Dismaying spate of kindy thefts

Head teacher Helen Tuapola says Brookfield Kindergarten can't afford to replace stolen items. Picture / Bay of Plenty Times

It was supposed to be a clean-up day, but instead Brookfield Free Kindergarten in Tauranga got cleaned out.

Property has gone missing from the kindergarten - a second home to 88 preschoolers - several times in the past three weeks, and Monday's daylight theft was the final blow that prompted staff to speak out.

Outdoor picnic tables, a miniature outdoor table and chairs, couch squabs and a bright blue mosquito net have all gone missing from the grounds.

A newly donated tree ready to be planted was taken in the latest theft.

"The community works really hard to have things here for the children," head teacher Helen Tuapola said. "It's heartbreaking really."

The yukka tree was going to be planted on Monday in the annual "scrub" day, when teachers, parents and students clean and tidy the grounds for the Christmas break.

But at 9.30am a parent saw a woman take the plant and put it inside a white car. The parent did not realise the woman was not entitled to the plant. The theft has since been reported to the police.

Brookfield is one of several Bay of Plenty community-funded kindergartens that have suffered from antisocial and criminal acts.

In August, Gwen Rogers Free Kindergarten in Macville Park was targeted by vandals four times in two months, leaving staff frustrated at the ongoing battle to keep their playground safe.

Twice it was vandalised with human excrement and in the other incidents vandals destroyed children's artwork and left shattered glass, nails and broken pipes strewn across the playground.

Intruders also smashed a picnic table and broke branches from a tree at Papamoa Coast Kindergarten.

Welcome Bay Free Kindergarten, Shalom Kindergarten and Otumoetai Free Kindergarten have all been targeted and their playgrounds and gardens damaged.

Brookfield, like many others, relies on parent donations and fundraising activities to get by - even to pay power and phone bills.

"We are not at all wealthy, we don't have money to spare ... we can't replace this," Mrs Tuapola said. "It is really disheartening for us."

Yesterday, after learning of Brookfield kindergarten's plight, Palmers Gardenworld donated a replacement tree.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES