7 News Belize

Another School Vandalized; Students Deprived
posted (January 11, 2012)
The year 2011 closed with a disturbing number of educational institutions being vandalized and burglarized, most of them by petty thieves. The Ebenezer Methodist School, located at number 117 Barrack Road in Belize City was one of the many schools victimized last year by the spate of break-ins.

And just as the school was bouncing back from last year's break-in, the administration was greeted, with another break-in on the first day of classes this Monday.

Spokesperson for the school, Kamela Crawford told 7 News, that sometime between 7 P.M. Sunday night and the following morning, thieves broke into the school's computer lab that also acts as Storage room, and stole dozens of important items.

She says the incident has left the student body of more than 250 students, fresh from the Christmas holidays, without access to the internet, sewing classes and sporting activities.

Kamela Crawford - Teacher, Ebenezer Methodist School
"When we came up and the principal came, opened the locks and went to open her office door along with some of the children, that's when we realize that we saw some chippings of wood in front of the computer lab. Upon further inspection, we realized that the locks were taken down, the wood and the locks were chiseled out, and that's how the thieves gained access into our lab."

Jim McFadzean
"How would they have known what was in that room of value?"

Kamela Crawford
"Well, we believe that it's somebody who knows the layout of our school, and knows exactly what we have in there, because we are thinking that if you are regular thieves, you would not be able to know what is in this lab, because it looks like a regular classroom as well."

Jim McFadzean
"And what was stolen?"

Kamela Crawford
"We lost 8 CPU's, 5 flat-screen monitors; they also took our modem and our router that was graciously given to us by BTL; they took our sporting equipment, some basketballs, footballs, the net; they took our sewing machine that we use for our clubs on Thursdays - It's labeled 'Food for the Poor'; and they also took some other school supplies from us."

Jim McFadzean
"Can you describe for us some of the name brand features on those stolen items so that the public might be aware as to what items might have been stolen from this school?"

Kamela Crawford
"Okay, the CPU's are from the Compaq Company, so those are branded Compaq, along with the monitors as well. And the wireless router is a Linksys router. The other sporting balls were no specific brand. They were just donations to us. We lost some Crayola brand items and some Roseart school supplies as well."

Jim McFadzean
"What effect does it have on the students of this school?"

Kamela Crawford
"Well, it's really affecting us; we have heavy hearts because we use the internet, where we log on to "brainpop" and different other websites, where we download our videos, and we have our children watch these videos in the classroom because majority of our teachers are tech-savvy. So we use our internet, our computers, our projector - everything, and that's how we deliver our lessons. The children use the sporting balls for after-school as well. So, it's really affecting us because the internet is down. We came ready to work, full steam, and this happens to us. So it's really affecting us. We are at a loss, and we just replaced the keyboards and the mouse pointers. So we spent over $500 getting things ready, and then we fall victims to this sort of crime. We believe it's people right from in our own community who are burglarizing our school, so everybody - like I said - we're very disappointed, because they were ready. They love to watch videos on the internet, so they are disappointed about it. So, those people who came and victimized our children, they need to know that these things that they do - it doesn't only have an effect on the teachers; it also affects the children as well because we've fallen prey to this before. We've lost radios, school supplies, laptops - so we're victims. Everybody just needs to be aware of these items out there that they are selling."

Anyone with information on any of the stolen items is asked to contact the nearest Police station, or call Crimestoppers at 0-800-922-TIPS, or call the school at 224-4558.

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