Police busier during summer

During the summer months, vacant school buildings spell nothing but trouble.

School district maintenance staff and local law enforcement said it’s the norm to have a constant barrage of mischief – rocks through windows, graffiti and high profile vandalism that can cost thousands of dollars to repair.

While vandalism is a year-round issue, it’s more frequent in the summer.

“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” said Sgt. Dave Reagan, spokesman for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. “My sense is that we probably respond to more incidents because the kids are out and about and not occupied by school, and they have more spare time on their hands.”

The days are also longer, so kids are outside more, Reagan said.

Districts are insured for damages, but most of the time repairs cost less than insurance deductibles, and the district pays for cleanup out of the general fund.

“Most of the vandalism and the graffiti costs are not inconsequential, but they are so far below the threshold of our deductible that we do end up paying for them ourselves,” said John Mannix, director of facilities and planning for Spokane Public Schools.

When somebody broke into a Ferris High School science room this month, the district had to pay more than $2,000 to clean up the mess when the burglar cut himself on a broken window and bled all over the place.

Last week, Spokane Police responded when somebody broke into Sacajawea Middle School and attempted to stage a book burning in the library.

In Spokane Valley, mischief-makers put an improvised explosive device in a trash can at Ness Elementary School in the West Valley School District that required police response, but no damage was done, Reagan said.

In the East Valley School District, somebody got on the roof of Trentwood Elementary School last week and tore off cooling units and fans.

“There’s a $5,000 to $6,000 air conditioning unit that was destroyed, and a bunch of fans that cost $200 to $600 apiece,” said Mike Bologna, the district’s maintenance supervisor.

Bologna said staff frequently finds sprinkler heads broken off, and a recent paintball gun incident at the high school required a day-long pressure wash to remove.

“The vandalism will start to increase right before school. They start showing up and beating everything up,” Bologna said. “It happens more towards the end of summer because they know it’s almost time to come back.”