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Vandals wreak havoc at Cancryn
By MEGAN POINSKI
Saturday, October 23rd 2004


Daily News Photo by SEAN McCOY Broken glass and other damage were found Friday in 19 classrooms and the administrative building at Addelita Cancryn Junior High School.


ST. THOMAS -Â Staff at Addelita Cancryn Junior High School found the campus vandalized and ransacked when they reported for their in-school training workshops Friday.

Nineteen classrooms and the administrative building were broken into Thursday night or Friday morning, Ahmed Popo, Cancryn assistant principal, said.

Padlocks were cut off or smashed. Some windows were broken. Computers were stolen, classroom items were thrown around, rooms were sprayed with fire extinguishers and obscenities were scrawled on the blackboards, Popo and police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Hannah said.

"This is very bad vandalism," Popo said. "It's the first time I've experienced vandalism so large."

School administrators had not come up with damage estimates by Friday evening.

Police have not made any arrests, but the Criminal Investigation Bureau is investigating the vandalism. Police said they believe the vandal is a young adult or teenager because of the time and effort that went into the widespread damage, Hannah said.

"If it's an adult, he or she must understand that this is setting back the children's education," Hannah said. "They must understand the public schools' financial constraints. Something like this serves no useful purpose."

Classes at Cancryn already had been canceled for the day on Friday to facilitate the staff training. The janitorial staff worked to clean up and repair the damages before students returned to school Monday.

Popo said the Cancryn administration repeatedly has asked St. Thomas-St. John Insular Superintendent William Frett to step up security and has not received a response.

Frett did not return Daily News phone calls Friday.

Hannah said school security officers will step up their patrols around Cancryn. When situations like this arise, he said, police officers try to unite the school community - especially parents - in an effort to educate students about the problems vandalism causes and keep an eye on what is going on at schools.

- Contact Megan Poinski at 774-8772 ext. 304 or e-mail mpoinski@dailynews.vi.