Vandals douse vans in paint at primary school

‘Slip, slop, slap’ is a well known Kiwi summer slogan, but two Putaruru vandals have traded sunscreen for paint.

Police are still looking for two people caught on CCTV breaking into Putaruru Primary School about midnight last Monday. They got into paint and breakfast club supplies, which they spread over painters vans left on site overnight during school renovations.

A ‘‘huge amount’’ of paint was used, Principal Trish Scown said.

‘‘We had just brought in a new supply for one of the teams for the new year so it was quite a lot,’’ she said.

‘‘Fortunately it was water based so it could be washed off, but it is a bit of a pain. Usually during the day the school is full of people, but we are not fully fenced so they could have got in any old way.’’

The painters discovered the vandalism when they arrived the following morning.

‘‘They were [parked] inside the school grounds, by the hall,’’ Scown said.

‘‘I thought it was going to be in the classroom as well, after reading about it on Facebook, but fortunately it was just on the vans.

‘‘They have been cleaned and look pretty much like they did before but I’m sure it’s not what [the painters] expected to find.’’

Police are still on the hunt for those responsible, Constable Ellen Halpenny said.

‘‘If people do know who they are, come forward,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s [happened] during the school holidays so I know the caretaker is taking a little bit of a break and they have worked really hard this year,’’ she said.

‘‘Schools try everything so it doesn’t happen and it is an unfortunate thing when the school is trying to renovate. It was probably juveniles that have been a bit bored at home. Leave the school alone.’’

The incident follows a spate of serious vandalism throughout the South Waikato in late 2020.

That included the smashing of a fibreglass toilet along the popular Blue Spring/ Te Waihou Walkway costing $1295, the uprooting of several concreted timber bollards at the Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground and the cutting of a Cobham Reserve sign – both costing $760.

There was also cutting of wiring, damage, and theft of a battery and inverter from the Jones Landing shower unit in Arapuni costing $4600, and the theft of multiple Nandina plants from a paved seating area at the Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground entranceway, costing $187.

Two people were seen on CCTV breaking into Putararu Primary School, and painters working there found this mess when they arrived the next day.

The vandals used a ‘‘huge amount’’ of paint, Putaruru school principal Trish Scown said.