Vandals hit Crowley Middle School

CROWLEY - Recreational activities at the City of Crowley/ASSIST Agency’s Summer Feeding Program at Crowley Middle School were cancelled on Tuesday due vandalism which occurred in both the boy’s and girl’s gyms Monday night.
The damage could have been much worse. The vandals — it was estimated that three or four youths are to blame — sprayed fire extinguishers and rode their bicycles around the gyms, leaving tracks across the floor of the basketball court.
There were also some musical instruments that were tossed around but for the most part the mess was cleaned up by 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Crowley Middle School Principal Chad Lemelle said he was awakened Monday night by a text from Coach William Bard.
“When I saw all that dust I thought maybe there was some type of construction going on in the gym,” he said. “Then Coach told me that it was from the extinguishers and that we had been vandalized.”
“What probably happened was that one or two of the kids here yesterday either propped open a door or saw that it was unlocked,” said the school’s custodian, Lester Fontenot. “I wasn’t working at the camp because if I had been here I’d have had it fixed.”
Fontenot along with a group of the school’s employees and summer camp officials spent most of Monday night cleaning up the mess.
If the goal of those responsible was to shut down the camp for any extended period of time, they were unsuccessful. According to Lemelle, breakfast and lunch were both served on Tuesday and the camp’s recreational activities were postponed for only one day.
“Mr. Fontenot has been a great custodian for us,” said Lemelle. “By the time I got here at 6:30 a.m. he had already mopped up the boy’s gym and was almost finished with the girl’s (gym)”
“I’ve been mopping since 5 a.m.,” Fontenot said.
This was not the first time that vandals have struck the school during the summer camp.
According to Coach Kelly Mills, a similar crime was committed in 2013. However, Mills pointed out that it would be hard to cause any damage to the building itself.
“This place is built with cinder blocks and it was supposed to be used as a nuclear fallout shelter during the 1950s,” he said. “It’s a very strong building.”
Anybody with information about the vandalism at Crowley Middle School is urged to contact the Crowley Police Department at (337) 783-4106.