Salem Grade School Board Receives Updates on School Vandalism
12/21/10 @ 10:42:15 am
Three weeks later, the Salem Elementary Schools are still sorting through the vandalism earlier this month.
The school board Monday night was given an updated estimate of damages to technology. District Technology Coordinator Jacob Burkett says the quotes he's received total just under 26-thousand dollars. Burkett notes the damage was previously feared to be much worse. But, as Superintendent Mark Cartwright says, more than technology was damaged in the vandalism.
"We have one copier that was severely damaged and another that had minor damage. We had a lot of glass breakage. The estimates are in and we're just waiting on direction from the insurance company on how to proceed," Cartwright explained. He notes glass replacement will be a costly endeavor and will raise the damages to around 100-thousand dollars. Cartwright says this still isn't as bad for the district as what was initially feared.
The board moved onto discussion about how to prevent such vandalism in the future. The board instructed Cartwright to research security options with several different companies. The companies will meet with the Building Committee at a later date. Cartwright says he hopes to include high resolution cameras as well as a wireless communication system with police.
The board was forced to take action on updating the school calendar, due in part to the vandalism. Cartwright reminded the board that two emergency days were taken as a result of the damages. Combined with last week's three snow days, Cartwright says the district's five emergency days are already gone. If any additional emergency days are taken in the upcoming winter months, the State Superintendent will have to approve an "Act of God" for the district.
Despite all the negatives, Franklin Park Principal Dave Conklin says life is still going on at the school. "Bottom line is this was a bad thing, it was definitely a bump on the road, but as the Hawthorn students put it, it will take a lot more than that to break the Bobcat Spirit," Conklin told the board. The Hawthorn students were one of several groups Conklin thanked for providing support in the days and weeks since the vandalism.
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