Monday Madness @ Geneva!

After a very relaxing spring break, I arrived at school Monday morning just after 7:00.  As I pulled into the Geneva School of Boerne parking lot I immediately saw police cars in the pick up lanes... private, Christian school, small town... this was unusual. (If I were still teaching in Garland at Webb, I might not have thought twice about it!) I was greeted at my car window by one of my favorite teachers... she proceeded to inform me that the school had been vandalized over night and that I should head to the "MPB"... "Multi-Purpose Building"... (gym/cafeteria/stage/music room.) 

As the teachers began to gather in the MPB, the "Heads of School" (private school lingo for Principals) were walking the campus with the police to asses the damage. It didn't take long for them to conclude that school would be canceled for the day. Many shattered windows, turned over desks and bookcases. As soon as we got the verdict, each of the teachers called our room moms to spread the news... an extra day of spring break due to vandalism. Then we lined the pickup/drop off lanes and explained the news to cars arriving at school. 

By 8:30 we were informed that they would need each teacher to walk through their classroom with the police to assess the damage. One by one we were each called to our room and then one by one teachers walked back to the MBP with the news... glass everywhere... books, papers, crayons, markers dumped out... computers gone/smashed.... maker board ripped off the wall... 

Somehow my classroom escaped the vandals. Walking into my room was creepy... it was too clean, too "perfect"... they had busted out all of the windows around my classroom, but somehow skipped my two windows. They did write a colorful word on the side of my portable by the door and on the window glass... but they didn't go inside... strange. 

We were sent home and told that we should return in the afternoon to begin clean up. The police had to finish the investigation and finger print each room before we could touch anything.

Confession.... M.C. came over and we laid out in my back yard until we got the call to return to school. First day of warmth and sun in a long time... we needed some color! 

The clean up process was a display of the amazing community of Boerne. Teachers, parents, and volunteers gathered together to put our little school back together. The Hungary Horse restaurant provided pizza and tea for lunch... a blessing! We picked up, vacuumed, swept, wiped, and organized each room... one by one. We got the school ready for Tuesday... the new first day back from spring break. 

Tuesday morning started with an assembly. We all gathered in the MBP for a clarification and forgiveness message. Mr. Ryden, our Head of School, did a fantastic job clearly painting a picture for the students and parents of what they should expect to see in their classrooms. Boarded up windows, missing carpet (too much shattered glass to keep the carpet), etc. He explained that all of the damage is replaceable and that our job as Christians is to forgive and pray for the vandals. He shared a passage of scripture from 1 Peter about not repaying evil with evil. Then he gave a brief description of what really happened. 

What we know at this point is that the police believe that 3 teenagers ran away from a "children's home" and walked to our campus. They ransacked our classrooms and then went to the car dealership behind our school and stole a Chevy truck (with On-Star)... drove it back on to our campus and ran thru our property fence. The vandals stole a laptop from our campus and left it at the car dealership... oops... The police have tracked the car with the On-Star service and know where the vandals are... that was the latest at 7:45 this morning.

I will keep you posted as we are given more info... crazy start to our week!

Click here for a link to the news article and video: