Vandals break windows, bust sprinklers at Windsor Middle School

Police are searching for the vandals who smashed several windows and damaged sprinklers earlier this week at Windsor Middle School.

The vandals broke 10 windows Monday night, resulting in $3,300 in damage, said Esther Lemus, school board president. Three classrooms had their windows shattered, as well as those of a school trailer.

“All of the front windows were broken on that,” Lemus said.

The trailer served as the site for the counseling center, said Laura Williman, a science teacher who also had her classroom windows broken. Vandals used large rocks to break the windows, said Williman, who is on summer break.

She was notified of the damage Tuesday. When she arrived on campus Thursday, she said she found three large rocks lying on the desks near her computer.

“They’re almost the size of a baseball,” she said.

The glass had “shattered into a trillion pieces,” she said. Custodians had to sweep it up and the windows were boarded up.

Williman, who’s now going into her fourth year teaching at the middle school, said it’s disheartening to see the campus vandalized.

“There are other things that money could have been spent on,” she said, referring to the cost to replace the windows. “It’s just discouraging to see this.”

Police said a group of children initially was spotted breaking numerous sprinkler heads in the sports field. They believe those kids are responsible for breaking the windows.

No descriptions were provided by police.

Lemus said it’s not the only vandalism to occur on the campus this month. Last week, someone drew graffiti on a mural on campus.

“It had some profanity and included the f-word,” she said, adding that school officials will be meeting with police to do a safety assessment of campus.

Lemus urged residents with any information on the vandalism to come forward and call the police or the Redwood Empire School Insurance Group hotline at 877-570-7770. The insurance company is offering a $250 reward for information leading to identification of the suspects, Lemus said.

“No one expects this to happen,” she said about the school vandalism. “We’re hoping whoever is involved is identified.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@eloisanews.