Riverdale / Kingsbridge Academy in the Bronx closed Friday after 2nd break-in this month
NEW YORK -- A Bronx school had to close Friday after it was broken into for the second time in just over a week.
An alert went out to parents Friday morning, saying students would be remote due to the break-in, but not everyone got the memo in time.
Some students showed up to class at Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy on West 237th Street, only to learn school was closed because of the burglary investigation.
Police said around 4 a.m., two men in dark clothing used a hammer to break the lock on the front door, then smashed the glass doors to several classrooms. School officials don't think they got away with anything.
"It's alarming in the fact this seems like a really safe neighborhood. I've only lived here about three years myself," a Riverdale resident named Stephen said.
"It's never happened before. I've lived here 24 years," resident Maria Belostotsky added.
On March 16, police said one of the doors to the school was broken into by three people wearing masks and black hoods. They allegedly went from room to room with backpacks and stole 50 graphing calculators.
"They have to lock down calculators," one mom said. "I do have a teenage son. He had his regular calculator, cost $65 ... They were like, 'No no, you need the T3.' And it's expensive. It is $150."
Police have not yet connected the two break-ins to a string of burglaries at nine other Bronx schools. In those cases, police are searching for a group of young men believed to be between 15 and 18 years old.
READ MORE: Suspects wanted in rash of school burglaries in the Bronx
Police said those suspects made off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of calculators and other equipment.
"When you steal 100 calculators and you can get $30 bucks apiece for them, that's an easy three grand," said Christopher Herrmann, associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Herrmann says these types of burglaries are all about accessible, disposable items.
"Things that are small, portable, easy to steal, easy to sell, things that are in demand. Those are things that are very popular, typically, for being stolen," he said.
Meanwhile, Riverdale school officials say they are working to get the school cleaned up as quickly as possible so classes can resume in person on Monday.
Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
