Cost of Vandalism Damage at McLean High by Langley Students

The cost to repair damage caused by Langley students at McLean High School at a December 2010 basketball game totalled nearly $4,500, according to school officials.

Langley High School students vandalized McLean High School and hurled insults that bordered on racial slurs during the first basketball game between the two long-time McLean cross-town rivals in December.

Dranesville School Board member Jane Strauss said, "Restitution was made. However, student records, including discipline records, are closed. Student privacy in these matters is protected by law."

Strauss and school officials have refused to say how many students were involved, what if any disciplinary action was taken or provide any confirmation of the restitution.

McLean Patch requested the cost information because we promised neighbors that we could do so.
 
The Saxon Scope, the Langley High School student newspaper, reported, "At the game, which was hosted at McLean, Langley students hurled insults at McLean’s step team, shouted demeaning messages at the opposing fans, and even managed to put seventeen holes in McLean’s gym bleachers using their feet." By the end of the game, the police were involved, the Scope reported.

In January, Paul Regnier, the spokesman for  the Fairfax County Public Schools confirmed that around 25 school bleachers were damaged. Regnier also said at the time “the bill for the bleachers will go to Langley.”

MaryAnn Lastova, president of the McLean High PTSA, said better relations have developed between the two long-time rivals since the December incident.

"My hope is that the bleacher incident was the start of a shift from less focus on rivalry to more on working together," she said. "McLean's PTSA has developed friendships with Langley's PTSA,  we support each others' programs, and our students team up for events like Stop Hunger Now. More emphasis on working together and less on rivalry may be the important lesson for both of us. We are all McLean," she said.

Risa Sanders, president of the Langley PTSA, did not respond to an inquiry for comment.

The work order called for the replacement of 18 bleacher sections. "They were vandalized/broken with holes in them during basketball game on 12/17/2010, " according to documents provided by the school system. The repair of the bleachers was completed Feb. 22. Materials totalled nearly $3,000 and labor costs nearly $1,500, according to the school system.

At the time of the incident, the Scope reported that Langley High School principal Matthew Ragone "later addressed the abuse inflicted on the McLean step team, saying, 'Their step team gets mocked by a lot of schools, not just Langley. Those girls are really courageous to get out there in front of everybody, just to be made fun of. [The principal of McLean] told me that the step team coaches have to persuade them every game to keep going,'" the Scope reported.

"Mr. Ragone said he was saddened when on Friday, Langley became one of the many schools to mock the step team. 'People see us [making fun of them] and think it’s a racial reaction. ... They accuse us of being racist. And I really don’t know what to say to that,'” the Langley newspaper reported.

Stepping is a dance performance, made popular by black fraternities and sororities, involving chanting, singing, stomping of the feet, and clapping of the hands in a synchronized manner. McLean’s step team has a diverse racial make-up.

Ragone asked students to voluntarily write letters of apology to McLean, according to the Saxon Scope.

McLean High principal Dr. Deborah Jackson has never commented publicly on the incident. Jackson did not respond to a request for comment on this story. Ragone said he had forwarded the request for comment to the Fairfax schools public information office.

The two schools, which are four miles apart, have enjoyed a long and spirited rivalry. The December game was a tight game, which Langley won 43-42.