Parents offer cash for vandalism arrest

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Vandals on Saturday used rocks painted with faces and a teacher's name to break 38 windows at Cochiti Elementary School in northwest Albuquerque.

Most of the broken windows are around the administrative building and the gym. The principal said no classroom windows were broken during the spree.

Crews are planning to spend most of the day Monday and Tuesday replacing the windows at a cost of $10,000.

Albuquerque Public School Police Chief Bill Reed said vandalism is something they usually see during the holiday break.

"That is what surprises me about this incident, is that it happened while we were still in session," Reed said. "There is always a chance someone is at the school in session, a teacher coming into work on something where it makes it easier to discover."

Last week somebody ripped down a tarp and tore out many of the plants in the school's peace garden, according to the principal.

Parents like Valerie Muldez said they are fed up with the vandalism.

Muldez, a member of the Cochiti Parent Teacher Organization, said the group has decided to offer a $200 reward for information that leads to an arrest. Unfortunately the money will have to come from a fundraiser they held over the weekend, she said.

"It's demoralizing that we have to go through some of our money that we raised and put it toward something that this reckless individual did and destroyed our school," Muldez said.

Police have no suspects in either of the cases, which police believe may have been linked.

Anybody with information on either vandalism can contact Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department at 505-243-7712 or Crime Stoppers at 505-843-STOP (843-7867).