Whether it be a small heartfelt doodle or political hate-speech, school graffiti is on an increase in Lane Tech, according to an email sent Jan. 8 to the entire student body. The email, sent by Dr. Hanly, one of Lane Tech’s assistant principals, urged students to have pride in their school building, and warned that perpetrators will face serious punishments.
“There were two things that we saw an uptick in,” Hanly said in a recent interview, noting the graffiti is usually seen in both the boys-plus and girls-plus bathrooms. Some of it is “very distinctive” in its design, and according to Hanly, “not appropriate.” “We are seeing things such as people talking about other students, and some political statements that shouldn’t be made,” she said.
Lane Tech is very adamant in its stance about any sort of graffiti, despite the intentions. “Even if it’s [writing] ‘you’re beautiful’” Hanly continued, “I wonder if we could do that on a flyer instead of graffitiing our doors,” she said.
The students who are tagging the building are likely a small number, maybe about 3-4 kids at a time, Hanly said. “This isn’t ten students across ten different bathrooms,” she said. “It’s the same drawing, the same design.” Hanly said. “We don’t like any of it.”
Catching these constant graffitists takes some strain, as the process described by Hanly is a tedious one. It includes using the 100+ new security cameras throughout the building to pinpoint time periods. This means essentially time blocking the students who entered and departed the bathroom, then tracking when the graffiti was there. “Our camera work is a really good way to kind of find out who’s doing what,” Hanly said.
Despite the use of new cameras to catch graffitists, the Lane graffiti isn’t exactly a new issue. “We see these spikes every now and then,” Hanly said. Despite the frequency, punishments for graffiting can be hefty, including suspension, and financial responsibility. The CPS Student Code of Conduct views graffiti as a type of vandalism.
Though, one student, who preferred to stay anonymous due to concerns of retribution, has other ideas about graffiti in public places. “I think that graffiti can be really beautiful, and actually uplifts urban spaces,” the student said, who admitted to have tagged the Lane bathrooms at least 100 times, as well as around 500 in the city of Chicago.
Their passion for graffiti seemed to have stemmed from a young age, partaking in sharpie graffiti in their elementary school bathrooms. “As I got older, coming to Lane, now I bring my Sharpie with me everywhere,” the student said. They believe graffiti is a positive addition around the city, as well as Lane when “done meaningfully,” and not in a disrespectful way. “I think it brings a little bit of fun into the world,” the student said.
However, despite the intentions, according to Hanly, the removal process isn’t the easiest endeavour. “It’s not like it just magically comes off, and it’s like a whiteboard that you can erase,” Hanly continued. “It takes a lot of manpower for someone to clean it off.”
These “someones” usually end up being Lane’s school janitors.
One custodian, Sierra Jingus, recalls the graffiti she deals with in the school bathrooms. Jingus sees “mostly R-rated images,” as she said, and the cleaning process required is often thorough, and repeated. “We have to scrub it. We have to sanitize, then we have to come back,” Jingus said, “and sometimes, they draw it again.”
For janitors who constantly work to clean up this graffiti, it’s “very aggravating,” she said, “I don’t know if it’s a vendetta against [janitors] or something,” Jingus said, “but I don’t like it.”
The additional work for custodians was the main reason school graffiti was proclaimed a serious issue by the school. “It takes a lot of work for our poor custodians,” Hanly said. “They’re people too,”
Though, the sentiment was shared by the anonymous student as well, noting that they too, take this into consideration when tagging. “I do sympathize with them,” said the student. “Which is why I mainly tag outside.”
According to the student, janitors shouldn’t need to go through the toil. “Unless it’s something that’s super hateful, I don’t see why they can’t just leave it up,” the student said.
However, a large issue for Lane Tech’s graffiti is associated with the reputation, and overall looks of the school. “We don’t want to be the school that people come into and [say] ‘Oh, my God, this is nasty’,” Hanly continued. “We’ve got our own fair share of issues as an old building, but we don’t need to contribute to that.”
Hanly hopes future kids will refrain from graffiti. “Have pride in your building, have pride in the place that you come to for seven, eight hours, sometimes for kids, 10 hours a day,” Hanly said.
Yet, she anticipates the continuation of graffiti, despite the school’s repercussions. “I can send a million emails, but I think kids will always do what they want to do.” Hanly said.
