4 Teens Arrested in Display of Racist Phrases at Elementary in Pr. William

Four teenagers were arrested in connection with racist phrases and symbols made from strips of sod at an elementary school in the Manassas area, Prince William County police said Tuesday.

The strips, spelling "KKK" and "White Power" with a swastika in the middle, were found about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at a parking lot at Sinclair Elementary School, said Sgt. Kim Chinn, a police spokeswoman.

The male Stonewall Jackson High School students, ages 14, 15, 16 and 17, three of them white and one black, were released to their parents, Chinn said. As of late last night it appeared that they had not been charged.

It is unclear how long the sod strips were on display before police received the call, Chinn said. They were removed after police documented the scene, she said.

The sod had been delivered recently because the school grounds are undergoing landscaping work, Principal Donna Fagerholm said.

One parent, Christine Tucker, learned of the incident from a reporter Tuesday morning when she arrived at Sinclair to register her 5-year-old daughter, Jordan, for school, which begins Sept. 8. She said it made her think twice about her daughter attending the school.

"We're a multiracial family," said Tucker, adding that she would be concerned, because the school is so far from her job, in Reston. "This doesn't make it seem as safe."

Ken Blackstone, county schools spokesman, said the vandalism appears to be random, because it did not specifically target the school or community.

The incident was the first in recent memory involving racist vandalism, said Blackstone, who has been a spokesman for three years.

"We don't have a history of that here," Fagerholm said. "The focus at our school is that learning is for everyone."

The school system plans to seek disciplinary action against the four students involved, Blackstone said.

Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.