Somebody trashed Noel Booth Elementary, and a whole school community paid for it

This is an opinion piece.

Update, Nov 9, evening: closed Tuesday too. A Noel Booth family sent us the update the school emailed to parents Monday evening (it’s below). In it, the school says it believes someone got into the building over the weekend and set off fire extinguishers in multiple areas, leaving it an unsafe place to learn. A restoration crew worked all day Monday with district maintenance staff, but more time is needed, so Noel Booth stays closed on Tuesday, Nov. 10 for health and safety. Wednesday is Remembrance Day, when schools are closed anyway, so Thursday is the earliest students could be back. The school says it will send another update Tuesday. Langley RCMP are investigating.

The school’s Nov. 9 letter to families, sent to us by a reader. Thanks for the tip. Got something we should know? Send it our way.

Earlier, Nov 9, 2 p.m.: Langley RCMP were at the school Monday, and about 10 vehicles from restoration companies were in the parking lot early in the afternoon, according to the Langley Advance Times. Most were from a company that specializes in water-damage restoration. The district hasn’t said yet what was damaged or whether the school opens Tuesday; it says an update to families is coming later today. We’ll add it here.

On Monday morning, parents at Noel Booth Elementary got the message nobody wants at 7:30 a.m.: don’t bring your kids in. Somebody had vandalized the inside of the school over the weekend, and it still needed cleaning up.

At first the district said the school would open at 10. Then it said not at all. Kids who’d already been dropped off had to be picked up. Langley RCMP are investigating.

What’s confirmed, and what isn’t

Confirmed: the school was closed Monday and will be closed Tuesday. The school believes one or more people got in over the weekend and set off fire extinguishers in multiple areas of the building, and says that made it an unsafe learning environment. Police were on scene Monday, and a small fleet of restoration crews showed up, mostly from a water-damage specialist, working alongside district maintenance staff.

Not known yet: how anyone got in, exactly when, what it will cost, or who might be responsible.

Speculation, not fact: some parents have also wondered whether it happened while the power was out on Saturday night, when the windstorm left thousands of Langley and Aldergrove homes in the dark (our storm story has the details). Nobody official has said when the break-in happened, how anyone got in, or whether the school lost power at all. We’re flagging it only as a theory people are discussing.

Why it matters

Whatever the exact damage turns out to be, here’s what we already know it cost.

Two days, for a lot of families. A same-morning closure, followed by a second day off, means calling grandparents, burning a vacation day, bringing a seven-year-old to the office, or leaving work to do a pickup you didn’t plan for. For a single parent on an hourly shift, a lost day isn’t an inconvenience. It’s a smaller paycheque.

Two days of school. Kids lost two days of learning and routine, and for some of them school is the most steady part of the week.

Money that was meant for something else. Cleaning a school properly takes trained crews, and about ten restoration vehicles in the lot on a Monday afternoon is not a small job. Extinguisher powder gets into everything, from carpets and vents to books and electronics, and every one of those extinguishers also has to be refilled or replaced. All of that comes out of the same public budget that pays for classroom supplies, field trips and support staff. Nobody gets to send this bill to whoever did it unless they’re caught.

A bit of trust. A school is one of the few buildings that belongs to everybody. Most of us walked through one like it as kids. Breaking into it and wrecking the place for no reason says something we’d rather not hear about how some people see their own community.

Pointless

There’s no cause here. Nothing was being protested and nobody’s life got better. It was damage for the sake of damage, done to a building full of little kids’ artwork. The bulletin board in the school’s own photo up top says “this is your year to… be brave, be a friend, be a role model.” Whoever did this might want to give that a read.

We’re not going to guess who did it. That’s the RCMP’s job, and guessing on the internet only hurts the wrong people. If you live near the school at 20202 35 Avenue and saw or heard anything over the weekend, or have a doorbell or dash camera that faces the school, call Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200. Someone noticing something is usually how these get solved.

To everyone who spent Monday cleaning up a mess they didn’t make: thank you. And to the families who scrambled: you’re not alone in shaking your head.

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