TEACHERS said the break-in and theft of four cartons of soft drinks from Awaba Public School last Sunday was anything but petty.
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The tiny school has just 34 students, from 17 local families.
“Those cartons of drinks were for the P&C to sell at fund-raisers for the school,” senior class teacher Mitchell Gray said.
“Those drinks would have been sold at $2 a can at school events like discos, so that’s at least $200 that could have been raised.
That’s at least $200 that could have been raised.
- - Mitchell Gray
“That’s a fair bit of money for a small school like ours.”
Thieves broke into the school on Sunday night by forcing open the window to Mr Gray’s classroom.
A cleaner raised the alarm.
The school is thankful no damage was caused inside the classrooms, and relieved that none of its electronic teaching aids was targeted.
The thieves also broke open a storage facility on the school oval, only to discover it did not contain anything of value.
They broke and removed a heavy protected lock on that storage facility, which Mr Gray said was likely to have required bolt cutters and significant force.
It suggests at least one adult was involved.
“They also tried to break into the office, and jemmied the protective bracket off the door frame,” Mr Gray said.
Principal Alison Tiplady said the school was reviewing its security measures.
She said police inspected the scene on Monday, and dusted for fingerprints. Their investigations are continuing.
The break-in and theft has hit the school hard.
“Any setback is not easy for our P&C. They don’t have a lot of money because we don’t have many families at the school,” Ms Tiplady said.
“Our P&C do a lot of work and host a lot of events. They really are pro-active and care a lot about the school.”
The most recent break-in was not dissimilar to an incident at the school in 2013.
“In 2013, they stole coffee, sugar and one cookie, along with $20 in petty cash,” Ms Tiplady said.
“We don’t keep money on the premises any more.”
Staff are concerned about the security of the school over the Christmas break.
Mr Gray said personal approaches would be made to residents of houses surrounding the school.
The aim is to ensure there are more eyes and ears on the school than ever before.
“There’s not much that we can do except talk to the community, and ask them to be vigilant, and if they see or hear anything, then report it to the police,” he said.
