Kingston police have been called in to investigate a break-in at Quintilian private school in Kingston. The school focuses on programming for children with autism and other special needs.
Early Tuesday morning, someone broke into the school through a window and stole six computers, projectors, speakers, cash and external hard drives.
Quintilian, which serves students with learning and social differences like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), receives no government funding.
“You know, the whole situation is frustrating” Laura DeSousa, the school’s principal, said.
Everything including rent, supplies and staff are paid through tuition costs. For parents like Cynthia Honeywell, the theft is upsetting.
“Their resources are what they are as an independent school for special needs kids, it’s incredibly sad,” Honeywell said.
A day after the break-in parents were notified. One of the parents has started raising money to replace the items that were stolen.
“I decided to post it on Facebook. I put word out about what happened and asked if anyone could manage it if they could send in $20 that would be most appreciated and the response was immediate and overwhelming,” Heidi Bergeron said.
Her son, Gabe, who attends the 31-student school, says the stolen items were valuable learning tools.
“It really impacts our whole school. The kids who were in the class ahead of me really needed those laptops,” he said.
While important documents on the computers and hard drives cannot be replaced, the principal says she’s glad the school wasn’t vandalized.
“While things were stolen and our rooms were a little messed up, they didn’t rip artwork off the walls or do anything like that,” DeSousa said.
Anyone looking to donate electronics or cash can contact the school directly. A go fund me account has also been created to help raise funds. https://funds.gofundme.com/dashboard/replace-stolen-items-for-quintilian
Comments