THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997            TAG: 9702190497
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: HAMPTON ROADS [Briefs]
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   25 lines

RACIST VANDALISM AT SCHOOL MAY BE INVESTIGATED TODAY

School officials are expected to begin investigating today a vandalism incident at Woodrow Wilson High School, where vandals spray-painted racial slurs and profanity across a part of the building facing the main parking lot.

Several school district officials and School Board Vice Chairman Ray A. Smith Sr. were at Wilson Monday night, overseeing maintenance workers as they erased the damage with chemicals.

Smith said an administrator noticed the damage over the weekend and alerted the central office.

Schools were closed Monday for Presidents Day.

Vandals spray-painted profanity; a racial epithet used to describe blacks; and other symbols across part of the building's brick facade and several glass panes - particularly outside the guidance office and the gymnasium.

Smith, who is black, said he wasn't sure whether the incident was racially motivated; there seemed to be more profanity than anything else, he said.

Wilson High is 61 percent black and 38 percent white.

KEYWORDS: VANDALISM SCHOOLS