KEY POINTS:
A school in West Auckland is resorting to 1.8 metre fences with spikes and high-tech security cameras after vandals and thieves racked up a $150,000 fix-it bill in the last six years.
Birdwood School pupils had to be sent home yesterday after 20 metres of copper piping was stolen, cutting the water supply to toilets and taps.
Principal Mike Carswell said the cost of yesterday's vandalism would eventually impact on the school's budget, meaning pupils could miss out on some resources.
He said although the Ministry of Education paid for some of the cost, ultimately the school still had to cover 20 per cent.
"We've paid $150,000 since 2002, so it's huge. It ends up coming out of our budget which means less money for the kids at the end of the day," Mr Carswell said.
He said there had been instances where people had been drinking on school grounds, thrown bottles through windows and helped themselves to school property.
He said teachers had planned a five day literacy programme this week but losing the Monday meant the programme would have to be squeezed into four days.
He said the flow-on effect of suddenly closing the school meant relieving teachers had to be sent home and paid and teachers scrambled to locate parents to ensure all the pupils were safe.
"The actual cost of the pipe and the plumber being here for the day is not the end of it," Mr Carswell said.
He said the school buildings would be fenced and monitored CCTV cameras set up as part of a Ministry of Education pilot programme.
The Ministry has given the school $140,000 security project - about half the cost of putting security measures in place, Mr Carswell said.
"It's fantastic, it's flipping brilliant," he said.
Staff would have gate opening remotes in their cars so gates would remain closed, Mr Carswell said.
He said the fences would be put up around the school buildings so the fields could remain open to the public.
He said so far he had not had any negative feedback from the public on the planned security measures.
- NZHERALD STAFF
