Lawrence school bus vandalized with anti-Free State messages

A Lawrence school bus was vandalized over the weekend with graffiti that included racial slurs and obscenities directed at Free State High School.

Photos on social media showed both sides of the bus tagged with blue spray paint. Lawrence police and school resource officers are investigating.

The vandalism comes after Lawrence High’s football field was vandalized by five FSHS students last week.

“While we don’t know who is responsible for the damage to the bus, it’s especially disappointing that this happened after what we viewed as a unified response of disgust from the school district and both of our high schools last week to vandalism on one of our campuses,” Lawrence superintendent Rick Doll said in a statement.

“The district continues its equity work in our schools and will use both of these incidents as realistic examples to spur deeper discussion around the sensitive issues of race and racism,” Doll said.

The First Student bus was parked on an access street north of First Southern Baptist Church, near the intersection of Eldridge Street and Overland Drive. Lawrence Police Department spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley said the incident occurred sometime between 5 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

The vandalism was reported to First Student early Monday morning when the bus driver showed up to run the route, according to First Student spokeswoman Jen Biddinger.

A relief bus was sent to run the route in its place, and First Student staff were arranging for cleanup of the vandalism.

“It did not affect service,” Biddinger said.

The street where the vandalism occurred, a public road that connects the north exit of the church parking lot with Overland Drive, is where the bus usually begins its route, Biddinger said. It is routine for some buses to be stationed at different spots as opposed to all being in one lot, she said.

Several members of the Lawrence school board commented on the two acts of vandalism at their meeting Monday. Board President Shannon Kimball said she is “deeply offended by these racial and vulgar acts of vandalism and I condemn them in the strongest terms.”

Regarding the LHS vandalism, she said that discipline measures, which cannot be disclosed, were appropriate for those involved. She also made a point of saying those responsible were not football team members.

“I know that’s been a question that’s been asked,” Kimball said.

Bob Byers, another board member, also condemned the acts and warned against downplaying them as “kids being kids.”

“This wasn’t (about) a rivalry between our schools,” he said. “This was five young men who took the opportunity out and the time out to spew their racial hatred.”


A previous version of this story inaccurately identified the location of the bus in relation to the church parking lot.