Burglars take
Waialua High
computers

The high-tech equipment
was used by 130 students in
special education

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

More than 130 students in special education classes at Waialua High School used computers and high-tech equipment to write reports and work on projects.

Burglars put an end to that by stealing about $15,000 worth of computer equipment in a Memorial Day weekend break-in.

"It will take us years, actually years, to get to where we were," said special education teacher Andy Cole. "We lost everything."

It was a letter-writing assignment using the computers that led to the birth of Yikes!Bikes! -- a program in which students repair and refurbish used bikes to donate to the community.

His students were dumbstruck over the theft, Cole said.

"They took it pretty hard."

The culprits apparently cut through a chain-link fence behind the gym and forced open a back door. They cut the locks to gates that led to Cole's second-floor classroom and the bike repair shop.

They took four computers and monitors, a printer, scanner, zip drives, a television set and a videocassette recorder.

"Waialua High School and Special Education" were engraved on each piece of equipment.

The thieves also broke into locked file cabinets and made off with a digital and a 35mm camera, answering machine and a dozen pocket calculators. They even took the extension cords and surge protectors. From the bike shop, they stole tools and expensive bike parts.

His students had developed a sense of pride and ohana through the bike repair program, Cole said.

"All the students felt violated that someone would come in and do that to them. For once, it really hit home."

The biggest loss for students in the program was a year's work of bike-repair instructions and photos they had stored in the computers' hard drive. The manuals were to be published at the end of the school year.

"They took all of our backup tapes and everything's gone. A lot of the materials is no good to nobody but us," Cole said.

Also on the disks was information Cole needs to fulfill the requirements for grants and end-of-the-year reports.

For the last year and a half, Cole also has been developing student and teacher manuals and a curriculum for the bike technology program to introduce to schools nationwide.

All that information is lost.

Albert Grande's special education class, in the meantime, had worked a whole semester interviewing, writing stories and shooting pictures for a "Day in the Life of Waialua."

When the book was published, it contained only text. Students hadn't scanned the photos before the scanner was stolen.

"The kids were visibly bummed," said Grande, head of the special education department. "It leaves a sour taste in your mouth."

Grande was to teach a computer class for special education students next year, but he'll have to make do with only one computer that was kept in another building and possibly a couple of aging laptops to pass around.

"The saddest part is they're not just ripping off Waialua High School, but the whole community and our kids being able to better themselves with high-tech skills they will need out of high school," he said.

Cole and Grande have offered a $200 reward to get their equipment back, no questions asked.

No one has called, and police have no leads.