A donation box containing the fundraising proceeds from a market day was among the items stolen during a burglary at Papamoa Free Kindergarten over the school holidays. The kindy was one of at least six educational institutions across the Western Bay hit by burglars over the two-week period and
staff thereare still counting the financial cost. Thieves broke into the kindy office on Doncaster Dr some time between October 3 and 5. Teacher Donya Feci said the thieves robbed staff and the children who attend the kindy of two digital cameras, valued at about $500 each and a laptop computer worth about $1500. They also stole a stack of music CDs worth about $750 from a teacher's desks and rifled through drawers to find battery chargers and re-chargeable batteries. The kindy has had to fix the window the thief or thieves jemmied open to access the
kindy after they somehow
found their way around the alarm system. Since the break in, the kindergarten has had to upgrade its security system. Ms Feci said the burglary had meant having only one camera to capture day to day life at kindy. The fundraising money, set to be spent on the kindy, had also been lost and Ms Feci said she was not sure the cash would be covered by insurance. The weekend prior, in the nearby suburb of Omanu, the primary school had a $6000 computer server stolen from the technology classroom when thieves again outsmarted the alarm
system. Principal Rex Allcot said the intruders had levered an aluminium window open to gain access to the room. He said the $1000 insurance excess to replace it would make a hefty dent in the school's small vandalism budget.
