A swastika and a curse word were found scrawled inside a Montgomery County elementary school bathroom this week.
It happened in a restroom near fourth and fifth grade classrooms at Bannockburn Elementary School in Bethesda, Maryland. In a letter sent home to parents this week, Principal Kate Bradley said it鈥檚 unclear how many students saw the symbol, but in response the bathrooms will be checked every hour and students will have to sign out when they leave class to use the restroom.
鈥淲e take these things very seriously even at the elementary school level,鈥� said Derek Turner, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools. He acknowledged that it鈥檚 likely whoever vandalized the bathroom wasn鈥檛 trying to be malicious and didn鈥檛 understand what they were doing.
鈥淎t grades five, four, even down to kindergarten, kids don鈥檛 understand what symbols might mean and the impact they have,鈥� said Turner. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why this has to be as much of an awareness opportunity … as a learning opportunity for our students, that symbols have an impact and can mean things to people. It can hurt them.鈥�
The incident won鈥檛 necessarily be addressed in any special manner, but it鈥檒l likely become an example used in a program that鈥檚 already part of the curriculum at Bannockburn Elementary.
鈥淓mbedded in our curriculum are concepts around equity and respect,鈥� Turner said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e really dealing with a program around character traits, respect, and honesty and kindness. That鈥檚 what builds good character and that鈥檚 what helps them understand that symbols like this have a deeper meaning and can really hurt their classmates.鈥�
