Two Boys, 12, Girl, 14, Are Arrested in $27,000 Vandalism of School : Crime: Mother of two of the children calls police. Officers say the suspects once attended the facility and one held a grudge.

Two 12-year-old boys and a 14-year-old girl were arrested Wednesday after a woman told police her children were responsible for a $27,000 vandalism rampage that left a North Hollywood elementary school a shambles.

The children, including the woman’s son and daughter, were once students at Colfax Avenue Elementary School and apparently vandalized the school because one of the boys held a grudge, Los Angeles police said.

“He felt he had been treated unfairly by some of the teachers when he attended Colfax,” Detective Lou Berman said.

The woman acted after conferring with the father of the other boy, who had discovered his son’s involvement and alerted her, police said.

“It was a gallant thing the mother did,” Berman said. “Not many parents have that kind of guts, especially considering they might be required to pay for damages.”

Although what appeared to be gang graffiti was found on a classroom chalkboard, none of the juveniles are affiliated with gangs. “It was a smoke screen,” said Detective Mike Goloski.

“The kids are excited that it might be solved,” said Donnie McNeal, a Colfax program adviser. “There were concerns that there were some dreadful people out there that would return.”

The three children arrested attend Walter Reed Junior High School in North Hollywood, police said. The mother took her children to the North Hollywood police station Wednesday. The other boy was arrested at the junior high.

The three youngsters were released to their parents’ custody. Their cases will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for possible filing of juvenile felony complaints, police said.

Officers said the children made two separate assaults on the school--one Saturday about 8 p.m. and another Sunday at 11 p.m. They smashed computers, microwave ovens, typewriters, radios and clocks, broke windows, punched holes in ceilings, tossed paint on carpets and destroyed books, papers and artwork.

The 12-year-old boy who went on the destructive rampage with the brother and sister was found by his father near the school Sunday night.

On Tuesday, when the father heard about the vandalism, he questioned his son, who confessed, police said.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said that school police, passing by in cars, did not notice the first vandalism episode. Los Angeles police officers said the noise and damage probably went unnoticed because the schoolrooms are away from the street, behind trees and fences.

The assault was the latest in a series of recent vandalism incidents in the district, including a suspicious fire at Mt. Gleason Junior High in Tujunga, and the breaking of more than 50 windows at four San Fernando Valley high schools in the past month.

Colfax Principal Elisabeth Norton-Douglass said she did not know the identities of the suspects and could not say why the youngsters felt they had been treated badly.

“It’s hard to imagine that they would have enough anger to vent it almost a year later,” said Gabriel Cortina, superintendent of the district’s Region E.

Norton-Douglass said she was “relieved there was no gang involvement” and said the school was getting “back to normal.” She said counselors had talked to the 630 students about the incident, and that parents, teachers and neighbors had helped clean up the classrooms.

A fifth-grade class had to study in the library Wednesday because chemicals from a fire extinguisher that had been sprayed in their classroom had not been completely cleaned up.

“I just feel like crying when I think of all the people who have been so supportive. Their kindness counteracts the shock and disappointment of what happened,” Norton-Douglass said.

She especially praised Lance Mancuso, a county fireman and computer expert who spent Wednesday at the school repairing damaged computers.

Parents at Colfax are planning a fund-raising party within the next two weeks to help replace damaged equipment. In the meantime, several companies have donated money, computer monitors and books.