By Jarret Liotta
A weekend break in at an elementary school in South Central L.A. that left haphazard destruction in 24 classrooms prompted an angry LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to hold a press conference on Monday morning, Nov. 25, lamenting the incident.
Though officials are guessing it was more about vandalism than theft at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School — noting that some items, including electronic devices, were not taken — didn’t reduce Carvalho’s anger.
“I’m so incensed,” Carvalho told principal Jenny Guzman-Murdock as they toured the school Monday morning, viewing some of the damage.
“We’re going to spare no expense in terms of investigating and bringing the responsible entities to justice,” he said, intent on sending a message. “We will investigate and use our resources to prosecute to the full extent of the law those individuals who believe this is the new normal.”
It was the sixth incident at the school since July, with a preliminary estimate of $115,000 in damage this time around. Because school is out for the week, officials said they can’t be certain about what was taken until teachers return to assess the damage.
Guzman-Murdock, who was at the school on Saturday, said it probably occurred on Sunday. Unfortunately, while the school had just received funding from the $9 billion approved under Measure US for maintenance, construction and technology — including purchase and installation of security systems and cameras — the work has not yet been done.
“They were broken into right before the installation of their new camera system,” Carvalho said.
Guzman-Murdock said this is the worst incident of the six this year. “We try to communicate with the community and ask them again to follow the same measures the district gives us,” she said, in terms of helping to keep the school safe.
“If you see something, say something,” she said. “A lot of our parents around the community have my personal cell number, just in case there’s anything they see.”
Carvalho is asking the community to get more involved, noting that anonymous information can be shared through a private mobile app called LASAR — the Los Angeles Schools Anonymous Reporting app. He said any information anyone has about who may have done it “can be provided through that application.”
He noted, “This semester alone we have had 171 incidents where schools were burglarized, vandalized or stolen from — and that’s around millions of dollars impacting the system. … This means that we’re having to use general fund money to pay for damage or to replace equipment, when those dollars need to be invested in (our) teachers and students.”
Carvalho said millions of dollars are spent in the district every year just dealing with defacement of property, burglary and vandalism.
“The fact that this continues to happen cannot be the new normal,” he said. “This is outrageous and it has to come to an end.”
Carvalho and Guzman-Murdock took the press on a short tour of the building, where signs of forced entry were visible on many classroom doors, with wood broken and torn away. While some of the classrooms have already been cleaned up, strewn papers, crayons, chairs and other disarray were apparent.
Carvalho said, “This unfortunately is a trend that has not changed since I arrived in Los Angeles more than two years ago.”
Outside the school several parents and children were taken aback to see their principal taking part in a press conference at the entrance to the building, calling to ask if everything was alright. One mother was distraught to hear about the damage.
“I don’t like what’s going on,” said parent Bertha Cuevas, who received a message from the school about the damage. “It’s upsetting and it’s hard for me because I bring my kids every day to school and they always have perfect attendance,” she said.
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“I don’t think it’s right what they’re doing,” Cuevas said, especially for families that are investing their time in their children’s education. “It gets me upset because people are just messing up everything.”
Her daughter, Samara De La Cruz, 6, who is in first grade at the school, offered a short comment. “It’s sad,” she said.
Asked about solutions, Carvalho said it involved additional supervision of young people, especially when the schools are closed, better community relations, and more information brought to the district from the public to help curb the incidents.
“These are individuals who probably live in the community, and we’re hoping that this appeal results in somebody who knows something bringing it to us,” he said.
Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-area-based freelance writer and photographer.