BILLINGS — It’s been a spooky few weeks for students at Rose Park Elementary School in Billings. Eight windows have been vandalized in the last month, and the school has no idea why someone is targeting the building.
“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 has no idea who is behind the vandalism on campus. It’s a terrible case of deja vu every Monday when she arrives at school.
“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.
Each shattered window costs at least $500 to fix. It’s money coming out of the district’s pocket.
“This one was broke a couple weeks ago, the outside pane, and then this weekend it was broke again,” said Griffith.
Billings police are aware of the situation and so are many of the young students who attend Rose Park.
“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.
May and her sister Harper live in the area and were around when the last shattered window was reported to 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.
Whoever shattered the last window broke both panes. The vandal took whatever supplies they could reach and scattered them across the playground.
Rose Park Elementary has sent out a community notice to neighbors, hoping they can keep an eye out if and when the vandal strikes 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.
