Swastikas Found on Restroom Walls in Maryland Middle School

Photo from Bethesda Magazine

In another incidence of racist graffiti, this time at Westland Middle School in Montgomery County, school officials once again responded appropriately to the level of violence and hate inherent in crimes of this nature, with a notification to parents and police. 

Dear Students, Parents and Guardians,I want to share with you information about an event that took place at Westland.  I am sending you this letter to give you the facts and to assure you that we are addressing this incident.One of our boys’ bathrooms was vandalized with multiple images of swastikas drawn in ink pen, in pencil and with glue stick. Once we were informed about the images we immediately secured the location, contacted the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and contacted the Montgomery County Public Schools office of school support and improvement.  After appropriate documentation by our staff and by the police our building services staff removed the vandalism.We are very saddened by this incident.  This type of behavior will not be tolerated.  Once the culprit(s) are identified, consequences will be administered in accordance with the MCPS Student Code of Conduct.We will continue to work closely with police, as well as MCPS security, on this investigation.   If you have further questions, please call the school at 301.320.6515.Sincerely,          Alison L. SerinoPrincipal

The Trump Effect is sobered by the awareness of the fact that middle school students are generally in the age range of 11-13.    They are still children, certainly not capable of racial or ethnic hate in their own right; they have learned these notions at home, from their parents, or from unsupervised access to hate sites on the internet.  

Swastikas Drawn on Wall at MD Middle School