Graffiti found in teacher parking lot

English teacher Sandra Jacobs Ivey and English Department Head Vickie Adamson discovered graffiti that conveyed a racist message in the teacher parking lot Monday evening.

The vandal, who has not been identified, wrote the offensive message in red paint in one of the parking spaces near the track field. Smashed pumpkins and splattered red and purple paint surrounded the defamatory statement, according to Adamson. "It was kind of dark, but I walked right up and saw that there was writing," she said. "It also looked like people had taken pumpkins from the neighborhood and thrown them in the parking lot."

Ivey was shocked that someone from the diverse Blair community would spread such a hurtful message. "I would not have expected that from Blair," she said.

Ivey also raised concerns about school security in the aftermath of the graffiti incident. "When did it happen? How did it happen?" she asked. "The greater implication is: who's monitoring the parking lot?"

After discovering the vandalism site with Ivey, Adamson notified a member of the building services team. Building service worker John Colandreo, who manages destruction of property outside the building, coordinated the cleanup. A single smashed pumpkin and a small amount of splattered purple paint are all that remained of the vandalism in the teacher parking lot as of Friday afternoon.

Building Service Manager Yak Agbonselobho described the guidelines building service workers follow when graffiti is found. "If we find anything like that, we take pictures and follow protocols," he said. "We remove it immediately because we don't want anyone to get offended."

Assistant Principal Myriam Rogers was unaware of the graffiti, but she said that the administration will investigate the incident.