Vandals hit Kailua school during strike
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau
KAILUA — Despite similarities between the two cases, vandalism at two Keolu Drive elementary schools in the past three months was unrelated, according to the officer investigating the most recent incident at Ka'elepulu Elementary.
When students returned to school after the Hawaii State Teachers Association strike on Thursday, they found graffiti painted on the sidewalk, said Glenn Nakamoto, Ka'elepulu principal. Parts of a termite treatment system were ruined, and sprinkler heads were destroyed.
In addition, students and teachers were shocked to see about 30 six-foot-tall ti plants uprooted or run down, Nakamoto said.
"The vandals broke into the building, started up the golf cart and proceeded to run down all the ti leaf plants, hapu stumps that contained orchids and heliconia," Nakamoto said yesterday about last week's incident.
Ka'elepulu is only about a mile from Keolu Elementary, where vandals in February cut wires and chopped down seven palm trees and numerous plants. Though plants were destroyed and other property was damaged at both schools, the vandalism at Ka'elepulu was most likely a crime of opportunity, said Honolulu Police Department Detective Steven Ariola.
The school was secured at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and a custodian reported the damage at 7 a.m. Thursday, according to the police report. Empty beer cans were found in the back of the school, police said. The graffiti was on the sidewalk outside the first-grade classroom and near the flagpole.
"They went over there, had a few beers, saw the golf cart and just vandalized," Ariola said. "They used the paint that was in the maintenance cart."
In the Keolu case, witnesses said three males and one female arrived on campus carrying a machete and ax.
At Ka'elepulu, the state Department of Accounting and General Services estimated damage at $2,000, Nakamoto said.
Nakamoto has sent out a newsletter asking parents and neighbors to be alert when they see people at the school after hours.
