Flint,MI,USA
FLINT - Dorothy Cobbs wasn't sure what to make of the spray-painted graffiti that covered the brick walls of McKinley Middle School last week.
Looking on from her front porch across Camden Avenue, Cobbs thought maybe it was a school art project.
"I'd rather have it just be the plain brick," said Cobbs.
So would McKinley Principal Sandra Hodges.
Hodges was dismayed to come to school last week and find someone had climbed atop the building and spray-painted "Time" and other graffiti along the tops of the school's outside walls.
Police found several empty cans of spray paint and rubber gloves on the roof, Hodges said.
The artist's talents would be better put to use inside the school, said Hodges.
"I've got plenty of walls inside the school that could use paint," she said, adding the colorful designs would look better on the cafeteria ceiling.
The graffiti doesn't appear to be gang-related, but is still an annoyance, said Larry Watkins, acting director of pupil personnel services for the district, which is in charge of school security.
"I've been in the Flint School District since I was one month old and I've never seen anything like that," Watkins said of McKinley. "It is deplorable. It Ts me off. It really angers me. I can't even use the words I'd like to."
The illegal artwork comes with a large price tag for the financially troubled Flint School District.
It will take about 16 hours and two buckets of a special $185 phosphorous chemical to wash off the paint, said Kelly Matthews, who cleans graffiti for the district.
This is the first time "taggers" have hit the 75-year-old McKinley building with so much graffiti, said Matthews.
"Apparently they were bored and didn't have anything better to do," said Matthews. "They got it pretty good."
McKinley parent Kathy Ellwood said she's disgusted by the display.
Far from harmless, Ellwood said the graffiti is destructive to the image of both the school and the community.
"It's too bad parents don't know where their kids are at night," said Ellwood, who has two daughters in seventh and fourth grade at McKinley.
Neighborhood resident Cynthia Currie worries it won't stop.
Currie said the graffiti was mainly black outlines when she first saw it Aug. 2 but has since been sprayed with colors and expanded to other parts of the school.
"It's too late to nip in the bud. It's in full blossom," said Currie.
Journal staff writer Matt Bach contributed to this article.