said of the knot. "This was something that took a while to put together."
The full impact of the noose didn't hit him, he said, until he told his wife about it and she collapsed in his arms.
Montgomery said the school has three new black students, and racial slurs are sometimes heard in the hallways.
"It's very upsetting that here we are in '08 and some of these things are just not changing," Montgomery said. "The most important thing I want people to know is how heinous this was."
Lee Fisher of the Oneonta chapter of the NAACP said he had not heard of the Unadilla Valley noose incident before Monday.
He said he would refrain from further comment until he knew more about the situation, though he added there have been no other reports of nooses in the region fielded by the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter.
There have been some cases of racial graffiti at Milford Central School and in the hamlet of Schenevus in recent years, he said.
Montgomery said the staff, faculty and students at Unadilla Valley have rallied to support him.
The media release from the school said Montgomery is widely respected for his work.
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