Reward out for Fritsch vandals

A reward is being offered to anyone with information about vandals who broke into Fritsch Elementary School and stole a stereo and master keys to the school.

"If these are young people, they need to be caught and they need to suffer the consequences," said Carson City School District superintendent Mary Pierczynski. "If they get by with something like this, they'll think it seems easy and they'll do it again.

"If they are adults, they have no right to come in and destroy taxpayers' property -- they need to be caught."

The vandals also took books off of library shelves, throwing them about the room and ransacked the principal's office.

"They just messed everything up," Pierczynski said. "It's so discouraging to have this kind of thing happen."

She said vandalism increases during the summer when school is out of session and district officials are doing what they can to discourage it.

Patrols have been increased and the hours altered with more concentration during the night hours.

"We have increased our vigilance as a district," Pierczynski said. "We're asking the community to help us out and call the sheriff's department or our office when they see something suspicious."

No estimates are available on the cost of the damage.

As part of the 2000 bond issue, all school's lock systems are being replaced, making the stolen keys ineffective.

Pierczynski said school officials are also looking to increase surveillance cameras throughout the district.