Two swastikas were spray-painted near the entrance to the bus loop at Phelps Luck Elementary School in Howard County, sitting unnoticed for weeks before anyone spotted them on August 26. Camera footage reviewed by the school showed the graffiti was already present on or before August 7, the day before the 2026-2027 school year began, meaning the hateful symbols were on school property as staff and students returned to the building.
Howard County police confirmed the discovery to WBAL and are now investigating the graffiti incident. According to a letter sent to parents, the two spray-painted swastikas were found at the entrance to the bus loop, an area officials say does not see much daily foot traffic. Once discovered, the school called its grounds department, which removed the graffiti.
How the Vandalism Went Unnoticed for Weeks
Staff did not see the graffiti before students returned to school, and school employees themselves did not return to the building until the week after August 7. Dr. Shawna Holden said the graffiti sat in an area without significant foot traffic, which the district's report to families points to as the reason it escaped notice for so long. The gap between when the symbols likely appeared and when they were finally found remains one of the central unresolved questions in the case, and it is not yet known whether the reviewed camera footage will help investigators identify a suspect.
Howard County Police Department protocol requires officers to log every reported hate-bias incident in official records regardless of whether a suspect or specific motivation can be conclusively proven, according to Howard County Government. Under Maryland law, defacing school property with religious or ethnic bias is a misdemeanor that can carry up to three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and court-ordered anti-bias education, per statutes reviewed on Westlaw. Prosecution for a hate crime can proceed alongside separate charges tied to the underlying property destruction.
A District Already Under Federal Scrutiny
The discovery at Phelps Luck comes less than two years after Howard County Public Schools entered a binding resolution with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, following a federal investigation that documented at least 28 antisemitic incidents across 16 district schools over two academic years. Hoodline previously reported on that resolution, under which the district agreed to issue anti-harassment statements and provide annual staff training. That earlier federal review found district officials had previously failed to evaluate whether swastikas drawn on walls, Nazi salutes, and social media threats against Jewish students amounted to a hostile environment.
Statewide data underscores why schools remain a persistent flashpoint. An Anti-Defamation League report cited by the Baltimore Jewish Times found that non-Jewish K-12 schools accounted for 34% of all reported antisemitic incidents in Maryland in 2025, the highest share of any single location type, out of 181 incidents statewide that year. Testimony submitted to the Maryland General Assembly in January 2026 showed the state recorded 356 antisemitic incidents in 2024, a 227% increase compared to 2022, with 65 of those incidents occurring at Jewish institutions or schools.
Reporting Tools Available to Families
Howard County Public Schools operates a mobile-accessible bullying and harassment reporting system, developed with county police and prosecutors, that allows students and parents to submit bias complaints directly. The Maryland Office of the Attorney General also launched a statewide online portal in 2024 to simplify hate-crime and hate-bias reporting, an effort tied to research suggesting only 1 in 31 hate crimes is formally reported to police, according to StateScoop. Howard County officials also hosted a countywide public forum last September, bringing police outreach officers together with the Howard County Human Rights Commission and other diversity commissions to discuss hate-bias trends and reporting procedures.
No suspect has been identified, and the investigation into the Phelps Luck graffiti remains open. It is unclear whether the camera footage that captured the swastikas' presence before the school year began will ultimately help police determine who was responsible.
