By Shari Kaplan
Sometime during the evening of Sept. 30, the history wing of Los Gatos High School was entered by one or more burglars who made off with several thousand dollars' worth of audio-visual equipment.
Economics and American government teacher Joanne Benjamin arrived in her classroom Oct. 1 to discover a Macintosh Power PC computer, color printer and VCR were missing. A TV secured to a display cart in her room had been tampered with, but the burglars apparently could not remove the chains that attached it to the cart.
Bruce Crawford, a world history and government teacher whose classroom is situated near Benjamin's, discovered a TV and VCR missing from his room that same morning.
According to principal Ted Simonson, there were no signs of forced entry, so a key must have been used. Teachers, staff, custodians and some students possess keys; Simonson says he suspects it was a probably a current student or one from the recent past.
The school's alarm never went off, which leads him to conclude that the burglary occurred between 6:30 p.m. and a time later in the evening when the alarm was activated. The locks and master key have since been changed.
Los Gatos police, who took a report at the scene, have initiated an investigation and have some leads, according to LGPD Sgt. Tricia Friedrich.
Benjamin, who also serves as a Los Gatos Town Council member, is particularly inconvenienced because she kept her students' grades and many worksheets and lessons on the computer's hard-disk drive. She has paper backups for the grades, but the lessons and notes she must now redo from memory. She is also upset because she believes this incident may be related to one about a month ago, in which several rooms in the wing were entered by unknown people who took a portable stereo and, from her desk drawer, a large candy bar.
Last spring, a VCR was stolen during a similar burglary in the history wing, which Benjamin thinks may be a target because it stands in a relatively isolated area on campus. Combined with the fact that the building does not have many windows, she feels there is a security problem. Simonson says that, if problems continue, the school may look into further security measures, such as installing more fencing around the building.
All of the stolen items have been engraved with serial numbers and the initials of the district to prevent their resale in the event of theft.
Anyone with information on the burglary may call the Los Gatos Police investigations bureau at 354-6825.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 9, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved