Kagman school vandalized again

Vandals struck the Kagman Elementary School a third time over the weekend, this time wreaking havoc on the school’s cafeteria, according to principal Ruth Calvo.

“They have taken it too far because this time they are endangering our kids when they broke into the cafeteria and messed everything up pretty good,” Calvo told Saipan Tribune.

Because of the vandalism, which involved the use of industrial cleaning materials, KagES students had no place to eat their lunches, Calvo said.

“Our children could not eat this morning, this afternoon, or tomorrow. This is how serious it has gotten,” she added.

Calvo said the hazardous materials—Clorox, Pine Sol, wax, and other sanitation products—were dumped on the floor and tables of the cafeteria.

“That is why we can’t have the students in the cafeteria. They even took milk and juices and slashed them with a knife and spilled them all over the cafeteria. Those are commodities that our children could have used,” Calvo said.

Many cases of milk and juice drinks were destroyed.

She estimated the damage to run in the thousands of dollars.

“It was very unsanitary and we are crying for help because we can’t do this all the time and we’re also forced to get cleaners to sanitize the cafeteria so children can start eating again inside,” Calvo said.

She noted that children could not enter the cafeteria due to the strong smell of chlorine, which could hurt them and cause major health problems.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Deleon Guerrero said that they are going to look into the matter.

“We are going to come into a resolution of this particular set of cases,” he said.

Deleon Guerrero said he has not been thoroughly briefed yet as he was off-island but that he will work with police commanders to look into this case.

Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chair Ramon Camacho said that they will establish a neighborhood watch program in Kagman due to these incidents.

KagES first fell victim to unidentified vandals on March 22, 2014. They damaged potted plants, water faucets, and littered the campus hallways. The second incident happened on April 2, causing further harm to the campus.

Calvo said the vandals are trying to make KagES students’ lives miserable.

“The reason why I say that is because they have not made any attempts to steal from our school, but have made many attempts to mess up our school,” Calvo said.

According to her, these vandals have torn down posters made by KagES students hanging in front of classroom doors, torn down plants that have beautified the school, used mud to “decorate” the ceilings and floors, and left bathroom faucets turned on all night.

“To prevent us from saving up for water, they actually broke the pipe last time. This time around they broke two pipes,” Calvo said.

This led to the school shutting down their water supply just so they can save water. Calvo said that Kagman High School sent their maintenance staff to help fix the pipes.

She said the culprits were close to vandalizing the school’s only stage but somebody saw them and they ran off.