GILROY
– A group of Gilroy High School teachers, administrators and
staff members are so enraged by a recent act of vandalism on their
school that they are now offering a $600 reward for information on
the culprits.
GILROY – A group of Gilroy High School teachers, administrators and staff members are so enraged by a recent act of vandalism on their school that they are now offering a $600 reward for information on the culprits.
Vandals stuffed Super Glue and toothpicks into the key holes of 90 doors at Gilroy High Sunday night, causing approximately $4,000 in damage.
Roger Cornia, district safety officer, said students had used similar tactics to jam “two or three” locks in the past, but nothing that measured to Sunday’s stunt.
“I can’t tell you how upset staff and teachers are right now,” said Cornia, who made a donation out of his own pocket to the reward fund. “We lost some valuable lesson time and that’s something we all take very seriously.”
“It is quite disheartening to see,” GHS Assistant Principal Greg Camacho-Light said. “This goes way beyond a prank – this is criminal activity.”
Cornia said the district will seek “100 percent restitution” from the suspects.
“We owe it the taxpayers,” he said.
GHS teachers arrived on campus Monday morning unable to open their classroom doors due to the vandalism, and although school staff had unlocked all of the doors by mid-day, the school was forced to shuffle its normal class schedule Monday morning. Both gymnasiums and the school theater were used as temporary classrooms.
The toothpicks and glue destroyed many of the locks and caused varying amounts of damage to the others. A locksmith was still working Wednesday afternoon to replace the busted locks, which will cost approximately $4,000, not including labor, Camacho-Light said.
“We know there had to be a lot of people involved because they covered a large area very quickly,” Camacho-Light said. “Every building on campus was hit except for administration.”
An iron gate guards the school at night, along with alarms and an on-site vandal watcher, Camacho-Light said, but since the incident more security has been added. It’s believed the vandals climbed over the gates to gain entrance to the school.
Camacho-Light also said the administration has some good leads on possible suspects, and that punishment could be as severe as suspension and expulsion.
“I think the severity of the situation dictates that,” he said.
As far as suspensions and expulsions, Cornia said the amount of people involved in the incident will not deter the severity of the punishment.
“Numbers have nothing to do with it,” he said. “We cannot allow the school to be disrupted like this, whether it’s five or 25 students.”
The incident is particularly frustrating because the district is already faced with the task of slashing $3 million in the next 18 months from its budget.
School officials are asking anyone with information about the vandalism to call GHS Assistant Principal Joni Madolora at 847-2424, ext. 7181.
