Burglary, vandalism at Carver Elementary
George Washington Carver Elementary School was reportedly broken into and vandalized Dec. 14.
Richmond Hill police were called Sunday, when a teacher found profanity spray painted in the auditorium and damaged and misplaced items throughout the school.
Forced entry was thought to be made in the hallway between wings one and two, where muddy footprints were found leading into the school and heading toward the cafeteria. The reporting officers, Corporal Susan Willis and Lieutenant Michael Albritton, discovered the glass in one of the media center double doors had been smashed in order to gain access.
“I’m almost positive it’s juveniles. If it’s the ones I’m looking at, they’re under the age of 13,” Albritton said. “We asked about who could possibly have done this and I’ve been given a few names of some kids in the area, but I have to develop them as suspects. I’m going to go over and talk to them later today.”
Inside the media center, a video camera was reported missing and the microphones used during student news broadcasts were misplaced and damaged. The door to the computer center was tampered with and the lock was broken to gain access. Lap top computers were moved out of the center and into different areas of the media center. One of the media center’s computers was reportedly accessed in an attempt to log on to www.XXX.com, but the computer denied entry into the site.
Additional damage included candy and other items from the cafeteria strewn around the hallways; several damaged ceiling tiles that appeared to have had thrown something up at them, knocking some of the tiles out of the ceiling completely; and a couple specific classrooms had misplaced items and damage as well, the report said.
“We had anything objectionable removed yesterday. Maintenance came in to do some cleaning up and custodians came in early this morning to make sure everything was right,” Superintendent Dr. Sallie Brewer said.
While Brewer said the incident was very upsetting, she said she was glad it had been found and cleaned up before school resumed Monday morning.
“Our intent is to always have everything in order and to have a normal school day,” she said. “I think we do a very good job of getting quality materials and taking care of our buildings. This type of thing is just unexplainable to me, but the Richmond Hill police were very helpful.”
Carver Principal Joye Johnson said nothing new had been found by Monday afternoon.
“I’m so sorry that the school was damaged. It’s unfortunate to have anything damaged or vandalized, but it was basically minimal,” she said.