Students who have been out of school for almost a year - need all the help they can get - but thieves put a hurting on Sadie Vernon Technical High School students when they stole 100 educational tablets.
These were acquired by the Ministry of Education to help bridge the technological divide in distance learning - for students who don't have a computer or tablet are put at a disadvantage.
Well, tonight, second and third formers who were to receive the tablets on Monday will have to continue their classes without the device.
Courtney Menzies visited the school and heard from the Vice Principal about the challenges they now face.
140 Sadie Vernon students were supposed to get their long-awaited tablets on Monday - tablets promised to them by the Ministry of Education to assist with their online classes. But unfortunately, those students will have to wait longer to get their devices.
This is because 100 tablets were stolen from storage inside the secretary's office. And while the school's administration located four of them nearby, 96 are still missing.
The thieves struck during curfew hours, cutting the chain link fence and then removing a louver from one of the windows. After that, they easily got into the small room, stole the tablets, and the DVR device which captures the footage from the school's security cameras.
The school's administration is now devastated because, after spending months trying to save money as well as helping out families of students in need, they must now invest in the repairs of the damage caused. Not to mention, having to face the disappointed students, telling them the bad news.
Teaching Vice Principal, Abigail Hoare, lamented the added strain that the thieves have caused.
Abigail Hoare, Teaching Vice Principal, Sadie Vernon
"At a time like this we've had a number of parents who have reached out to us and shared unfortunately they have lost their jobs and they've been struggling to provide for their children food and so and schools like ours, many schools have been assisting parents in that way as well, trying to provide food package as often as possible with the approval our administrators, the approval of our management but this is a set back now because when things like these happen, we have to refocus now the finance that we have that we're trying to conserve and go and spend on things that we should not have had to spend on like repairs. And it's unfortunately that there are individuals in our community that are just trying to find, quote unquote, the easy way to eat and sell people's properties so that they can make some easy money while children are being deprived of what they need for their education."
But the police were quick, and their own security camera played a major role. The officers were roaming the Martin's Area and arrested several people.
But the family of one of the suspects isn't too happy because they say the police used excessive force. We spoke to his aunt.
Voice of: Aunt
"They said some robbery happen at Sadie Vernon and it looks like the person who did it related to his girlfriend so they rush up into their house and the search for things and like he said, they have been home from morning, they haven't gone anywhere, so why they come search here, the people don't live here. So they searched the whole house and they didn't find anything so they asked him, Where is the money? He said he doesn't know about any money, so they start to beat him because I could see right through from the crack of my floor, I could see that they have a stick and they're beating him, and he's bawling. So I run for my phone and I start to video, I went from under my stairs because I have a crack that I can see straight through their door, so when I was videoing the police man took a glass of water and threw it in my phone and took a second glass and threw it in my face. So I asked him, why are you doing this? I told him, all I am doing is videoing because it doesn't make any sense how you're beating this young man and he doesn't know anything."
Police have arrested several other persons, and up to midday had recovered three more tablets.
The school is now appealing to the public to keep an eye out for the stolen tablets and report what they know to police in the hopes thatchy can recover more than 4 of the devices.
