A rash of school vandalism this summer has left district
officials seething and one administrator searching for answers.
Every school site in Gilroy Unified School District has been hit
with everything from eggs to fire and school officials say they
have had enough.
Gilroy – A rash of school vandalism this summer has left district officials seething and one administrator searching for answers. Every school site in Gilroy Unified School District has been hit with everything from eggs to fire and school officials say they have had enough.
Half a dozen signs were posted Wednesday outside of the Gilroy High School football stadium reading in bold red and black writing: “No Trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted. Trespassers will pay for any damages. Security cameras are on!” The message is clear: “We will press charges,” said Gilroy Unified School District Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Steve Brinkman.
“It’s just rampant. Almost everyday we find something,” he said. “There’s been such a significant number that we’re going to have to look at (additional security plans.)”
According to Brinkman, at least a dozen incidents have occurred at school sites districtwide – with three alone at Antonio Del Buono School.
“(Vandalism at) ADB is constant,” Brinkman said.
On Aug. 4, Jacob Cortes, 18, of Morgan Hill; Christian Javier, 18, of Gilroy, David Sanchez, 18, of Gilroy, 18, Jorden Matthew Newton, 18, of Gilroy, and two juveniles – one 17-year-old male and one 15-year-old female from Gilroy – were arrested at Del Buono for burglary.
Fire extinguishers had been set off in the hallways and restrooms. Footprints were found linking one of the suspects to the crime. According to Gilroy Police Sgt. Wes Stanford, a fire extinguisher was found in one of the suspect’s vehicles, and the suspects photographed themselves using a digital camera at the scene.
Punishment for this type of burglary can include up to one year in county jail or state prison.
The four adults will be arraigned Aug. 23 at South County Courthouse, a representative from the South County District Attorney’s office said.
Just this spring Del Buono was broken into and fire extinguishers sprayed across the elementary students art work hung along the hallways and in the administrative offices.
“Some of the suspects admitted to burglarizing the same school at another time,” Stanford said.
In the past two days, Brinkman received phone calls from Del Buono Principal Tammy Gabel and GHS staff reporting more vandalism.
Condoms were found decorating the trees outside the kindergarten classrooms at Del Buono and eggs were splattered against the front entranceway.
Over the Fourth of July weekend the front of the school was tagged with graffiti as was a memorial bench for a former Del Buono student who died of cancer.
No arrests have been made in connection with graffiti incident, GPD said. Photographs were taken of the graffiti for police to make connections with other area taggings.
“(Crews) spent hours scrubbing it. You can’t fix that,” Gabel said pointing to the memorial bench. Walking to the front of the school, she pointed to the stone wall vandals tagged. The spray paint could not be removed completely, causing maintenance crews to paint over the natural stone.
“Now, forever we’ll have to maintain it,” she said. “It distracts the attention from improving to fixing. Whenever you’re putting dollars fixing you’re taking away from the kids.”
According to Gabel, two 12 packs of beer were found at the scene of the Aug. 4 incident.
“I’d like to know where they live. Are they coming from across the street or across town?” Gabel asked. “I want to know what happened to them … The minors they will expel if they attend Gilroy schools.”
With no arrests made in connection with the graffiti or most recent egging incident, Gabel is frustrated. She asked the police department to increase patrol of the area in the spring.
While a vandalism watch team lives on the campus – they can’t catch everything. Gabel estimated that to fully secure the school would cost the district at least $10,000. She is considering holding a fundraiser for the cause.
But one thing has been weighing on her mind: Punishment.
“For every $10 of damage I want one hour of community service (at ADB),” Gabel said. She wants vandals to admit to students what they did and why they did it. “I want them to look the kids in the eye and tell them what they did.”
District officials are beefing up security in response to the attacks on school property. Schools with cameras are on at all times, Brinkman said.
After last weekend’s burning of the ‘G’ on the GHS’ new synthetic football turf, a security officer will now be on patrol 24 hours a day over the weekends and 16 hours a day during the week while the track is being resurfaced.
Brinkman estimates the added security will cost $6,400.
Wednesday he reported that a light standard by the entrance to 10th Street was damaged. He did not have an estimate as to extent of damages this summer.
“A lot of it has been turned over to insurance … there have been so many incidents,” he explained.
According to GPD, there are no leads in the burning incident.
GUSD officials have not reported all incidents to the police. At school sites this summer, fires have been set in trash cans that school staff put out, Brinkman said.
Jeff Gopp, GUSD’s Maintenance and Operations manager, is notified every time an alarm is sounded after school hours. He has seen the damage at most of the sites.
“They’re all hit pretty bad,” he said. “I think the schools abused the most are Rod Kelley, Glen View and Del Buono seems to have worked its way into the mix … But they’ve vandalized every school in the district this summer.”
