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Parents, students
start to clean up
Kailua school
Classrooms were trashed by
By Rod Ohira
vandals who even smashed quail
eggs that were for a
science project
Star-BulletinCarrying a broom, fifth-grader Lacey Chong came to Kailua Elementary School with her parents today to clean up classrooms soiled by vandals over the weekend.
But the pained look on the 10-year-old girl's face as she stepped into room I-15 to survey the damage is heartbreaking.
Room I-15 was her classroom last year, Lacey said.
"The dumb people who did this had no reason to bug these classrooms," added Lacey, wiping away a teardrop.
The floor inside of I-15 is littered with school supplies from the student desks. There's a swastika painted on a television screen and a satanic statement written in chalk on the blackboard.
"We're here because we don't want the children walking into this," Karen Segawa, the school's vice principal, said of the clean-up effort that began today at 8 a.m. with about two dozen parents and faculty members.
"We all take this personally. For our children, the classroom is like a second home, someplace they can feel safe."
Vandals entered all six first-floor classrooms in Building I by removing window louvers from each room. Only five of the rooms were vandalized.A sarcastic handwritten note was found under a portable fire extinguisher that was on the floor of room I-14, which was spared. The note said, "This is broken!"
Police recovered fingerprints from the fire extinguisher, said Segawa. A video cassette recorder and a "boom box" were the only items reported missing, she added.
"The police believe they didn't break in to steal but were more intent on mischief," Segawa said.
But what cannot be replaced or cleaned up are 33 quail eggs that were taken from an incubator and thrown on the walls of room I-10.
Quail eggs from two other third-grade classrooms on the floor were not disturbed. The grade-level science project was started Feb. 9 and students were looking forward to the March 2 hatching.
"I just can't believe anyone can be so hateful," said third-grade teacher Keahau Nakamoto.
"Our room was not touched but I-15 is just terrible."
The vandalism occurred sometime after 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:45 a.m. yesterday, say police.
Police are also investigating the theft of four iMac computers from Lanikai Elementary School's library over the weekend. The were no signs of forced entry and the theft is not believed to be related to the Kailua Elementary School incident, police said.
The general reaction of parents and faculty at Kailua Elementary School is anger, said Carol Hoffman, the school's PTSA president.
Parent Tanya Chong added, "I'm disgusted, totally disgusted.
"But what really disturbs me is why would they do this. It hurts all of us. This is such a wonderful school, the teachers here put in extra time and the children are like family."
Segawa noted that two teachers were at the school on Saturday until 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. preparing plans for the coming week. And one of the school's custodians, who lives nearby, makes a nightly security check.
None of them saw or heard anything, she added.
"This is just a blatant sign of disrespect," custodian Kammy Yuen said. "I feel bad for the kids. We're going to get this cleaned up and make it presentable.
"We've never had anything like this happen before. This is personal for all of us."
