FOLLOWUP: Volunteers, district crew clean up school vandalism at Schmitz Park, Madison

(1st two photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand)

11:43 AM: Volunteers of all ages were out cleaning up paint vandalism at Schmitz Park Elementary this morning – two days after we published reader reports about vandalism there and at Madison Middle School, blocks away. The first person to mention it, Nathan, was organizing an army of volunteers but then found out the district had sent a pressure-washer-equipped crew out first thing this morning:

As Nathan put it in this comment, “The district got the really big stuff cleared, but we have a crew of kids and adults really making the place shine.” He was hoping some volunteers would make it to Madison by day’s end, too.

ADDED 5:02 PM: Thanks to Sean for sending this photo:

Sean points out that the young signmaker’s message is: “No Graffiti.”

ADDED 10:44 PM: Thanks to Mark for sharing photos from Madison Middle School, where volunteers indeed showed up in force:

In the photos, he notes, are “Superheroes: Helen Schlacter, Mary Schlacter, Anne Wainwright, Hayden Wainwright. A few other families helped out earlier in the day.”

10 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Volunteers, district crew clean up school vandalism at Schmitz Park, Madison"

  • Matt S. September 7, 2015 (12:17 pm)

    This bit of news brightened my day. Rock on, city and kind volunteers!

  • West Seattle community September 7, 2015 (3:02 pm)

    Thanks to all the volunteers the place looks GREAT. District tried all they could but without all the volunteer effort scrapping, peeling, brushing and repainting there would have been lasting graffiti due to the volume of graffiti. Thanks all!

  • CanDo September 7, 2015 (4:16 pm)

    These volunteers are awesome! Thank you!

  • Ttt September 7, 2015 (8:09 pm)

    Great community teamwork!! I hope the graffti thugs are caught!!

  • SPMom September 7, 2015 (9:17 pm)

    Thank you volunteers!

  • sgs September 8, 2015 (9:48 am)

    Thanks for all your efforts volunteers!

    I hope the new Schmitz Park School will have cameras.

  • JennyL September 8, 2015 (5:20 pm)

    Thank you volunteers, for showing love and care for our community! It feels good to see students involved and concerned about their schools. It is frustrating to clean up someone else’s mess.

  • Mike September 8, 2015 (6:51 pm)

    Huge thanks to the district guy that was there before 7 am to pressure wash all that paint off so many areas around the school.

  • gina September 15, 2015 (12:44 pm)

    Prevention would be awesome. Teflon walls???

  • Matt S. September 16, 2015 (9:58 am)

    @Gina: Or paint-activated net guns. (Armed against villains, not volunteers obviously.)

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