Teachers and students at All Saint's Primary School started their week yesterday on a bad note. Over the weekend the school was burglarized and vandalized by burglars who went with everything they could get their hands on and get a buck for. As with most school break-ins, the stuff that was stolen probably isn't worth a lot, but for the school it meant a whole lot. Here's the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The burglars got in by prying open these aluminum windows on the standard two classroom - principal Therese Roches says that once inside -they raided and then vandalized the classrooms.
Therese Roches, Principal
"They were vandalizing the classrooms, try to chip out a door. They took mainly the teachers' belongings like the stationary and they went with all the bottles, the water bottles in the classroom. They were in actually four classrooms but last week they were in another classroom last week where we lost a wate4r cooler that was valued at a thousand dollars."
When you add up the cost of the water coolers and doors and the damage to the windows - the school values the loss at just under fifteen hundred dollars - that's a lot for a struggling school. But Roches says it is even more troubling when you consider that the burglars didn't steal from the school - they stole from the young students.
Therese Roches,
"They are depriving the children of their water and the children were very sad when they came in yesterday and saw their classroom because it w as well organized and everything and coming in to see that everything was in such a disarray, that they were very upset and they were very sad and that is the one that really hurts, when it happens in schools like that because it does affect the children. It affects us as adults but more the children."
In the short term - the school hopes to recover and to do that they'll have to fundraise.
Therese Roches,
"We'll have to do fundraising to replace the bottles because the children are now deprived of water. So we will have to fundraise and get back the bottles and the dispensers."
Police are investigating. You can forward tips to 0-800-922 TIPS. Anyone wishing to help All Saints' can contact the school on First Street in the King's Park area.
