Items stolen included 65 Chromebooks, televisions, tablets, food and phones, Nixon said.
“These are all important items intended to support the learning of the school’s student community.”
Several of the incidents were referred to Youth Aid as the alleged offender was 17 at the time they occurred, Nixon said.
“Police would like to thank the school for their assistance and those members of the public who provided key information leading to an arrest.”
Earlier this month, Papakura High School principal Simon Craggs told the Herald the first break-in occurred over Easter and thieves stole more than 20 Chromebooks and iPads from their art department.
“They’re what we use for our students’ learning,” Craggs said.
“We’re insured but you never get the full value back of what you’ve lost and I guess it’s the violation as well, that people have been into your teaching space, your workspace, and stolen your things. And not only that, but they’ve kicked in doors and there’s a significant cost to repairing the damage that’s been caused as well.”
Craggs said the school was again hit twice in late April. Craggs said he believed the same people were responsible for all three of the break-ins.
The school asked for the community’s help in identifying those responsible.
Someone out there, Craggs said, would know something about this and it would be “weighing on their conscience”.
“I would just like to ask them to do the right thing to reach out to the police or to the school with any information. We would love to catch these guys and put a stop to this sort of thing happening.”
The school also reached out to the wider community in a Facebook post saying the incidents had caused extensive damage “costing tens of thousands of dollars to repair”.
