Above: Monbulk Pre-School was trashed by vandals last Thursday.By Tania Martin
MONBULK Pre-School was forced to close for the day after parents and teachers found it vandalised on Thursday morning.
Paint had been splashed across walls, obscene words had been painted on the tables, and boxes of craft supplies had been thrown across the room.
One parent even found children’s dress-up clothes shoved down the toilet.
Teacher Jackie Raine said that some of the parents had taken the dress-up clothes home to wash.
Ms Raine said she was shocked to find the state of the pre-school when she opened the door on Thursday morning.
She said whoever broke into the pre-school had had a “field day”.
Ms Raine said some children also saw the results of the vandalism, with some bursting into tears and others getting angry.
“The kids came to the door and burst into tears, a couple of them said the police would catch the robbers, some said they wanted to help the police find clues, and others were just quite angry,” she said.
Ms Raine said she was “speechless and disgusted” that anyone trash a place such as a pre-school.
Ms Raine said the pre-school’s digital camera was stolen.
The nearby Maternal Child Health Centre in Moores Road was also broken into, and had a television stolen.
Lyn Herbit from the health centre said that this was the third time this year that the centre had been broken into.
Sergeant Alan Fincher of Monbulk police said the pre-school was broken into on Wednesday night.
“We are disgusted to think that they not only broke into the pre-school, but have caused so much grief for the staff, the parents and children. We will be working very hard to find whoever did this,” he said.
Anyone who may have seen or heard anything relating to the break-ins should phone Sgt Fincher on 9756 6266.
