Sports uniforms theft ‘kick in the guts’
A Palmerston North school is hoping for the return of much-needed items stolen in a break-in.
Manukura School was broken into on Monday night and boxes of new sports uniforms were stolen, as were keys to the school’s six vans, keys to the buildings, and other items including laptops and a saxophone.
The school’s tumuaki (principal), Ilane Durie, said the theft was devastating, as the stolen items were ones used every day.
“It feels like a kick in the guts – when you don’t have much ... and they get taken like that.”
Manukura is awaiting the completion of a new school build at Massey University, set to open at Easter.
The school’s current site at the old teachers’ college in Hokowhitu has no sports facilities. Students are taken across town for their daily training or gym sessions.
However, without the use of the school vans, they would have to hire buses that cost $600 a trip.
Locksmiths had changed the keys for the buildings, Durie said, but the school was still waiting for the ignition barrels in the six vans to be changed.
Durie said the school had operated on the smell of an oily rag and with the generosity of Massey University for years, with no fields, no gymnasium, hand-me-down uniforms, and staff working in rented buildings at a site shared with other organisations.
“It has placed extra pressure on a situation where everything was temporary,” she said. “Our kids – their whānau struggle to provide those things that are required. A laptop is expensive.”
Ministry of Education insurance covered the school’s property, but items belonging to students, such as laptops, weren’t covered. Some whānau didn’t have insurance.
This year was the first time in years that Manukura had bought new netball uniforms, and the red skirts would be of little use to anyone else. Boxes of black shorts with a red “M” on them were also taken.
Two bags containing about 50 netball uniforms had been found dumped on Riverside Drive just outside the city, but the rest were still missing.
Durie said the school didn’t give out sports uniforms, so it would be obvious where they came from if someone wore them in public.
The school protected its brand, and the theft was an insult to staff and students, she said. Students had offered to sleep over at school to prevent it from happening again.
A police spokesperson said the case was being assessed for potential lines of inquiry. On the night of the break-in, a car entered the school courtyard at 11.30pm and 2.40am.