Wootton and three other Montgomery County schools were vandalized on Monday, Aug. 19, with graffiti containing antisemitic and homophobic language. Churchill, Strathmore Elementary School, and Fallsmead Elementary School were also vandalized.
MCPS is not a stranger to acts of hate and vandalism. There have been several incidents of vandalism over the past few years and, while the county has taken significant action, these acts of hate have not ceased.
The rise of vandalism at this school includes multiple instances of swastikas being drawn, as well as racist acts of hate including the n-word being printed out on multiple sheets of paper at the end of last school year.
Students have concerns about how the administration has been handling these acts. “I think the administration definitely could be doing more to take action about [recent acts of hate.] The [email detailing the most recent acts of vandalism] didn’t need to walk around what happened. In order to solve the problem we need to be honest with the vandalism that happened so that people aren’t ignorant or blind about it,” senior Anna Lizondo said.
MCPS has recently released a set of new safety guidelines, created by new Superintendent Thomas Taylor, including the new IDs for All program to ensure students are safe at school. “This year, we received new guidelines about how to effectively evaluate and address hate bias incidents,” Principal Douglas Nelson said.
The Office of Superintendent of Schools created an action plan in March 2024 to prevent hate bias and delivered it to the Board of Education. The action plan was written by Interim Superintendent Dr. Monique Felder. According to the action plan, MCPS receives about three reports of hate bias per day. The action plan has three main pillars, which include prevention through education, reporting and communication, incident response, and restoration
To prevent incidents of hate and prejudice from occurring, MCPS said it is important to educate students about how hate bias is hurtful to members of the community. “As a school, we will continue to provide opportunities for members of the school community to learn from each other. The Restorative Justice Committee will host a series of community circles to learn about the experiences of specific student groups,” restorative justice coach and English teacher Lindsey Vance said.
Another way to educate students about hate in the community is to encourage discussions between students. “Having a space for open conversation between students would promote respect just so different opinions and perspectives can be shared in a way that everyone is able to listen to each other,” Lizondo said.
When an incident of hate or prejudice is first discovered, the administration calls the police and reports it to the MCPS central office as well. “For this incident [the graffiti on the sign], it also has a focus of hate bias, so the administration evaluates the details of what happened and responds accordingly,” Nelson said.
