VOORHEESVILLE — Voorheesville Middle School and Clayton A. Bouton High School have been without a proper sign since the third week of January, when two young men were arrested for vandalizing the sign, as well as the library and the residence of a high school staff member.

Last week, a new roadside sign, complete with purple Voorheesville “V”s adorned with the Blackbird mascot, popped up in front of the school buildings in place of the gaping hole where the old sign used to be.

“It was literally not there one day and then there the next,” said Superintendent Dr. Teresa Thayer Snyder, noting the first day she noticed the new sign was last Tuesday, when the budget vote took place.

The new sign is being paid for partly by insurance, and partly by restitutions from the young men, Matthew, L. Carey-Moorly and Manny A. Wiest, who committed the vandalism in January. Eventually, the two men will fully pay for the new sign, which cost about $3,500.

The original sign was designed by student Jake Ardman, and was created by Infamous Graphics. The landscaping around the sign, as well as the pillars and base supporting it, were made by Jerry Parmenter of Elemental Landscape, Inc.

After the sign got vandalized, Infamous Graphics thought it would be a good idea to redesign and make the sign more readable, said Thayer Snyder. The original design was great on paper, but didn’t transfer as a sign very well, she continued.

The sign now has a cream-colored background with gold lettering outlined in black, which provides better readability than the original sign, which had a purple background.

“I still like the young man’s design very much,” said Thayer Snyder, “and so we’re going to turn it into stationary for the school.”