Parents sound off on Visitation vandalism

Parents at Visitation Academy had mixed reactions to the vandalism that took place in the early morning hours of March 22.

Sometime during the night, unknown people tipped over two of the three statues of children kneeling around the Virgin Mary statue that grace Visitation’s front lawn. They also decapitated a stone lamb and threw the rest of the statue under a bush.

Joan Smith, who has a young daughter at the school, said she and her friends were talking about it. “They were saying stuff like, ‘Oh the statues were knocked over,’” she said, but noted that they were not afraid.

“We were upset that someone could desecrate the statues like that,” Smith went on. “You’d like to think that just kids did it, but you question why it was done. I felt bad for the school and the sisters in general.”

Michael Ann Pizza, who has a daughter attending Pre-K, agreed. “It was surprising that someone would do something like that,” she said. “I’m not scared, I know she is safe. I hope they find the people that did it.”

But Karen Blankenship didn’t take the news so lightly. “Since we don’t know who did it, it’s very disturbing,” she explained, adding that her daughter has been attending the school for the past five years. “I don’t think it was a hate crime.”

A police source said the investigation was still ongoing. “We will be increasing patrols there, not just because of that, but because of the coming holiday,” he told this paper. “We will be increasing our presence there and reaching out to try and give them some crime prevention tips. I think we put their mind at ease a bit.”

Arlene Figaro, principal of Visitation Academy, declined to comment.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.