UPDATED: Racist Vandalism Directed at Wayland Superintendent of Schools

First posted at 11:52 a.m. Updated several times. The last time updated was 1;52 p.m.

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WAYLAND – Hate speech was spray painted at the Wayland Community Pool, adjacent to Wayland High school.

On Wednesday, Dec. 21, at approximately 7:30 a.m., police were alerted to a racist message directed at a school staff member written in graffiti at the Wayland Community Pool, located next to the high school. The Wayland Police Department and Wayland Public Schools are actively investigating.

It appears the hate speech was directed at the Superintendent of the Wayland Public Schools Omar Easy.

Easy, who was hired in 2021, came to Wayland from the Everett Public School district. An Everett High graduate, Easy is also a former NFL fullback who played 3 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and one season with the Raiders.

“We do not tolerate any acts of hate in Wayland and we want to reassure our community that we are taking this incident very seriously. The person or people found responsible for this hateful message will be held accountable,” Acting Chief Burman said.

“Occurrences like this are contradictory to the values of Wayland and our overall mission of fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment in our community that respects all people,” Acting Town Manager John Bugbee said.

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“The Wayland Police Department is working to determine the facts so that our community can move forward in a positive direction.” Wayland Public Schools will share information with students later today about steps the District is taking to help students, staff and families heal from this incident. “On behalf of Wayland Public Schools and our entire community, I denounce this clear and blatant act of racism. This incident goes against the core values of our community, and it undermines our continuing work in building an inclusive environment for each and every person in the community,” Chair Ryan said. “We are working very closely with the Wayland Police Department as they determine the circumstances and people involved in this hateful incident.”

Wayland Police has been in contact with the Anti-Defamation League New England.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact Wayland Police at 508-358-4721

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“We cannot describe how angry and disappointed we are by the racist graffiti that was discovered at The Wayland Community Pool this morning.  The community pool is a private not for profit funded by program fees and donations from the public.  The pool is truly a community asset used by people from all over the MetroWest area.  To have a community asset defiled with such reprehensible speech is truly disheartening.  We as a community are much better than this and we hope that the individual(s) that is/are responsible will consider getting help. We will support the police, the schools, and the Town of Wayland in this investigation,” wrote the Wayland Community Pool Board of Director in a statement this afternoon.

“We want to acknowledge how hurtful these acts of hate are to the whole community but especially to members of our black and brown community.  On behalf of the community pool, we want Dr. Easy and his family to know he has our full support and acknowledge the personal impact this has had on them,” said the pool board of directors.

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