Vandals Wreak Havoc in Schools

Freshly returned from winter break, second-grade teacher Janet Hernandez arrived early at Erwin Street School on Monday, ready to jump into a brand-new year.

Instead, she walked into a disaster zone.

Books, crayons and scissors littered her classroom floor. A tape player was broken and a phonograph missing. Even a pile of human feces was left in front of a cupboard.

“I was just devastated,” Hernandez said. “It was very hard to take a look around and see the wanton vandalism of the whole thing.”

After a two-week vacation, Erwin Street staff members spent the better part of Monday mopping up the aftermath of the school’s second major break-in within 10 months. Sometime over the long recess, vandals ransacked three classrooms, leaving behind a shambles and teachers and students feeling angry and violated.

“It’s traumatizing,” school counselor Freya Kay said. “To come back, all ready to teach, and then to have your room devastated. For us, it’s just like having our home broken into.”

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Monday that dozens of other campuses throughout the sprawling school system also reported damage incurred over the holidays, including some in the San Fernando Valley. In all, spot checks by authorities during the vacation uncovered about 125 burglaries and 35 acts of vandalism districtwide, school police Deputy Chief Larry Hutchens said.

At Erwin Street, intruders stole a teacher’s boom box and damaged computers and other electronic equipment. In Hernandez’s class, which bore the brunt of the vandals’ destruction, they pried open locked cupboards, scattered potting soil from science kits all over the floor and even pilfered from the class penny collection.

“One little girl said to me as I was walking away from it, ‘I just feel like crying,’ ” Hernandez said. “Another little girl said, ‘And I came to school so happy.’ ”

“They were visibly shaken,” added teacher Tricia Buttrill, whose second- and third-grade students saw the clutter and destruction before being moved with others to the campus library and auditorium.

“They were very unhappy that a place that felt safe to them didn’t feel like a safe place to be (anymore).”

The incident was an unwelcome repeat of a similar--but worse--outbreak of vandalism last March. In that case, four classrooms were hit by intruders who sprayed graffiti, including a swastika, on the walls, splattered paint and even killed a fish in a class aquarium. Officials later determined that three current and former students were responsible for the incident, which caused an estimated $5,000 in damage.

As with the earlier incident, school officials said the latest break-in seemed more an act of youthful rage and destruction than a calculated desire to make off with valuable items.

“Not a lot was taken,” said Kaye, the counselor. “It really looks not like kids looking to steal anything as much as trying to destroy things.”

The same appeared to hold true at Chase Street School in nearby Panorama City, which was also targeted during the holidays, perhaps several times. Principal Diana Villafana said vandals broke into a dozen classrooms, leaving them temporarily unusable by releasing fire extinguisher foam.