North Hollywood : Computers Stolen From Grade School
Computer bandits struck Coldwater Canyon Elementary School in North Hollywood last month, taking $17,000 worth of equipment.
Principal Jill Sager said Thursday that six new Macintosh computers and six laser printers were taken between Nov. 15 and Nov. 20. Apparently, someone shoved papers in the doorjamb of a secured storage room near the auditorium to gain access to the equipment, she said.
The computers and printers were purchased with federal funds intended to improve the educational environment of economically disadvantaged children. About 90% of the 1,470 students at Coldwater Canyon qualify for the federal free lunch program, Sager said.
“Our children don’t have a prayer of getting computer experience. Their parents don’t have computers at home,” she said. “The only place they can get technologically ready for the future is here.”
Although some classrooms have computers, they are more than 10 years old and need to be updated, the principal said. The new machines were earmarked for classrooms that had no computers.
Detective Joe Preciado of the Los Angeles Unified School District Police said similar incidents have occurred at other schools in the district. The case is still under investigation.
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