‘Shocked and saddened.’ SLO County school vandalized with racial slur, hangman drawing
Grover Beach Elementary School employees found graffiti on school grounds Monday featuring a racial slur and drawing of a stick-figure hanging from a noose.
The elementary school campus has been closed to students since March 16 due to COVID-19 and the school district is in the process of planning how in-person classes may resume when it is safe to do so.
On Monday, school officials discovered a hangman drawing with the letters H, I and M underneath spraypainted on a wall with “Sup N***a” written to the right of the drawing.
According to a Grover Beach Police Department news release, police received reports of the graffiti around 9:20 a.m. Monday.
There were “numerous derogatory markings on the upper wall of one building,” the news release read. “The markings were sexual and racist in nature.”
An employee at the school posted photos of the vandalism to Facebook. He had not responded to Facebook messages seeking comment as of Monday afternoon.
The Lucia Mar Unified School District confirmed Monday that it was aware of the graffiti.
“We are shocked and saddened by the incident,” Lucia Mar marketing and communications coordinator Amy Jacobs wrote in an email to The Tribune.
After law enforcement officers arrived, school officials had the graffiti painted over as is district protocol, Jacobs said.
The Grover Beach Police Department asks anyone with information about the graffiti to call 805-473-4511 or email crabena@gbpd.org or mgoodman@gbpd.org.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 3:56 PM.
