We aren’t accustomed to this type of news in my neighborhood.

Two nights ago, the high school and neighboring middle school were defaced with crude, racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic statements and symbols. These acts of hate were discovered by a security guard and it was determined that the vandalism had taken place between 2 am and 4 am the previous night.

As if that set of facts isn’t bad enough, the next day the high school was hosting both a freshman orientation and the traditional annual senior picnic. So a couple of hundred of our children, ages 14-18, were right in the middle of it.

This act has turned our town upside down. We are a tight knit community with little tolerance for such awful acts. There was quickly strong and appropriate outrage expressed at levels of government and in conversations at the supermarket.

We must continue to speak out against hate. Our children must understand that it is simply not acceptable – and sadly, they have now been exposed to a first-hand view of such offensive and disturbing thoughts processes right on the side of their high school building.