Jan 25, 2010 5:30 pm US/Eastern
Vandals Trash School, Officials Forced To Close
WORCESTER (WBZ) ―
Veteran police and school officials in Worcester say they've never seen destructive vandalism as extensive as what was found inside the Belmont Community School on Monday morning.
A safety officer says when the elementary school opened Monday morning and the principal saw how extensive the destruction was, the students, about 400 of them, were moved to the gym, then taken to Worcester Technical High School as police moved in to survey damage, take fingerprints, look for evidence and leads.
"In my 12 years that I've been working for the Worcester Public Schools in this position, I've never seen this amount of damage to any type of school building," said Robert Pezzella, the safety officer.
Police estimate at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage has been done to the K-6 school ranging from broken glass in fire doors to flooded bathrooms, furniture and bookcases in the library and virtually all audio-visual equipment.
WBZ's cameras
toured the school on Monday.
"Our classrooms are all destroyed. The desks are tipped over. The office, the door's broken down," said 5th grader Justin Rodriguez. His mother, Dorothy Estrada, picked up Justin and his two brothers who attend the school. "It's sad," she said, "because the teachers and everybody at Belmont School, they're really nice. The kids like going there."
School officials estimate more than a hundred computers were damaged. "It was above and beyond what some may call a prank. This was just all out destruction," said Worcester Police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst.
Supt. Melinda Boone says the school will be closed at least the next two days. "It's travesty for our young children who deserve the right to learn. It's an unfortunate situation," she remarked.
Because the school is self-insured, school officials hope a corporate angel and the public help repair and replace what was destroyed. Worcester Police say they have no motive and no suspects, but are developing leads from evidence they found at the scene and interviews with staff members.
They ask anyone with information that might help to call them at 508-799-8600.
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