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As police continue to search for the two men who set a fire outside Bnos Sanz School in Union City, officials are considering security measures to make sure the local Hassidic community isn't caught off-guard by future attacks.

At about 9 p.m. on April 22, two young adult males entered through a broken fence whose access was controlled by a metal gate that was left unlocked. They placed a single plank of wood, cardboard, and small wood chips on a desk, which they left outside the basement door and set aflame.

Union City Police Chief Charles Everett said this week that the city has designated the all-girls school's site at 3300 New York Ave. as an "Increased Patrol Location," meaning that an officer visits the area as frequently as once an hour as opposed to the random checking that normally takes place.

Initial news reports indicated that the school was vandalized and that a cross was burned on the desk, but police and school officials say those reports are false. Instead, the school's surveillance footage revealed that the men who lit the fire ran away immediately and never entered the building, and Everett said there is still no evidence this is a hate crime.

"Since this is a religious school, we are looking into the possibility of a bias crime, but there is no direct indication that the motive was to target the Jewish community," Everett said.

Police have finished reviewing surveillance footage, interviewing witnesses, and canvassing the area trying to identify the perpetrators, Everett said, but efforts to enhance the video footage were unsuccessful.

At Bnos Sanz, officials are discussing the possibility of installing an upgraded surveillance system as well as adding an exterior alarm system to the building's current interior one, site supervisor Solomon Nussenzweig said.

Nussenzweig estimated that a new system of surveillance cameras would cost the school between $20,000 and $50,000. While Union City repaired the portion of the gate that was broken into on the day after the attacks, the school is looking into constructing a new gate around the entire facility, Nussenzweig said.

Principals and teachers have been speaking regularly with Bnos Sanz students over the past few weeks to assuage their concerns about safety.

"The people in our community are going to be more alert now. They will have an open eye and call for help when they need it," Nussenzweig said.

Debbie Simon, Hudson County's deputy first assistant prosecutor, said that the county is considering a suggestion from the Anti-Defamation League that a reward should be offered for information relating to the investigation. There are several legal hurdles that need to be cleared with the New Jersey attorney general's office before that can happen, she said.

Etzion Neuer, regional director for the ADL's New Jersey office, said that the prosecutor's office initially did not think a reward for information was necessary, but that the proposition is being revisited. He said that rewards have been a successful method for similar incidents in the past, citing an assault case in Lakewood two years ago.

"It's a good incentive that can be used to draw information," Neuer said of offering a reward. "Until somebody is apprehended, there is unease. But at this point, we have to let the police do their job."

Everett said that while the decision to offer a reward is in the hands of the prosecutor's office, he cautioned that there might not be enough evidence for a biased crime or a high likelihood of repeat incidents in the area to go forward with that option.

"I want them to make as informed of a decision as possible," Everett said.

The fire, initially spotted by a 5-year-old girl living across the street, did not result in any injuries or structural damage to the facility, as the building instead suffered superficial damage such as burn marks on its concrete walls. After the girl's father tried his best to put out the flame, Union City's fire department and community Hatzolah branch arrived within minutes.

"With what could have happened, it's really a big miracle," said Rabbi Hersch Turner, the director of Bnos Sanz.

Turner recalled a similar incident in Union City 20 years ago, when a can of gas was placed under a bus near Mesivta Sanz, the community's all-boys school. Everett, however, couldn't remember any hate crimes directed at the local Jewish community since he began working for the police department in 1976.

The Klausenburg-Sanz Hassidim, primarily based out of Netanya in Israel and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, have lived in Union City for more than 40 years. The community contains about 200 families, with 200 girls from nursery through 8th grade at Bnos Sanz as well as 150 boys from 1st to 12th grade at Mesivta Sanz.

"They have a long history in this town," Everett said of the Klausenburg-Sanz community. "We all get along pretty well here."

"Hudson County is the most diverse county in New Jersey, and the relationship between the Klausenburg-Sanz community and the rest of the city has been very positive," added Adam Weiss, director of the non-profit HudsonJewish. "In such a diverse area, relationships between different ethnic groups seem to be excellent."

Arson has been a historical problem in Union City, Everett said, noting that the town traced a series of about 50 garbage fires eight years ago to a serial arsonist. No physical evidence -- like graffiti -- indicates that this arson was a hate crime, and the fact that the perpetrators used on-site materials for the fire rather than bringing their own also diminishes that possibility, Everett explained.

Nevertheless, the door remains open for at least researching this incident as a bias crime. Neuer said that because the men who set the fire did not steal anything from the school, their primary motive could have been to target the Jewish community.

"We have to be vigilant and consider bias as a possible motive," Neuer said. "Since there was no robbery, it begs the question of this being a hate crime. It's a public Jewish institution, and that's enough to raise the question."

The fact that television networks exaggerated the incident as a burned cross indicates the sensitivity of society to potential anti-Semitism in these times, Neuer said.

"We have to be careful about that type of speculation," Neuer said. "We are living at a time when the president of Iran is spewing ugly anti-Semitism, and Israel-bashing is taking place in Geneva, so in the community it's a time of vulnerability."

Neuer also did not read into the fact that the fire was directed at a significantly right-wing branch of the Jewish community.

"Typically, bigots are equal opportunity offenders," he said. "We see no bias between attacking liberal or ultra-orthodox institutions."

New Jersey saw 247 "anti-Semitic incidents" in 2007, including 48 directed at schools and five taking place in Hudson County, according to statistics provided by the ADL. Over the last 11 years, a high of 297 incidents took place in 2004 and a low of 171 occurred in 2002. Statistics for 2008 haven't been compiled yet, Neuer said.