UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Cleanup and repairs are under way at Upper Lake Elementary and Upper Lake Middle School, where vandals did damage this past weekend.
Becky Jeffries, Upper Lake Union Elementary School District's chief business official, said both schools were extensively tagged with what appeared to be gang graffiti.
School let out for the holidays last Friday, Dec. 19, at which time the tagging hadn't occurred, she said.
However, when staff came in on Monday, they discovered the tagging. She said a custodian who lives nearby believes the damage was done sometime Saturday or Sunday night.
Jeffries said the elementary school had graffiti up and down the sidewalks, on walls and on windows, while the back of the middle school's gymnasium and storage sheds were tagged.
She said that the district's head of maintenance said no damage of this magnitude has been done to the schools in about a decade.
Last year a small amount of graffiti was left on a wall at the elementary school, but Jeffries added, “It was nothing like this.”
Nothing similar was reported at the nearby high school, she said.
Sheriff's deputies came out to the schools on Monday and took a full report, with Jeffries noting that they promised to conduct extra patrol in the area.
She did not have a damage estimate available on Tuesday, explaining that the costs to the district include dedicating all four maintenance staff to the cleanup, along with paying for paint and cleaning supplies.
With the students off on vacation – they return on Monday, Jan. 5 – maintenance staff had planned to spend the time making repairs around the campus sites, Jeffries said.
Instead, Jeffries said they've been focusing all of their attention on cleaning up the graffiti, with plans to paint the walls.
“Our maintenance crew has been able to scrape it off the glass,” she said.
The district now may end up considering surveillance cameras, something they've never felt the need to have before, Jeffries said.
“It’s just unfortunate and sad that it’s come to that,” she said.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is encouraged to call the Lake County Sheriff's Office at 707-262-4200.
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Upper Lake's elementary and middle schools hit by graffiti vandals
- Elizabeth Larson
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