ECISD doesn't play tag

Students fond of writing on public property may now face the police for their literary transgressions.

A ninth-grader was arrested Feb. 25 at Crockett Junior High School for writing on a school lab table. The student was sent to the Ector County Youth Center.

“It’s against the law to graffiti, and we’ll enforce that law if we can,” Ector County Independent School District Communications director Mike Adkins said.

Science lab desks are permanently installed in Crockett Junior High, making them a permanent part of school property. It is illegal to graffiti any state building in Texas.

In this instance the graffiti was gang-related, Adkins said, but he reiterated that writing on state property is a state jail felony no matter what is written.

“If the student graffiti-ed a textbook they’d get in trouble, but this is not something you can just pick up and carry out with you,” Ector County Independent School District communications director Mike Adkins said.

Adkins said ECISD is unable to release the student’s name because the student is a minor.

Due to the cost of removing graffiti, the safety issues if it is gang-related and the harm it does to the school’s appearance the school district is strict about graffiti, but the police only get involved when it becomes a crime, Adkins said.

Crockett principal Ysmael Lujan, while unable to comment on this specific case, said the school has no tolerance for any form of graffiti and is obligated to follow the law if a student writes on permanent public property.

Once the police are involved it is out of his hands, he said.

“It’s school property. You can’t do tagging or graffiti on school property,” Lujan said.