At 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, an unidentified group wearing masks entered the C-building through an open first-floor window and broke into a locked teacher’s office, according to Burlingame Police Lt. David Perna.
The intruders rummaged through math and computer science teacher Christina Wade’s classroom before moving upstairs. There, they shattered the window of the science storage office door. Through adjoining doors, the suspects accessed science teacher Alex Kirkpatrick’s classroom and searched through her desk and filing cabinets. Although the perpetrators broke the metal door to the gas valve in Kirkpatrick’s room, both teachers said the suspects are believed to have taken nothing, as there were no items reported stolen.
That morning, Principal Jen Fong emailed staff to notify them about the break-in. In a follow-up email to teachers on Feb. 12, Fong stressed the importance of locking classroom windows to prevent unknown intruders from entering the building. While the suspects successfully broke into the building, Fong was relieved that no property was stolen and classes were largely unaffected.
“Whenever someone enters your house, your school, it feels like an intrusion of your privacy. So, I was really glad nothing was taken and there was some damage, but it appeared to be minimal, and I think it only affected one classroom for the morning class, and everyone else was able to be in their room,” Fong said.
Although the school is equipped with security cameras and motion sensors, Perna, who is investigating the crime, said that break-ins of this nature can be difficult to stop.
“If someone is determined to break into a building by forcing entry into that building there’s not a whole lot that can be done. My recommendation would be just that there’s preventative measures such as security systems, surveillance footage, motion, lighting, things like that,” Perna said.
Campus Safety Specialist Ernesto Nuñez was instructed to block off the area surrounding the broken window after the damage was discovered early that morning, before most staff arrived.
“I didn’t know anything until they texted, ‘Hey, this is what happened. Can you come secure the area?’ So, I was over there, and that’s how I found out,” Nuñez said. “They didn’t give us any details, no specifics — that’s for the police to handle.”
Wade said she felt unsettled after learning of the break-in and seeing the state of her classroom. According to Wade, multiple papers were moved around and her filing cabinets were left open.
“I felt violated, and I felt like, ‘Is this a personal thing?’ but then I heard that they went to somebody else’s room too. So I was like, okay, so it’s not just me,” Wade said.
For Kirkpatrick, who often spends time working in her classroom after school, the situation raised concerns about her safety when she’s in the building alone.
“I [have] worked in the building alone late into the afternoon and evening many times and now maybe that’s a little weird,” Kirkpatrick said. “So that’s a little disturbing.”
Burlingame police were called around 7 a.m. Tuesday, after custodians informed Fong about the broken glass, and launched an investigation. They met with Wade and Kirkpatrick, reviewed hallway surveillance footage from the hallways of C-building, and took fingerprints from Kirkpatrick’s room in hopes of finding the perpetrators.
“We look at all avenues that we can, [such as] looking at surveillance footage, detectives were …viewing other cases in the area and other burglaries that may have fit the same type of entry method. Prying of doors, or appearing to have used the same tools, they talked with other investigators from other jurisdictions about this type of crime, to see if they’ve had anything similar. There’s lots of different things that we do investigating a burglary,” Perna said.
Kirkpatrick, who was managing the aftermath of the break-in while preparing for her morning classes, expressed appreciation for the police’s quick response and prompt action.
“I feel like we had a really good response from the police department right away. And operations have been up here trying to fix everything and clean everything up, which has been really nice. I felt really supported,” Kirkpatrick said.
Fong said the staff and security team played a large part in cleaning up the crime scene before school started. The urgency allowed only Kirkpatrick’s first-period class to be affected by the incident—as they had to move to science teacher Joshua Dyl’s class while the police swept the area.
“The whole staff helps with whatever is needed in terms of opening up rooms and making themselves available,” Fong said.
The police investigation remains ongoing, and while the perpetrators have not been identified, Kirkpatrick is excited to shift her focus back to teaching.
“I feel like overall, it’s a pretty safe school and a pretty safe community, and, you know, I don’t think that this is something that needs to make us feel unsafe,” Kirkpatrick said. “I hope they catch whoever it is. That would be reassuring.”
