With the school year drawing to a close, many are looking forward to the fruits of a carefree summer and days without class, but a pressing issue is facing the WJ community in these final days of the 2008-2009 school year: vandalism.

“There is a growing problem with vandalism in the WJ community,” commented PTSA President Mike Karel on the PTSA listserv. “At least eight homes and cars over the past few months have been targeted multiple times.  The houses and cars have been egged.”

These bouts of vandalism that are believed to be executed by members of the student body are not only against the law, but also completely devoid of any ethical or moral standpoint. The incidents lead to the destruction of others’ property, and can be very costly due to the harm and disfigurement paint causes on both houses and cars. Respect needs to be paid to the personal property of others, especially by the youth of our society.

“My son is now a freshman in college and I no longer have a child in MCPS, but we had several incidents of vandalism over about a year when our son was a WJ junior and in the summer between junior and senior years (that would be over a year ago).  They all happened in the wee hours of the night when everyone was asleep and no one heard or saw anything,” described former WJ parent Sharon Schulman on the PTSA listserv. “Several of the incidents involved neighbors’ homes, not just ours.  The worst incidents occurred in the summer when we were out of town for weeks and our neighbors cleaned up and called the police, who couldn’t do anything because there was no evidence of who had done it.  We have a home alarm system, but it doesn’t extend to the exterior.”

Schulman’s experience is not exceptional as seen in the recent forum regarding the topic in the PTSA listserv. Though many dismiss such activities as typical adolescent fun, many parents feel the only resolution is police involvement, though it rarely proves successful.

“Reporting this to the police is futile. They will only act if you are certain that you know who was involved.  Excusing this behavior by noting that it has a long history is ridiculous,” wrote WJ parent Barbara Jackson “Parents need to know where their children are and what they are doing.”