BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Boston Police are investigating after custodial staff at the Joseph P. Tynan Elementary School Wednesday morning arrived to find racist graffiti scrawled on the building.
School Superintendent Laura Perille described the graffiti as "racist and hateful," and said school administrators and teachers are spending the day supporting the students.
"We have a full team out at Tynan, and we will use the strongest possible language first and foremost to support our students and family and staff in that building, but also to send a message that the Boston Public Schools is here for each and every student, every day," she said. "We will not back down from that commitment."
Perille said BPS Behavioral Health staff and school psychologists were on scene to provide support, and added that the graffiti would not deter them from making the school a safe place for all students.
In a statement, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called the graffiti "horrifying and heinous," and said it was "a complete misrepresentation of who we are as a city."
"Racism and threats of this nature will not be tolerated in our schools or in the City of Boston," the mayor's statement said. "To whoever wrote this message, you should be ashamed for spreading this message of hate where our young people go to learn. Boston is a place that is welcoming and inclusive of all."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Mike Macklin reports