‘ Mosquitoes’ back at schools to deter vandals
City board to reactivate boxes that emit high- pitched noise only those under age 25 can hear
The controversial “mosquitoes” installed on a number of Vancouver schools will be turned back on, following costly vandalism incidents that destroyed a music room and partly burned down a playground.
The mosquito at Kerrisdale Annex — one of the schools that was vandalized — has already been reactivated, and others should be back in use within the next few days, said Vancouver school board spokesman Kurt Heinrich.
“We both checked in with the health authority as well as got some legal advice [ about the mosquitoes] and on both fronts we should be okay,” Heinrich said in an interview Thursday.
The announcement comes less than a week after vandals kicked in windows and started a fire in the music room at John Henderson elementary, causing approximately $ 15,000 in damages.
“The fire burned the window frames, the floor, the counter tops, and there’s just tons of smoke and soot, and there’s a lot of damage to ... sheet music and equipment,” said Holly Cruise, a member of the school’s Parent Advisory Council whose son attends John Henderson at 451 East 53 Ave.
Although the financial cost upsets Cruise, she said she’s just as concerned about her son’s education suffering as a result.
“The kids are the ones who are really losing here. They don’t have a music room for the rest of the year.”
Henderson is not the first school to be vandalized after shutting off their mosquitoes. Kerrisdale Annex’s new $ 50,000 playground was partly burned down in early May.
The two incidents prompted outrage from parents with kids enrolled at the schools. They said the devices should be turned back on to deter young people from loitering — and potentially vandalizing — school property.
“Loitering has definitely increased, and because ... there’s no mosquito deterrent, obviously bad things are going to happen,” said Cruise.
The mosquitoes emit a highpitched noise that only young people between the ages of 13 and 25 can hear. The small speakers were installed on the outside of a number of Vancouver schools that had problems with vandalism. The devices were switched on between 10 p. m. and 6 a. m., when city bylaws prohibit individuals from being on school property.
School board chairwoman Patti Bacchus, however, said in April the school board never sanctioned the use of the devices. She ordered the mosquitoes turned off, a decision the board has since reviewed and decided to reverse.
“We recognize that there’s certainly a lot of importance to get these things working again in some key areas where there could be vandalism, and we’re working on that as we speak,” Heinrich said. The next step, he continued, is to implement new regulations surrounding the mosquitoes, including proper installation, notifying the community and ensuring the devices are in the correct locations.
PAC member Cruise said she was thrilled by the news.
“I just think it’s in the best interest of the kids who actually attend the school,” she said. “I think it’s important that the schoolyard be a place where we don’t have to worry about thugs.”
Not everyone will be as pleased as Cruise by the school board’s decision.
The BC Civil Liberties Association wrote in an April letter to the board that mosquitoes violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The association asked that their use be prohibited.
Cruise, however, said the mosquitoes help her son because the school and its property are protected.
“I was a kid once too, and I get it, kids want a place to go,” she said, but “the people who are [ loitering] aren’t there to just hang out and do nothing, they’re there to cause trouble at the expense of the kids ... and the staff, and the parents and the taxpayers.”