WAILUKU » Maui police were investigating yesterday the break-in and vandalism at St. Anthony Grade & High Schools, which caused thousands of dollars in losses.

“;It was awful,”; school spokeswoman Virginia Nary said yesterday. “;You just feel violated.”;

Nary said the vandalism took place Tuesday night or yesterday morning and involved forced entry into student hallway lockers, a teachers' lounge and nine classrooms for grades 7 to 12.

The classrooms provided space for science, English, mathematics and drama classes and a campus ministry.

She said the vandalism was discovered by a maintenance worker shortly before 5 a.m. yesterday.

Nary said a couple of classes were displaced for some time but managed to get back to normal. But two computer monitors and a television were broken, in addition to personal belongings being tossed outside lockers into the rain, along with DVD and VCR players.

She said two turtle tanks in the science room were broken, leaving water on the floor, and the turtles were thrown into rubbish cans but were alive.

“;They threw paint on the furniture,”; she said.

Nary said graffiti was scribbled on classroom boards, including obscenities. “;It's not something you would mention in the classroom,”; she said.

Snacks used as rewards in the science classroom were eaten, Nary said, and a student's musical keyboard used for the campus ministry was stolen.

Nary said some alumni heard about the break-in and came to help in the cleanup. She added that the vandalism was the worst she has seen in recent years.

“;We are fortunate, though, that as an ohana we pulled together to get things corrected as soon as possible so that the students would not be impacted,”; she said.