Tag Archive for: stop vandalism

How to Implement a Zero-Tolerance Policy to Graffiti Vandalism

As a facility manager of a school, nothing is as stressful as ridding an area in the school of recently applied graffiti. There can be debates of what constitutes as art, but there’s no denying that graffiti is vandalism. While art should be left in the classroom with washable materials being used, you’re tasked with finding ways to combat this problem and ensure that it doesn’t continue. You’ll need to implement a zero-tolerance policy to graffiti vandalism in your school.

Here are a few steps on how to work towards stopping graffiti from popping up in your school.

Communicate with School Administrators About the Costs

As the facility manager of the school, you don’t have any disciplinary sway with the students, so you’ll need to address these issues to the administrators and/or principals. Remind them that graffiti is not only an act of vandalism, but it’s costing you money and time with maintenance. If they can come up with a disciplinary plan that can thwart students from marking up the walls and other components in your school, you’ll begin to see a drop in “artwork” from appearing in your school.

Focus on the Problem Areas

The most common place that you’ll find graffiti is on the toilet partitions. Students with graffiti aspirations use these stalls as their springboard because it’s enclosed and private. However, you can stop graffiti in its tracks by utilizing the right materials for your bathroom.

HDPE plastic toilet partitions are resistant to graffiti. They won’t absorb any paint or permanent marker. Once any mark is made, it can easily be wiped away without having to invest in some fresh paint to coat over the graffiti.

Take Away the Graffiti Hotspots

This step requires you to think like a graffiti artist. You need to look out for easy targets, like blank walls, and even elevated areas that can be viewed by everyone in the school. To combat the students’ desire to tag these spots, beat them to the punch and paint the walls with a darker color that makes it less appealing to spray an image or phrase on.

Update Your Lockers

Lockers are another target area for students to mark up. Since most lockers are made from steel, you’ll have to repaint them once graffiti pops up. However, HDPE plastic can also be used for lockers. This will save you the cost and time that goes into painting, all while updating your schools lockers with a strong, durable, and graffiti-resistant material.

Utilizing HDPE plastic materials has a wide variety of benefits. When it comes to combatting graffiti, these lockers will help you save money and time on maintenance because they resist paint. Once graffiti appears on any HDPE locker or partition, it can easily be wiped away. Want to learn more about HDPE plastic and the many benefits there are to choosing it for your school? Check out this blog post, Why HDPE is a Super Material, from your friends at Scranton Products.

 

 

 

Graffiti Resistant Material: Stop School Vandalism in Its Tracks

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It’s always important for a school to have an arts program. However, said arts should be designated on paper or canvas, not on the walls, stalls, or lockers. Graffiti and vandalism are a constant scourge in educational facilities all across the country, and keeping up with it can be a stressful and costly endeavor. The key is to find a graffiti resistant material to combat vandalism and graffiti in a way that’s cost efficient and beneficial to your school facility.

The Problem with Graffiti in Schools

While public art can have numerous benefits, such as a showcase of talent, or even a conversation starter, its best reserved outdoors and permitted by building owners and managers. In schools, graffiti can not only be destructive to property, but also to a member of the school like a student or teacher. As a facility manager, it’s your responsibility to take care of the mess, and it’s your job to prevent it

The most common way to cover up the graffiti is by painting over it. But while this seems like a simple fix, there are a few factors that may make you want to rethink your graffiti-removal strategy. The paint may not match the surface that the graffiti is on, so this little cosmetic imperfection can reduce the aesthetic value of your facility. Another byproduct of covering up the graffiti with paint is the VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions that’ll reduce your air quality and possibly lead to health issues with the students or faculty.

A Cost-Effective & Sustainable Way of Battling Graffiti

One of the best ways to combating vandalism and graffiti is by utilizing durable materials that can actually resist the paint or marker that’s being used. HDPE (high-density polyethylene) is a solid plastic that can stand up to graffiti. Due to its homogenous coloring, it doesn’t absorb the paint, and any graffiti can simply be wiped away without having to paint over it.

HDPE can be utilized as both lockers and bathroom partitions, the most common locations for unwanted graffiti to pop up. Bathroom partitions are far more commonplace for graffiti due to its concealment. But using HDPE materials in these locations has numerous benefits, the obvious being its impressive stance against graffiti.

Due to the solid construction, HDPE won’t endure any damage to its exterior. It’s impact resistant, and it won’t crack due to excessive hits. The material won’t even become infested with mold and mildew because it can stand up to the humidity and moisture that’s common in restrooms.

Making the Jump to HDPE

While replacing your traditional lockers and bathroom partitions can seem like a massive undertaking, so can keeping up with the removal of repetitive graffiti. HDPE lockers and partitions require very little maintenance, saving you a lot of time and money. And when graffiti does appear, simply wipe it away.

 

Want to learn more about using HDPE in your school? Download The Ultimate Guide to HDPE Plastic Lockers or Safe School Design: How Architecture Plays a Role in Creating Safe & Secure Educational Spaces today, courtesy of Scranton Products.