LAKE FOREST MISSION VIEJO : Hate-Crime Probes Involve 2 Schools

Two schools in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District were the targets of unrelated acts of vandalism that are being investigating as possible hate crimes, authorities said Monday.

In the first incident at Serrano Intermediate School in Lake Forest, someone used a felt-tip marker to draw two swastikas on the wall outside the classroom of a Jewish teacher, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The 25-year-old teacher also received a “derogatory” note Friday morning in a folder used by students to turn in their homework, Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson said.

The vandalism was discovered by school officials Friday morning.

Olson said that investigators were still trying to determine who was responsible for the acts and that no suspects were in custody.

In the second incident, at Trabuco Hills High School, police arrested a 17-year-old student Friday morning after he admitted writing a word derogatory toward African-American students in a piece of clay stuck on a wall of lockers, Olson said.

School janitors discovered the clay early Friday, and administrators were able to remove it before any students could see it, Olson said.

Unspecified charges are being filed against the teen-ager in Juvenile Court, Olson said.

The student has also been suspended, Principal William Brand said.