Student Paints Anti-Police Message At School in Hudson Valley
Many were upset after an anti-police message was spray-painted in a parking spot at a Hudson Valley High School.
A parking spot at Putnam Valley High School was painted with "BLM" for Black Lives Matter and derogatory messages towards police, including a message mentioning that one student has a "cop dad."
"The High School administration is working with the student regarding this inappropriateness of the message that was originally painted," Putnam Valley Central School District Jeremy Luft said in an email obtained by Hudson Valley Post. "The student will be provided the opportunity to paint the correct parking space while abiding by the rules that govern the painting of student parking spaces."
It's been a tradition for Putnam Valley High School students to paint their own parking spot.
"As a school district, we do not tolerate hateful speech of any kind," Luft said in a second message after some felt Luft's first message didn't condone hateful speech. "As an educational institution, we must utlilze events like this to educate our students on respectful and appropriate speech and actions. This incident is a reminder of the role the district serves in the community and the importance of work with students to condemn hatred of any kind."
Putnam Valley High School Principal Sandra Intrieri later confirmed the parking spot wasn't painted by the student who's assigned the parking spot.
"First and foremost, our belief has always been that the parking spot message that was painted by a student was hateful and unacceptable," Intrieri wrote in a joint statement with Assistant Principal Matt Mello. "While we cannot control students’ beliefs, we will not allow hateful messages on our campus. FERPA regulations do not allow us to discuss student discipline; however, the student will not be painting another spot in our parking lot. Both Mr. Mello and I value our police-community and appreciate the protections that they provide us on a daily basis. We apologize for not taking proactive measures that could have prevented this student’s message. Moving forward, we will be developing new protocols for painting senior parking spots. We also apologize for not communicating a stronger message that hate speech is not tolerated or allowed on our campus. These are difficult times and we should have given greater consideration to how this would affect our families in the community."