Theft At The High School—

Students Grow Frustrated By Instances of Stealing

By Andrew Rote

Students at Newtown High School have something besides tests to worry about: protecting their belongings.

Just over a month ago, sophomore Ashley Leahy’s bag was taken from the girls’ locker room. She reported it to high school security and hasn’t heard about it since.

“[A security guard] said, ‘We’ll get back to you,’ and she never did,” Ashley said.

“My pants, which had money in the pocket, were stolen last year,” complained a sophomore. “I didn’t have a lock on [the locker containing the pants] because it was previously cut off.” He reported the incident to a gym teacher without result.

Sophomore Jen Haghpanah put a pair of $85 sneakers in a locker. When she came back for them, they were gone.

“Mr [Richard] Novia [school security guard] looked around, and they made a report,” Jen explained. She hasn’t heard back since that happened early last fall.

James Dellasala, sophomore, had money stolen from a locker this year during a track meet. The locker was locked, but he said a weight from the weight room was used to break the lock.

This happened to many other students on the track team as well, they reported. Soon, the room was locked up, which James said just caused frustration. He said he would never use the locker room to keep money in again because it could be stolen at any time.

Another student had money taken from the locker room this year. He also had a lock on his locker. According to him, a weight was used to remove it.

“It happens all of the time,” he said, referring to the lock-breaking incident.

Mr Novia said he never heard of a case where a weight was used to break another person’s lock. He said he only recalled one time that a weight was used, when a student broke his own lock because he forgot the combination. William Manfredonia, principal, remembered the same event and did not hear about any other incidents involving lock breaking.

“Students themselves are their own worst enemies, leaving bags on the floor. Ninety percent of the battle is [protecting] your own stuff,” stated Mr Novia.

Mr Novia said he gets only one or two reports per month about stolen belongings. He also said most of the items stolen are petty stuff such as wallets and bathing suits.

Mr Novia added that someone would not be likely to waste time and energy on breaking a lock unless he/she knew what was in the locker.

According to Mr Manfredonia, if students feel uncomfortable leaving money or valuable objects in lockers, they should give them to a teacher. Another way to protect valuable belongings is to put them in the school safe.

Mr Manfredonia said he encourages students to bring as little money to school as possible. He also said the school has discussed higher levels of security such as cameras for the locker rooms, but nothing has been done. Mr Novia said cameras could not be considered because students need to have privacy. He said that it is impossible to watch the locker room area at all times.

Beth English, sophomore, said she remembers a time last year when bathing suits were stolen. It was reported to gym teachers, but she said nothing was done about it.

Stealing occurs outside of the locker rooms, too. Beth mentioned a time that her locker on the main floor of the high school was broken into. Like all other lockers, hers was locked, but she found that turning back the dial to a certain number could open it.

“I wasn’t aware that someone could move [the dial] back and open [the locker],” Beth said. She did not report the incident.

Sophomore Melanie Murphy remembered every detail of an incident resulting in her leather jacket being stolen. She left her jacket in the hallway across from the school library. After her first period class, she returned to the hallway for her forgotten jacket. It was gone by the time she arrived.

“It makes me really mad because this is not that kind of place… It’s not New York,” Melanie explained.

Melanie tried to try to find her jacket by informing the students on the daily announcements. Unfortunately, she had no luck and did not get her jacket returned.

“The odds of getting something returned are very small,” Melanie noted, reflecting how upset she was. She added that she could not trust anyone in the school and makes sure she always has a lock when she keeps objects in lockers.

“This is a school of nearly 1,300 students… [they] need to safeguard themselves from… students who don’t respect [others’ items],” said Mr Manfredonia.

He said that stealing is not a constant problem at the school, but students should be preventative.

If something is stolen, it should be reported to an administrator, school security, or a teacher. According to the principal, NHS is usually successful in finding out who stole the object. He added that the longer a student waits to report the incident, the harder it is to find out who did it.

(Andrew Rote is a sophomore journalism student at Newtown High School who writes technology and sports stories for the school’s paper, The Hawkeye.)