Parents Say CMS Response To Kavanaugh Vandalism Causes Distrust

CHARLOTTE, NC — A vulgar message on a Charlotte middle school sign about the controversial Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has people concerned.

Some say the school district’s response causes distrust.

Parents posted photos online of the sign at South Charlotte Middle School with the words, “F*** Kavanaugh” written on it, a possible political vandalism.

“It sort of grabbed my attention. You usually don’t see that every day,” said Brendan Bailey. Bailey says he snapped a photo of the words Sunday morning. By afternoon, he says it was gone.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools responded with a photo of the blank sign and the political term, “Fake News”.

The backlash spread. CMS admitted Tuesday that the sign was real.

“The fake news thing did not help,” said Bailey. “There’s so much tied with that term.”

CMS changed it’s stance Monday, tweeting “We’re looking into it. As of right now, we’re sitting in the parking lot and the sign is blank.”

In the letter to parents Tuesday, the school principal said staff actually removed the words on Sunday.

“I don’t think they’re being honest about the whole thing,” said Bailey.

Some say the school needs to make sure the sign is locked and avoid spiraling on social media.

“They really need to come clean and just say, ‘Yeah, we screwed up.’,” said Bailey.

The sign was locked as of Tuesday.

Here is the school’s full letter to parents:

Good morning SCMS parents,

This is a message from Principal, Lisa Bailes,

An exterior sign at South Middle School was vandalized over the weekend. A picture posted to social media Monday evening 10/8 by a community member initially appeared to show a faked alteration of the sign and content. This determination was made after on-site investigation within one hour of the social media post showed the sign was confirmed clear of all content on Monday evening. Later corroboration of the initial posted image and review of the incident from school staff confirmed the sign had been defaced over the weekend with an inappropriate message that was removed early Sunday by staff members. CMS messaging guidelines, Board policies and codes of conduct forbid use of profanities in any communications. CMS is investigating this matter with law enforcement.