"Please dont steal from us..."

"Please don't steal from us, Thank You-3A."

That's what a page haphazardly stuck to my classroom door reads. Not "Welcome to 3A" or "Hello, come in" or even "Knock Please."

Nope, none of that.

My door has a straightforward black and white sign,"Don't steal from us!" It orders, in the clumsy script of a child.

why?

Because, the past week has seen 5 classrooms in our block targeted for their window handles. The brass/cooper handles had been cut off from every window in the class, over night. Beside that, a few months back, two classes reported that the teachers desk had been ransacked. And before that, laptops from the school computer room had been stolen.

The saddest thing for me is, who exactly are they robbing? Who are they stealing from?
Their own children? Their own future? The future of their community?

I would assume that if you steal cooper and brass to sell as scrap metal, you do so because you need the money, you don't have a good education so you don't earn well...
So you steal from the very institution that is educating the future of your community?

Those windows have now been wired shut temporarily, depriving little kids of good ventilation while they learn.

Same with the laptops, the computer room now seats less children so some are deprived of their chance to use a computer once a week!

And so, my classroom door clearly says..."Please don't steal from is!", so far, its worked!