Graffiti leads to police sweep
Principal says things since have proceeded as normal



CLARKSVILLE — When a teacher came to work in her classroom at Clarksville Elementary School on Sunday, Sept. 11, she discovered graffiti on the building, and called Principal Dorothy MacDonald, who then informed the Bethlehem Central School District.

The response plan went smoothly, MacDonald said. Since the graffiti mentioned explosives, the building was swept by the Albany Country Sheriff’s Department and the Bethlehelm Police, she said. The writing was cleaned up by Monday, MacDonald said, so the students didn’t see it. They didn’t feel any danger or express any concern, MacDonald said.
"There was no security problem...we resumed school on Monday as normal," MacDonald said. A Patriots’ Day celebration scheduled and proceeded as planned, she said.
It has now been a few weeks since the incident, and things have been "perfectly normal" ever since, MacDonald said. There were no ramifications of students feeling unsafe or scared, she said.

Everything was taken care of by the start of school on Monday Sept. 12, she said. MacDonald did send a note home to parents on that Monday to let them know what happened, she said.