Anti-LGBTQ Graffiti Reported At Connetquot High School: Police

OAKDALE, NY — Suffolk County Police are investigating two incidents of anti-LGBTQ writing inside Connetquot High School.

On Feb. 15, police received reports of an anti-LGBTQ statement written on a LGBTQ posted on a classroom door. Two days later, anti-LGBTQ graffiti was written on a hallway wall, police said.

In a statement, superintendent Dr. Lynda Adams addressed the incidents.

"On Feb. 10 and 17, two anti-LGBT graffiti comments were discovered at Connetquot High School," she said. The Suffolk County Police Department was immediately contacted on both occasions, and we are assisting them on this investigation. "

Adams continued to say that anti-LGBT acts will not be condoned.

"Connetquot Central School District is a place of No Hate and this act of hateful vandalism will not be tolerated," she said. "We ask that if anyone has any information on this matter to please contact us and/or the SCPD. We, as a community, are here for our staff and students and will continue to offer services through our mental health professionals for any who seek it once school resumes on Feb. 27."

The incidents come months after teacher Sarah Ecke was told by administrators to take down a Progress Pride flag in her classroom. All district educators were then told to hang only state or American flags.

Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered an investigation into the district in October.

The district was also listed on PEN America's “Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools" for requiring students to provide a permission slip to check out the graphic novel “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, out from its library.