School officials ‘pursuing’ suspects in graffiti incident

School officials are ‘pursuing’ suspects who may have been involved in last week’s graffiti incident at Malverne High School, according to Superintendent James Hunderfund.

The Herald reported last week that Malverne and Nassau County Police, along with school officials, were investigating graffiti markings that were discovered at Malverne High School’s new sports complex. 

According to Spiro Colaitis, assistant superintendent for district operations, spray-painted obscenities were discovered on June 12 around 6:00 a.m. by facilities staff when they reported to work.  

Colaitis told the Herald that markings were found on the track surrounding the new turf field, the press box, some fences and pathways, the back wall of the high school building, some vehicles, stairs, and a small pump house nearby. He noted, however, that the turf field was untouched.

“They hit us hard,” Colaitis said. “This is nothing racial, not gang related. But this was directed at some of the high school administrators.”

Colaitis declined to comment on specifics, though he noted that both Malverne and Nassau County Police were investigating the incident. Both school officials and police, he said, were in the process of reviewing video footage from surveillance cameras located on school grounds.

“We had some trouble removing some of it, but we’re getting it all cleaned,” Colaitis said of the graffiti. “This is a horror. We spent a lot of money on this. For people to do this, it’s a disgrace.”

But as the Herald went to press on Monday, Hunderfund said that after school officials reviewed footage from security cameras, they believe they know who was involved.

“I can’t go into detail — information must remain confidential under the law,” Hunderfund said. “But we’re pursuing the people involved, and we will go after reimbursement . . . from those who committed the crime.”