Vandalism stuns staff, students

Vandals struck the high school at 4 a.m. on Saturday Feb. 22 drawing racial slurs, hate symbols and a “lower body extremity,” on a back wall and on a portable. 

The damage has now become a police investigation. Currently, the police department is reviewing video from nearby surveillance cameras for evidence, but Associate Principal Dana Deines said the vandals are disguised so it’s hard to make out their identities. He said they’re also not sure if it was Cedar Falls students, community members or other students. 

Deines said that once the vandals are identified, the police department and the high school will both press charges.

Counselor Susan Langan said she thinks it’s important that students have a voice right now. “It’s so simple. We just need to be nice to people. We need to make sure we send that message that this is not OK. This is not going to be tolerated,” she said. 

Although graffiti has happened in the past at the high school and other places in town, Langan said she believes it’s more threatening to students when it occurs on campus. “When they do it in the school, it just seems a little worse, because it’s targeted at the students at C.F.”