For three weeks in May, staff and students of Pleasantdale School arrived on Monday morning to find something vandalized: a tree planted by the students snapped, lattice hanging broken from the gazebo and a picnic table flattened.
Unfortunately, Pleasantdale isn't alone in the city when it comes to vandalism. It appears none of the schools is immune, and all have their recent stories to share. Spruce Ridge and Hillcrest have experienced graffiti spray painted on their walls, while Westview has seen a window smashed and constantly deals with broken picnic tables.
After three consecutive weeks of returning to a school that had been vandalized, Pleasantdale Grade 8 teacher Dana Hamilton decided to speak out for her school and community.
"Vandalism is happening in our city a lot lately," Hamilton said, adding that in her discussions about this with her students one plainly said, "People wreck everything."
She said the students let her know right away they are upset by this. After long-time custodian Ray Storey retired from the school in 2010, the Grade 8 class decided to honour his tenure at the school by building a gazebo, planting trees and shrubs and placing rocks in the ground at the north side of the school. Even the picnic tables were assembled by students and painted with the school's colours.
The lattice on the gazebo has been replaced twice already since it was first built in 2010. The rocks have been uprooted and cracked. After the weekly incidents this past month, Hamilton decided to get the word out in hopes that community members may keep a closer eye on suspicious activity around Estevan's schools.
She noted that it isn't just her school's students who use the Pleasantdale grounds, but it is also used as a community park space.
Brent Hoffos, Spruce Ridge School's principal, said at the end of April his school was struck by vandalism when profanity was spray painted on the outside of the building and the school's climbing net was damaged. It was a first for his school.
"We've never been hit anywhere other than that," he said.
Like Hamilton, he doesn't think it is the school's students who are to blame.
At Westview School, principal Cheri Haberstock said they've seen more severe vandalism in previous years but continue to be a target.
"It seems like every month I'm putting in a request to have the picnic tables repaired," she said, adding that they are quick to make repairs in order to ward off the impression that this kind of behaviour is acceptable.
While they've had to deal with spray paint before, like some of the other schools this year, they haven't had to recently, and Haberstock added that compared to some of the other schools, what they've seen has been minimal.
They have had a window smashed, and the police tracked down the culprits who were then dealt with through a mediation process. Haberstock noted that they received restitution for the damages.
Hillcrest's principal Kathy Little said her school experienced a string of incidents three weeks in a row in April. The first incident saw the school's exterior spray painted, the second left some windows smashed and the latest was a break-in. Intruders gained access through a window, which they smashed, and then damaged a number of items in a classroom.
She said people have also climbed onto the school's roof and removed the grills from the ventilation system, keeping their maintenance people on their toes.
School staff are now asking the neighbourhood residents to keep watch. A sentiment shared by most of the schools is that if someone sees something, report it. The incidents typically happen during the night, but Hamilton said if people report behaviour they find suspicious, particularly late at night, it could be helpful to call the police.
