A racial slur, a swastika and the word “bomb” were scraped into a window at Maplewood Intermediate School over the weekend, South Huntington School Superintendent Dr. David Bennardo said Monday.
The defacement was discovered Sunday while many school employees were participating in a rally to promote unity, Bennardo said.
The window was removed, and the slurs, which included the n-word, were photographed and reported to the police, who ruled out a threat of a bomb. Bennardo said video of the area is being reviewed to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators.
“While the window has been removed, the pain in our hearts cannot be ignored,” the letter read. “I know that I often showcase South Huntington as a model of our American dream and I still believe that characterization in every fiber of my being. However, it would be cowardly of me to ignore the very real racist and anti-Semitic assault on our values that this graffiti represents. I know in the depths of my soul that ‘we are better than this’ but someone among us was not better than this over the weekend, and that is both heartbreaking and troubling.”
South Huntington school letter