Staff at Bay of Islands College in Kawakawa are racing to repair the damage from a devastating vandalism spree before a new crop of students arrives next month.
Asingle boy armed with a hammer allegedly smashed doors and windows, trashed a staff workroom and damaged the canteen about 5am on January 6. He inflicted similar damage at the neighbouring community pool and recreation centre, only recently taken over by Sport Northland.
Most devastating, however, was his alleged attack on the school trophy cabinet. Covering an entire wall in the foyer, the cabinet was crammed with trophies dating back to the school's founding in the 1950s. Every pane of glass in the cabinet was shattered, and many of the trophies and carvings were damaged.
Board of trustees chairman Del Bristow said the cost was still being counted, but it would almost certainly be in the tens of thousands of dollars. It was a cost the school could ill afford, especially coupled with a recent drop in funding when the school was bumped from Decile 1 to 2, so she was hoping for assistance from the Ministry of Education.