SCOTTSDALE, AZ — A Scottsdale charter school is working to board up classroom windows after their campus was vandalized on Sunday.
Scottsdale police say officers were first called out to BASIS Scottsdale near 128th Street and Shea Boulevard around 1 p.m. Monday for reports of criminal damage on school grounds, where they found nearly 30 windows damaged on campus.
Vandals used rocks to shatter the windows, causing glass to break both outside and inside of the building. According to the school, clean-up began on Monday and a restoration company worked to board up the damaged windows.
"Yeah, it's really, it's beyond a… it's a frustration," said BASIS Scottsdale Head of School Tyler Garvey.
School administrators say most of the damage to their building is on lower-level windows.
The varsity basketball coach first noticed the damage Monday morning before a scheduled practice. The windows to the gym, at least eight classrooms, the front lobby, and a staff office were all damaged.
"A lot of classrooms (have) glass in them," said Patrick Goble, the Scottsdale branch manager at Sunshine Restoration.
The school shared surveillance images with ABC15 that captured two kids on campus around 3 p.m. Sunday, who then allegedly threw rocks to smash windows until 4:30 p.m., taking the time to hide from cars passing by.
School officials say these two boys spent those 90 minutes going around the school breaking through the windows, sometimes spending as much as 10 minutes trying to get through one.
They say this is the third time an incident like this has happened to them in the last year. The first incident happened in December 2022 during winter break and the second during spring break in 2023.
"We believe it's the same two students, two kids that have done this. We don't have them as students at our school, so we're also going to be working with the local middle schools and elementary schools and sharing those pictures to see if their staff can recognize them," said Garvey.
Students in grades 9-12 will remain home Tuesday for one day of distance learning to free up classrooms needed to support students in grades 5-8, according to a press release. Some classes may be relocated to different classrooms.
Teachers will provide materials for high school students by 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday through ParentSquare.
According to police, no arrests have been made, but the investigation remains ongoing. Investigators took pictures and fingerprints at the scene Monday.
School officials say the two kids were riding black e-bikes during the crime. Anyone who recognizes clothing or the helmets worn by the young kids is asked to call Scottsdale police.
The clean-up crew says they must order new windows and install them, and it could take three to four weeks or longer for everything to be fully restored. Middle school students at BASIS have their mid-year exams starting Wednesday, making the cleanup more urgent.
"It's going to be quite extensive, window replacement, us coming out here cleaning it, blocking it all off and everything, so it's going to be pretty pricey," said Goble.
School officials say they hope the surveillance video this time will increase their chances of catching the vandals to prevent any crimes from happening again.
