▶️ Bend elementary school hit with racist, homophobic, antisemitic graffiti

(CORRECTION: The Bend-La Pine School District says that while Ensworth Elementary School did get hit with graffiti, the tagging that had the offensive comments and imagery was only at Bear Creek.)

Someone tagged Bear Creek Elementary school over the weekend with graffiti with that included racist, antisemitic and homophobic epithets as well as sexual content.

A letter was sent to Bear Creek parents.

“We are saddened to inform you that our school was vandalized over the weekend with substantial graffiti of a racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexual nature,” Bear Creek Principal Lisa Birk wrote in the letter. “The graffiti, done with heavy black marker, was found on our front entry sign leading into our parking lot, on various signs in the front and on the side of the school, on a large playground wall, and on a play structure.

Ensworth Elementary was also tagged, but only Bear Creek received the offensive content, according to the Bend-La Pine School District.

Photos provided to Central Oregon Daily News show the graffiti included use of slurs against Black and gay people. There were also swastikas, a reference to Adolf Hitler and a drawing of male genitalia.

Sherri Williams, a parent, was frustrated when she found out about the incident.

“They shouldn’t have to see any graffiti, I don’t know what it was. The kids should definitely not see any of that,” Williams said.

>>> Central Oregon Daily News is on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and share our videos.

RELATED: Graffiti, vandalism hit Redmond parks; Police seek public’s help

RELATED: Reptile Zone tagged with graffiti 3 days after burglary arrests

The graffiti was spotted Monday morning as students were arriving and some were already on the playground, Birk wrote.

“Once we became aware, we immediately directed all students inside, and our custodian began cleaning and removing the graffiti. A couple of additional spots were discovered during morning recess and were promptly cleaned up,” Birk wrote.

She warns that some students saw the graffiti before it was reported, so it may come up in conversations at home.

Bear Creek Elementary fourth grader Jaden recalls the moment he noticed it.

“When I got recess, I saw on the walls there was like ‘F-U’ something like that. It was like pretty bad,” Jaden said.

Birk adds that it’s not clear if both schools were tagged by the same person or people.

Bend Police say they are investigating. It is considered second-degree criminal mischief, which is a misdemeanor. 

“We don’t have any indication that they’re connected in anyway. Vandalism is frustrating and causes damage. It can be really uncomfortable and unsafe,” said Bend PD Communications Manager Sheila Miller.

Birk said a bias incident report has been made with the Bend-La Pine School District. A request has been made for and have requested increased School Resource Officer patrols of our campus.

“There’s no place for that in our community, so we really do ask for anyone who know something about this to come forward,” Miller said.

Anyone who has any information call non-emergency dispatch and refer to the following case numbers.

• 2023-00026497 (Bear Creek Elementary)
• 2023-00026486 (Ensworth Elementary)

Community members can also report it to SafeOregon, a program dedicated to preventing school safety threats from occurring.