District officials have found a custodian responsible for the racist graffiti found last week at Francis Howell High School, according to an email sent to families on Wednesday.
The investigation happened in partnership with the St. Charles County Police Department, the email states.
The custodian was immediately placed on leave, arrested and charged with Harassment Motivated by Discrimination and Property Damage, according to Interim Superintendent Mark Delaney.
“I want to express my apologies for this incident and the effect it has had on students, fellow employees at Francis Howell High School, and the broader Francis Howell community,” Delaney wrote in the email. “All students and staff deserve to feel safe and welcome at school.”
According to a probable cause statement filed by the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, a custodian named Tyler Carter admitted to writing the graffiti and additional vandalism found at the school.
The graffiti, which was discovered by a student, was scrawled across bathroom stalls and metal beams on Sept. 24 and contained racial slurs and sexually violent language targeting African Americans, according to images shared on Facebook by the student’s mother, Meagan Martin Mahaney.
The student immediately reported the incident to school leaders, who then promptly removed the graffiti and opened an investigation.
Carter also wrote sexually explicit words in classrooms where foreign languages are taught at Francis Howell High, according to the statement.
“He further admitted that he targeted the African American community because he believed the graffiti had been left by individuals of that ethnicity and stated that he had been bullied by African American students while in high school acknowledging that he holds a bias,” according to the statement.
Martin Mahaney said in an interview last week that she wanted the district to do more to address school climate and culture.
She said her oldest son who graduated in 2020 also experienced students calling him racist slurs.
Francis Howell High School sent an email to families on Sept. 25 notifying the community of the incident and ensuring an investigation was underway.
The incident elicited a condemnation from the St. Charles County chapter of the NAACP and the progressive political action committee, Francis Howell Forward.
Both groups stated that the incident was a part of a common trend at the district’s schools.
The NAACP released a new statement Wednesday afternoon calling for more transparency, accountability and prevention from Francis Howell leadership.
“This is not an isolated act, but part of a troubling pattern of racism and insufficient response within the Francis Howell School District,” the statement reads. “Again, this was not just graffiti calling for sexual violence as stated in a letter earlier today from the district, this was a call for violent harm, death, sexual assault and a blatant act of hate.”
Delaney said in his email that “racism, hate, and violence have no place in our schools or communities and will not be tolerated.”
This story has been updated to include additional information from the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and a new statement from the St. Charles County NAACP chapter.
