Seven children are responsible for a break-in at Lewiston’s Longley School this weekend that caused thousands of dollars in damages, according to school officials.
Superintendent Jake Langlais said that the children — ranging in age from 8 to 12 — forced open a window to get into the school, which is home to adult education and other programming. Langlais said that books and materials in two classrooms were destroyed, and the students also damaged training mannequins and medical beds.
“They found some paint. And they played with the paint. And covered things with paint. They got into a serving section on the high school side of the building, where we have Next Step programming, and they ate food, dumped chocolate milks, things of that nature. Found some more paint there and spread that around,” Langlais said.
The district estimates they caused between $20,000 and $40,000 worth of damage.
Langlais said a parent of one of the children involved became aware of the vandalism, and reported it to help police identify all the other children who caused the damage.
Langlais said staff have already cleaned up the damage, but educators were upset when they returned to their classrooms.
“Trying to make sense of it. Like, I don’t know why they took this, and didn’t take that. And I don’t know where this thing is, or why they would take it, but it’s gone. It really is just upsetting,” Langlais says.
A group of students also vandalized the school in June 2022. Langlais is thankful that staff have made sure to lock down their classrooms since the last break-in, because he feels students likely would have caused even more damage.
The superintendent said the district will gather more information, and students allegedly involved will be suspended indefinitely, pending a disciplinary hearing by the school committee.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
