Editor’s note: This article, originally published at 7:13 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2024, was updated at 9:55 a.m. on Aug. 20, 2024, to include comments from Superintendent Thomas Taylor.
Montgomery County police are investigating “bias-related vandalism” after what was described as antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ graffiti was found at four more Montgomery County public schools, according to officials.
This is the second time in eight days that bias-related vandalism has been found at a county public school. On Aug. 11, phrases labeled as antisemitic were found spray-painted at Bethesda Elementary School in Bethesda, according to police.
On Monday morning, police received calls concerning bias-related vandalism at Strathmore Elementary School in Silver Spring, Fallsmead Elementary School in Rockville, Winston Churchill High School in Potomac and Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, police spokesperson Lauren Ivey said in an email to MoCo360. Monday was the first day of pre-service training for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) teachers before classes start Aug. 26.
In a Monday evening social media post on X, Superintendent Thomas Taylor called for the community to “stand together against hate.”
“Very sad that many of our teachers returned to vandalized schools today with abhorrent messages,” Taylor said.
MCPS spokesperson Liliana López said in a statement Monday that several schools were “illegally vandalized with politically-charged graffiti, antisemitic iconography (including swastikas), and, in some instances, anti-LGBTQ+ language.”
At Strathmore Elementary School, graffiti of a swastika and the word “Hitler” were written on the exterior of the building. The phrase, “Israel bomb schools,” was spray-painted on a wall at Fallsmead Elementary school, according to two photos of the graffiti provided to MoCo360.
The district reported the graffiti to police, according to the statement. According to Ivey, police are working with MCPS to investigate the vandalism.
Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said in a statement Monday the graffiti is harmful to the “entire shared community.”
“The horrific terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th and the ensuing war in Gaza have brought tremendous pain and suffering to Israeli, Jewish, Palestinian, and other Arab families in our area,” Siegel said. “But litigating the war on school walls will do nothing to achieve peace in the affected region and only further inflames tensions and divisiveness here at home.”
Siegel also noted the schools that were defaced are located in neighborhoods with “high concentrations of Jewish residents” and are “blocks away from multiple synagogues.”
According to the MCPS statement, principals are reaching out to their communities to report the incidents and provide resources for those impacted. The district denounced actions that “perpetuate hate, inequality, and injustice against any person, family, or community.”
“We must unite to recognize and embrace our differences and not let them divide us,” MCPS said.