HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Thieves broke into Untalan Middle School again last week, taking food and supplies that were in a classroom at the back-end of the campus.
It’s the fifth such incident in six months, school principal Agnes Guerrero said on Friday.
“Unfortunately, it’s nothing new,” she said. “But yes, five times in six months is a lot.”
And hers isn’t the only school that burglars hit recently. Jon Fernandez, Guam Department of Education superintendent, said culprits broke into Maria Ulloa Elementary School that same week. Nothing was stolen.
The burglars who hit Untalan Middle School made off with some equipment and food they found in the classroom.
In the last few months, other schools, including B.P. Carbullido and Price Elementary Schools in Barrigada and Mangilao, respectively, had been targeted.
Fernandez said he’s met with Guam Police Department’s Chief Stephen Ignacio.
“We are working together to gather information and identify potential offenders,” he said. Additionally, GPD patrols the schools, particularly during the evenings and weekends.
“We have shared with them also the details regarding our community learning center schedules. The most recent cases we have seen have been isolated and near residential sections in the Barrigada and Dededo areas,” Fernandez said. “So we are working together to see what information we can share. There have been incidents where we believe young adults or teens may be involved.”
Additionally, GDOE, in preparation for the coming school year, there will be a lot of focus on security, which he said was “a key consideration and one of the areas we intend to support with federal dollars from the American Rescue Act.”
Cost of break-ins
The tally in terms of cost to recover from these break-ins isn’t just educational materials or food – but also the damage of broken doors or windows.
And there’s also the cost of students and teachers’ sense of safety that has education administrators concerned.
“I’m just grateful that none of this is happening while students are in summer school,” Guerrero said. She and her team work hard to provide students with a safe and clean environment, and the attention and effort are diverted when they have to deal with thefts.
“We shouldn’t be focusing on these,” she said, referring to the thefts. “We should be focusing on preparing for school year.
“Situations like this may delay us but our staff is very resilient — we work 10 times harder to address it and move on,” she added.
Guerrero, a 25-year education veteran, has seen the community grow and change and said while there are many people who are very supportive of the schools, she doesn’t understand why people choose to steal from students and teachers.
Acknowledging that five incidents in a span of six months is probably the most she’s seen in her career, she’s uncertain what the cause is and didn’t want to speculate.
“It’s not the norm. I don’t know if there’s a correlation with the pandemic (but) it’s quite a number of times in a short period,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that this continues to be an issue but it boils down to core values of the individuals.
“Hopefully, working together we’ll find a way (to stop it),” she said. “Right now, and this is what keeps us going, we’re going to continue to focus on our students and making sure they have a great learning experience and (are able to) get those accolades that they work so hard for.”
Untalan Middle School principal Agnes Guerrero speaks to The Guam Daily Post. Behind her are team members who spent Friday morning cutting grass and cleaning the school campus. Thieves broke into the school again last week, making it five hits in six months.
