Schools & the Summer

The nation's school systems, nearly all hard pressed for funds, this year will have to pay out a record amount for repair and restitution of senseless vandalism, especially in the summer.

In Chicago, school authorities reported last week that 90,645 school windows have been broken in the past year, at a cost of more than $700,000. Latest figures show that Washington, D.C., has paid $180,202 to repair 36,525 broken windows. Damage to Los Angeles schools totals $125,000 from fires, $30,000 from malicious mischief, and $250,000 from thefts. In Detroit, vandalism and thefts cost the schools $415,000 and their insurance coverage. New York's official toll of major vandalism was $1,500,000--not including "minor items" such as furniture breakage and defaced walls, for which the school system had to pay more than $3,500,000.

Full-time guards cost even more than vandals, so schools are turning to mechanical protection devices such as Chicago's ingenious sound-wave system, whose disruption lights lamps, sets off bells and sirens and alerts everybody in the neighborhood. Because this is so expensive, Chicago generally uses a $12 "Prowl Alarm" that greets intruders with an unearthly howl. But Chicago authorities would prefer putting police dogs in every school.

Atlanta tries "Junior Sheriffs" to keep their buddies out of trouble, and Chicago has "Operation Save" to encourage residents to report vandals to police--so far without remarkable success.

Most cities are experimenting with unbreakable glass. But few school systems are optimistic that such precautions will significantly reduce the damage.

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