A vandalism incident at Wakefield High School caused damage to school property ahead of tonight’s homecoming football game, authorities say.
A sidewalk, rock and sign at the school were all spray-painted sometime last night or early this morning, according to a preliminary incident report from the Arlington County Police Department.
ARLnow also observed toilet paper being removed from a tree at the school this afternoon. It appeared that at least some of the graffiti had been removed or painted over.
The incident took place in the lead-up to the homecoming faceoff between Wakefield and rival Washington-Liberty High School tonight (Friday).
“While school spirit and friendly rivalry are part of the Homecoming tradition, these actions went far beyond that and resulted in extensive and costly damage to school property,” Arlington Public Schools spokesperson Christina Arpante told ARLnow.
As an additional security measure, visiting W-L students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at tonight’s game. All visitors will be required to show ID.
“Vandalism will not be tolerated, nor will any acts of retaliation,” Arpante said. “Wakefield and Washington-Liberty are working together and have communicated with students and families to reinforce expectations for appropriate behavior and individual responsibility.”
Both schools are in contact with police.
“The focus now is on making sure tonight’s Homecoming game is what it is intended to be: a positive community event that celebrates our students, student-athletes, school spirit and our two school communities,” Arpante said.
