Kindergarten students at Chilcotin Road Elementary School are appealing to the public after their outdoor classroom was vandalized last week.
Their teacher Mairen Hutchinson said they arrived at school Thursday morning to learn the lock had been smashed on the storage shed, the water wall was broken, the calendar was missing parts, pieces of a brand new bug hotel were missing, and a water tank was filled with mud and rocks taken from the garden boxes.
“It could have been kids or adults that did the damage, we don’t know,” Hutchinson said Friday. “We’ve been developing this space for three years and just added the shed this year to store toys for the students. It was built by students at Lake City Secondary School.”
It was not the first time that things have been vandalized in the space, she added.
Last year there was some graffiti on the outside wall of the school and some wood for the program was stolen which was donated by parents and Pioneer Homes of B.C.
“They took all the nice long pieces of wood that you could use to make something out of,” Hutchinson said, noting after that the students put up a sign asking people not to take their wood and reminding them it was property of the outdoor kindergarten program.
When asked how it made them feel, the students all said in unison “very sad,” adding they don’t want to stop people from playing in the space but they don’t want people ruining it for others.
Hutchinson talked with the students about what they wanted to do and they developed a list of ideas.
The ideas ranged from installing spy cameras, making a trap, talking to people about the issue, going on Facebook with a message and calling the newspaper for an interview.
In October of each year, the students start spending time in the outdoor classroom. The time there increases a little more each week, until after Spring Break when they spend the whole day outside.
“They have lots of time for free play and problem solving,” Hutchinson said as students busied themselves around the area. Some were setting up a farm scene in a garden box, some had shovels and a wheelbarrow in a forested area while others were playing with water.
As Lily Stewart jumped happily on a mini trampoline she told the Tribune she loved the outdoor classroom.
“I don’t want kids to come back here and ruin it again,” Lily said.
Ethan Mitchell agreed but added, “at least nothing got destroyed last night.”
Here the students talk about the vandalism with the Tribune.