Bella Bella’s close-knit community is still reeling after a man broke into its only school and went on a rampage, causing $25,000 in damages on Friday.
“I was in shock, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Bella Bella Community School principal, Janice Gladish. “I couldn’t believe that someone was strong enough to do this kind of damage.”
School staff have been working tirelessly to clean up the trashed site of smashed windows, classrooms doused in fire retardant, knocked over shelves and books, damaged computers and paint strewn over classroom floors. But staff insist the school – home to 170 students from Kindergarten to grade 12 – will be ready in time for the first day of classes.
School board director, Kamal Sichtali, said it’s not just about the dollar value.
“The impact of that on the community, on the staff and on the students as well,” he said. “This is almost the beginning of the school year and the timing is just really bad.”
Not only is school starting back up again, but this is the second blow to the community – just five weeks ago another set of vandals destroyed the only local grocery store, post office and liquor store in a brutal fire. Now the community is left to shop at a makeshift market out of a church.
According to police, video surveillance captured a young man wearing a hoodie entering the school building overnight on Friday. Police are yet to lay charges in either case, but say they expect the suspects to be young offenders.
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