School for Disabled in Reseda Is Targeted for 3rd Time by Vandals

When teachers at Lokrantz School in Reseda, a public school for the disabled, arrived at work Wednesday morning they found an all too familiar scene: overturned desks, broken windows and glass and debris everywhere.

It was the third burglary in two months, and each break-in has been more destructive than the last at the school that serves 240 students from ages 3 to 22. Each incident has cost about $10,000, mainly in repairing or replacing damaged equipment and property, Principal Rose Engel said.

“It’s very demoralizing. We feel like we’re under attack,” she said.

“In past years we have had small incidents including graffiti and messing up classrooms,” Engel said. “This calender year we’ve had a break-in every month.”

Authorities believe the same group is responsible for all three break-ins at the school in the 15400 block of Wyandotte Street. But they have not identified any suspects and declined to provide details.

In Wednesday’s burglary, an estimated $400 in cash was stolen from the locked desks of teachers who had raised money for special projects for students.

Items the thieves could not steal, they vandalized, Engel said.

Computers and other expensive equipment, which had been bolted down after three videocassette recorders were taken earlier, were found damaged Wednesday.

The videocassette recorders were purchased with the help of staff and parents who saved receipts from a local grocery store.

The first incident occurred Jan. 21 when the videocassette recorders were stolen and five locked file cabinets were vandalized beyond repair.

A master set of keys was stolen, prompting Lokrantz officials to change all the locks.

The school has even stopped locking some cabinets entirely. “We now have cabinets that you can’t lock because we don’t want them to destroy the cabinets,” Engel said. “We don’t store anything that they could sell. We don’t have anything worth stealing.”

On Feb. 12, a microwave oven, purchased by teachers for the faculty lounge, was stolen and many windows broken, Engel said.

The three burglaries have also spurred Engel to join with parents and nearby residents to form a Neighborhood Watch group around the school. The school was also working on unspecified new security measures with district and Los Angeles police.

“We’re trying to harden the target,” Engel said. “We just can’t function under siege.”