School fence spiked to stop vandals

A West Auckland school is fighting back against vandals, spending $140,000 on a spiked fence and hi-tech security surveillance cameras.

Birdwood School principal Mike Carswell said in the past six years it had a classroom gutted by fire, numerous windows broken, the roof on a classroom block destroyed, walls pock-marked by hammer blows and plants stolen from its garden.

Last weekend, 20 metres of copper piping was ripped from the school's building, presumably by a opportunistic thief looking to sell it, he said.

With no water to service the toilets, the school had to be closed on Monday.

The bill for repairing vandalism damage during the past six years was $150,000, Mr Carswell said.

It was hoped erecting a 1.8-metre spiked fence around the perimeter of the school and installing security cameras would bring an end to the destruction.

While the Education Ministry would meet half the cost of the new security measures as part of a pilot programme, the school still had to dip into its property development budget for its $75,000 share, Mr Carswell said.

"If we didn't need to put up a fence, if we didn't need to put up cameras to keep our place safe, we could spend that on buildings, we could spend that on playgrounds, we could spend that on beautifying the area.

"Heaps of schools are doing it, because we need to protect what we have got."

Education Ministry spokesman Iain Butler said schools received a set annual grant to repair vandalism damage.

If the money was not needed, the school could spend it on anything it wished.

If the school needed more money, it could apply for a top-up grant that covered 80 per cent of the cost of repairs.

In 2006, the latest figures available, the ministry paid almost $6.9 million in grants and $1.7 million in top-up grants.

Add to that the $300,000 paid by schools to meet their 20 per cent share of the costs and the total is almost $9 million.

South Auckland schools were paid the most in grants ($1.8 million) but Wellington schools received the most in top-up grants. ($156,000).

This was after receiving $1.2 million in annual grants.

- © Fairfax NZ News