Billings, Montana – Students at Rose Park Elementary School in Billings have had a frightening few weeks. In the past month, eight windows have been broken, and the school has no idea who is targeting the structure.
“The last two weeks really, we’ve been coming to school each Monday and finding broken windows around the school, which is super frustrating,” said Rose Park Principal Amber Griffith on Monday.
Griffith doesn’t know who is responsible for the campus vandalism. Every Monday when she gets to school, it feels awfully familiar.
“A couple weeks ago, we had two broken windows. And then about a week later, we had another four or five, and then this weekend, these two,” Griffith said.
The cost to repair each broken window is at least $500. The district is paying for it out of its own wallet.
“This one was broke a couple of weeks ago, the outside pane, and then this weekend it was broke again,” said Griffith.
Many of the young students who attend Rose Park are aware of the problem, as are the Billings police.
“I know they’re not still in there but when it happens, if we come over, they could be still in there,” said third-grader Kinleigh May.
Living nearby, May and her sister Harper were present when the last broken window was reported to the police.
“These girls both came home and they’re like mom, we’re so nervous to go to school Monday, and that’s hard as a parent because you want your kids to feel safe at their school,” said Kinleigh’s mom, Alicia May.
The last window’s smasher smashed both panes. The vandal scattered the playground with whatever goods they could find.
Rose Park Elementary has circulated a community alert to nearby residents in the hopes that they will keep a lookout in case of the vandal attacks again.
“If they understood the impact that it has and just the cost, and how frustrating it is to everyone, I would hope that would deter them from continuing to do that,” said Griffith.
