Vandals strike children

By Tania Martin
PLAYTIME was rudely interrupted for some of Monbulk youngest residents after their playground was last week trashed by vandals.
Teacher Jackie Raine said the children where devastated last Wednesday when they were confronted with yet another attack on their playground.
Ms Raine said she discovered the damage shortly after 8am when she opened the kindergarten.
“The playground was just a mess and the kids were extremely disappointed,” she said.
“They were also really upset that someone could have come in and broken their toys.”
The attack on the kindergarten is believed to have occurred some time between 4.30pm on Monday 25 and 8am Wednesday 27 February.
Ms Raine said the vandals had rearranged the whole playground and even thrown some equipment over the fence onto the adjacent soccer oval.
She said portable water tanks, walking planks and an A-frame had also been thrown over the fence.
Ms Raine said it appears that the vandals have stood on top of the shed and jumped up and down until it caved in.
She said the school’s shed, which contains all the sandpit toys, had been damaged for the second time in 12 months.
Ms Raine said the shed was only installed in November last year to replace an existing one that had been previously damaged.
“It’s disappointing that four weeks into the school year and its already happening again,” she said.
Ms Raine said at least this time the vandals didn’t break any of the kids’ toys.
“Last time they damaged all the play ground equipment and we had to replace a lot of broken toys,” she said.
“But this time they have just damaged our shed.”
Ms Raine said the kindergarten is fed-up with all the vandalism and that the school had put in extra security lighting and still it was faced with this needless destruction.
“It just doesn’t seem to deter them,” she said.
“But police have pulled some finger prints off the equipment found on the oval and we are hopeful that someone will get caught.”
Police are continuing investigations into the incident.