An elementary school in San Diego’s Emerald Hills community was recently targeted by thieves who stole approximately $7,000 worth of parts from an air-conditioning system that had recently been installed on campus.
According to the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), the suspects stole approximately 500-feet of copper piping from an air-conditioning system at Johnson Elementary School on Kelton Road.
In order to get to the AC units and steal the parts, the thieves had to climb onto the roof of a building on campus. The loss is valued between $5,000 and $7,000, officials said.
School district detectives are handling the investigation, which includes looking into whether surveillance cameras captured any images of the suspects.
An NBC 7 viewer said the AC system was recently installed after years of waiting for funding and because of the theft of the parts, it’s no longer working.
Johnson Elementary School is a year-round school, which means students are there from September through mid-July -- during some very hot summer months.
Principal Dr. Tracey Jenkins-Martin said the school has been working for the past seven years to get the AC system installed on campus.
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Now, without it, she said learning will prove much more difficult for students.
“It’s really hot in those rooms – it can get upwards of 90-degrees in some classrooms. It really makes learning difficult when it’s hot inside the rooms,” said Jenkins-Martin.
The principal said the excessive heat leads to more nosebleeds, headaches and trips to the school nurse for students.
She said it's awful that someone would steal the piping and ruin their AC system with summer just around the corner.
“Shame on you for doing this to our school, to our students and to our community,” she said.
“It’s really heart-wrenching. It’s very disappointing that someone would take this opportunity that we’ve had for our students and steal from them.”
“They are actually taking away opportunities of learning for them because when it gets hot it really decreases their learning opportunities because of the heat in the classrooms,” Jenkins-Martin added.
Parent volunteer Delores Reed said she's also shocked and disappointed that someone would steal from the school like this, especially after so many years of hard work to get the AC system to students.
“We were so excited about getting air-conditioning. And, now for this to happen, the kids are going to be miserable again this summer," said Reed. "It’s taken years and years and years to get air-conditioning at this school and for somebody to take it from the children…”
“It’s very frustrating. I really don’t understand how people can just take away from children and have them suffer so much. The kids are going to be very hot – suffering in the dead heat of summer. It’s going to be very terrible for the kids," she added.
Anyone with information on this theft should contact the San Diego Police Department or the school district.
Reed said the suspect or suspects should remember this: ”Please, you really took from our children, and they really need the air-conditioning."
