When students arrived at school May 27, they were greeted by graffiti all over windows and the outside of the building. There was a separate incident of graffiti the following day. Many thought it was possibly a senior prank, but by law it is vandalism. 

Junior Alana Weiser was taken back by the graffiti as she entered the building.

“When I walked into school, I saw graffiti all over and I was confused when it happened. I got really distracted when trying to get to my classes because I was trying to figure out what the graffiti was. It was really confusing and I didn’t understand why people thought it was necessary to do,” Weiser said.

When sophomore Erik Lindell got to school, he noticed the graffiti and quickly considered the impacts on staff.

“My initial thoughts were that it was disrespectful to the custodial staff since they’re the ones who would actually have to work to get rid of it,” Lindell said.

Not only did these incidents affect the staff, but according to Weiser, the whole school community as well.

“It separates people because it’s putting a negative effect on Park, which makes the community negative,” Weiser said.

School resource officer Maurice Smith, helped investigate both incidents of vandalism. 

“The school was tagged, it was overnight. There was a separate incident where the school was tagged again,” Smith said. “Both times it was by different people. It was not believed to be the same person.”

According to Lindell, he said he believes students were not heavily affected as the situation has been handled strictly by the staff.

“To be honest, it didn’t really affect me that much. I just really went about my day, I think my school day wasn’t really impacted,” Lindell said.

As spring has arrived, students are eager to be done with school and enjoy their summer. Weiser believes that this plays a role in the timing of both incidents of vandalism.

“I think it is because it’s the end of the school year, students don’t really care if they get suspended or anything because it’s the end of the year anyways, so they’re not scared to get in trouble,” Weiser said.

There will be no further information following up the incidents, according to Smith. 

“From a law enforcement standpoint, we’re not going to do any further updates to the community,” Smith said.