Mt. Lebanon police probing racist, anti-Semitic graffiti at schools and football field
One incident may be club initiation prank
Mt. Lebanon police are investigating more cases of racist and anti-Semitic graffiti on school property this week.
The Mt. Lebanon School District informed police last week about a photo circulating on social media of a swastika drawn with mulch near the Washington Elementary playground in October. This week, police were notified that four small swastikas were drawn into a windowsill of a girls’ bathroom at Jefferson Middle School and that someone had painted a racial slur on a tackling dummy at the football field, said Mt. Lebanon police Lt. Duane Fisher.
“Any time you look at potential hate- or race-based crimes it’s a concern,” said Lt. Fisher, adding that the latest incidents could be “copycats” after the first was reported. “I think you have a situation where you have relatively immature children that are trying to learn or trying to understand what they’re seeing around them.”
Detectives have spoken with multiple students about the vandalism, but no charges are pending, Lt. Fisher said. Investigators don’t yet know whether a student was responsible for the slur at the football field because the facility is open to the public.
The latest incidents were reported after a student at Mellon Middle School admitted that he drew a swastika near the elementary school playground in October. The district was made aware of it only last week, when a photo of the drawing circulated on social media. The student may have drawn the symbol after other students told him to in order to be accepted into a club, Lt. Fisher said.
In a letter sent to parents earlier this week, superintendent Timothy Steinhauer and board president Lawrence Lebowitz said the district has zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior.
“As is the standard of practice, the administration will immediately investigate any incident that is inappropriate, discriminatory or intimidating in nature that occurs on school grounds,” the letter reads. “Any response will be educational, and as appropriate,
disciplinary.”
Another letter will go home to middle-school parents next week regarding discussions teachers and students have had about diversity and acceptance as a result of recent events, said Cissy Bowman, district spokeswoman.
“These isolated incidents do not reflect our school community or our community as a whole,” Ms. Bowman said.