Tanapag Elementary School principal Frances Ulloa said two laptops and four digital cameras were stolen from her office.
These items are worth $6,000, but Ulloa said they have not checked the other school rooms which may have also been burglarized.
The burglary may have occurred late Monday night.
“They used the backdoor and took away all the keys of the classrooms and we haven’t check them as they’re still locked at this time,” Ulloa said.
The incident has been reported to the police and to the central office of the Public School System.
Ulloa said they will remove the old padlocks and door knobs of the 20 classrooms and replace them.
“We haven’t checked if other pieces of equipment were also stolen from the classrooms,” she said.
PSS staff members were at the school yesterday to replace the damaged back door.
“The worst place that you can rob is a school because these things belong to our children,” Ulloa said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to help take care of our school. Taking away those laptops and cameras is depriving students of their learning tools.”
Tanapag Elementary is among the schools that don’t have security guards.
Its personnel left the school area at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.
This summer, school staffers are preparing for the opening of classes in September.
TES expects to have 250 students including 40 for its kindergarten classes this school year.
Ulloa said they have more than enough classrooms to accommodate their students.
“We have 13 classroom teachers who are ready to teach them,” she said, adding that 50 percent of their classroom teachers are considered highly qualified.
According to Ulloa, they will maintain their student to teacher ratio of not more than 23:1.
Last school year, the school had to divide its 33 sixth grade students into two classes in the second quarter.
“As far as opening of classes is concerned, we’re doing pretty good,” Ulloa said. “We have all the textbooks that we need and we’re almost done with the cleaning and other preparations for the school.”
Ulloa said the school’s “surplus” classrooms are being used as a parents center, an instructional room and a room for the bilingual class.
Although no major renovations are needed by the school, Ulloa said they require regular termite-control measures for some areas on campus.
TES receives about $20,000 for annual school operations.
Its funding priorities include the students’ toiletries and supplies as well as building maintenance and electrical repairs.
In anticipation of more blackouts this school year, the school is asking the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. for consideration when it schedules the power outages.
