Concord High School and Forwood Elementary will spend thousands of dollars to repair school damage officials say was caused by vandals last week.
Approximately 24 aluminum handrails were stolen from Concord High School's football bleachers, on Thursday, July 22. The next day, on Friday, July 23, two people vandalized Forwood Elementary’s chiller (a unit that helps cool the building). Various parts of the chiller were removed, including copper, which caused extensive damage.
Brandywine Superintendent Dr. Mark Holodick estimated the cost to repair Forwood's chiller could range between $30,000 and $40,000. The cost could rise to $180,000 if the entire unit must be replaced. The cost to replace Concord's handrails is approximated at $10,000, he said.
Unsure whether the criminals were adults or students, Holodick expressed his displeasure over the incidents.
“I'm just incredibly disappointed that people do this kind of thing to any organization, let alone a school district, where we're preparing to open a school here for our children,” he said at a July 26 meeting of the Brandywine School Board. “And this is going to be, yet, another challenge or hurdle that we have to get over.”
Considering the culprits from either school didn't leave behind any metal, and because scrap metal theft has been common during these economic times, Holodick thinks the crimes were more likely motivated by theft and not vandalism.
“I believe with the struggling economy we've seen statewide, nationally [and] regionally, an increase…in copper and metal theft,” he said. “It's been stripped and then sold, and I think that could be the case.
”There aren't many people that would break into a rather secure area to damage a chiller,” he said. “And with the extent of the damage, and what was removed, it's pretty obvious to me that it wasn't really about vandalism.”
A police report has been filed for both cases, and video surveillance footage was provided to the state police. It’s unclear whether the two thefts are connected.
Holodick said the chiller and handrails would be replaced before school begins this fall.
