Since mid-October, almost a fourth of SCDS high-school students have had their lockers broken into. 

Of 143 students polled, 33 said they’d lost $1000 of personal belongings, including two iPods, six TI-89 calculators, and three backpacks.

Freshman Madeleine Wright’s TI-89, iTouch, and pencil box were stolen over the Columbus Day weekend.

“They stole $500 worth of stuff!” she said.

Junior Nora Miller’s locker was also broken into over the long weekend, and her borrowed TI-89 was stolen.

“The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘How on earth did they get into my locker?’ Then I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get a new TI-89,” she said.

Freshman Julia Kerbs was a  two-time victim of the break-ins. However, her stolen items were not of significant value. 

“[My parents] are concerned that the campus isn’t safe to leave things there, and they’re making me take home as much stuff as possible. It’s really annoying that every time I open my locker, I automatically check to make sure nothing is missing,” Kerbs said. 

Senior Brigit Cvetich’s backpack was stolen during Columbus Day weekend also.

“I searched everywhere for it. I got lates on all my homework and had to talk to my teachers about it. Then that weekend, I got a call from my friend and she told me my stuff was all over the table,” Cvetich said. 

The thief stole Cvetich’s backpack but left its contents on a table in the quad. 

“I got my stuff back, but not my backpack—just all the loose papers, books and binders inside of it,” she said. 

Many students, including Wright, identified crowbar marks on their lockers following the break-ins.

“On the bottom left of the door the metal was bent,” Wright said.

Freshman Natalie Polan noted  a crowbar dent in her locker after the long weekend. 

“Now I have this huge dent and they took [my boyfriend’s jacket]. My parents were really mad because it’s ridiculous that I can’t even put a sweater in my locker overnight and have it be safe,” she said. 

Fifteen other students reported similar marks. 

According to headmaster Stephen Repsher, the school’s security guard, provided by Bayer Protective Services, patrols three times per night, 12 a.m.-6 a.m., and six times on Saturdays and Sundays.   

“They walk the entire campus and check all doors and lockers and secure all that are open. They give us a detailed daily report of what they see on their rounds,” he said. 

In one report, the guard did see open lockers, but did not know that they had been forced open.

“The pry marks were very subtle and easily missed upon cursory inspection,” Repsher said. 
Brian Bayer said that many lockers were actually left open by students.

Bayer said that students also haven’t been spinning their locker dials after they close them, making them accessible to intruders. 

According to Bayer, there are eight or nine different security guards who take turns patroling the campus.

In response to the break-ins, Bayer Security was asked to increase its vigilance, and students were cautioned to keep valuables at home. 

According to Daniel Neukom, dean of students, there was a problem with locker break-ins in the ‘70s and ‘80s. 

Then a large steel bar was placed across the middle-school lockers to prevent break-ins.

“There were two heavy-duty padlocks on each end. It was put up at 5 p.m. on Friday afternoons and taken down around 7 a.m. Monday mornings,” Neukom said. 
“It took care of the problem.”

The high school was not the only victim. Middle-school students have also reported missing items from their lockers.

“My friend had his locker broken into. He had a lot of percussion equipment stolen a week or two before Thanksgiving Break,” eighth-grader Alex Alhstrom said. 

Sandy Lyon, head of the middle school, said there weren’t as many break-ins in the middle school as in the high school.

“It happened when we were gone for the middle-school trips,” she said. 

According to Lyon, there have been discussions in recent administration meetings of setting up video cameras.