Kids Devastated After Thieves Steal Dozens Of Computers From East Bay Elementary School
OAKLAND (KPIX) - The children at Markham Elementary School were devastated by what they found when they returned to school after Labor Day weekend. Burglars had broken in and made off with made off with dozens of computers.
It wasn't the first time their school was broken into, but this time the thieves got away with a lot more.
Markham Elementary takes security seriously. It also takes education seriously. Students use Google Chrome Books for assignments.
Last weekend, someone stole 64 of the small computers and they used extreme force.
"Using some type of tool, a hammer that was left in the school to break into this cart! And opened up the cart and took every computer out of the cart!" said School Principal, Anita Summerlin.
Oakland Unified Schools Communications Director, John Sasaki says there was an alarm system.
"We have an alarm system and our understanding is that it went off. We don't know what exactly happened after that," said Sasaki.
Already repaired but, the thieves smashed through the doors breaking the reinforced glass windows to get in. Then, they rampaged through several classes.
The hard part was when the kids arrived for class.
"They were devastated," Summerlin. "Not only were they devastated but they were scared because the feeling of walking in and like, my schools been vandalized!"
The investigation continues but so far no details who may be involved.
"Last year we had a break-in and they got into one of our classrooms and stole 40 amazon Kindle Fires," said Sasaki.
Those Kindles have since been replaced but it is not clear if the stolen Google Chrome Books will be.
