Sometime during the weekend of January 20th-21st, the CMHS administration building was vandalized, causing flooding. It was clearly no accident, as hoses were found snaked through the air vents on the roof.
On Sunday, January 21st, the Newport Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) Maintenance and Operations team went to the site immediately after being notified, and began the drying and recovery process along with a restoration company.
The counseling area, attendance office, and nurse’s office were the main areas that were impacted by the flooding, and the repair teams are working as safely and quickly as possible to restore them.
But who is responsible for the damage? Did the surveillance cameras that are placed strategically around campus catch the culprit(s)?
Unfortunately, the District doesn’t have any information yet regarding the cameras, they are still reviewing and investigating.
Closer Details
At 1:45pm on Saturday, January 20th, someone called the CMPD (Costa Mesa Police Department) about a case of vandalism on 2600-BLK Fairview Road, according to the Costa Mesa Police blotter. Assuming that the call was regarding the flooding at Mesa, it is likely that it was committed that day.
Interestingly, that Saturday was also the first day of Saturday school at Mesa, which is a disciplinary program for those who have skipped several detentions relating to tardies or have received multiple office referrals for behavioral violations. Its purpose is to “provide an intervention for behaviors while keeping students in an academic setting and [reduce] lost instructional time” according to an email sent by Jeff Gall.
Saturday School lasts from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Could there be a connection between Saturday School and the intentional flooding in the office?
That is not the only coincidence.
That same weekend, 4 classrooms at Killybrooke Elementary School (who is also part of NMUSD) were vandalized as well. The type of vandalism was not revealed to us, however we do know that the District’s Maintenance and Operations team was immediately at the site disinfecting and preparing the classrooms for use. One class had to be relocated to their school library for that Monday.
There are still many questions that are up in the air, and we will continue to investigate. In the meantime, however, if you ever see anything suspicious on campus, we highly recommend reporting it via Wetip. It is completely anonymous and can greatly help to keep our campus as safe as possible.
