Rainbow crosswalk vandalized at a South Okanagan elementary school | 24CA News
A crosswalk at a South Okanagan elementary faculty that portrays inclusivity has been vandalized, and employees and college students are calling the act ‘disappointing.’
The crosswalk on the entrance of Osoyoos Elementary School which was as soon as painted in vibrant colors of the rainbow was painted over in white paint over the weekend.
“A lot of the kids were coming to school, (saying) ‘what happened to our rainbow crosswalk?.’ So, we actually took a little while to sort out what happened, we thought our painters were going to repaint it, but then we discovered that someone actually came and took it upon themselves to cover it up,” mentioned faculty principal, David Foster.
“This rainbow crosswalk represents kindness, acceptance, and belonging and it says we see you.”
Staff believes it was somebody performing out of hate, and to rise towards that, the college held a ceremony on Friday to start repainting the crosswalk again to what it as soon as was.
“It was really important that we got together today to have this opportunity to reinforce the importance of inclusivity, about celebrating diversity,” mentioned Foster.
During the ceremony, Foster gave a speech and a number of other college students got here ahead and assisted in repainting part of the crosswalk.
“We had the rainbow crosswalk for a reason, to show kids they were safe, and for someone to come and just paint it over, it’s not good,” mentioned Grade 6 pupil, Liliana Bento.
Due to chilly climate situations, solely a part of the crosswalk was allowed to be painted, and it’s anticipated to be accomplished by the point college students return from Spring Break.
“I feel really good that we can have our nice sidewalk back and I feel disappointed that someone was just to hate the way that we show that we like to welcome people here,” mentioned Grade 7 pupil, Wyatt Rosin.
According to Osoyoos RCMP, digicam footage from the world has been turned over, nonetheless, the standard is kind of poor making it troublesome to determine anybody.
An investigation is underway and anybody who could have info as to who’s accountable is requested to contact RCMP.
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