School vandals use fire, bullets, rocks

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) - Frost Elementary has undergone an expensive facelift.

Half-a-million dollars in renovation projects will be completed when students arrive on Monday even though the to-do list kept growing larger by the week.

Staff members showed up and found holes in windows and shattered glass doors that appeared to have been caused by rocks and paint ball guns.

Georgetown police believe someone also shot bullets through a set of double glass doors at the end of a hallway full of classrooms, but never stepped foot inside.

On another night someone set PTA decorations on fire inside a storage building on the property.

"It's just pure meanness," said Lt. Todd Terbush. "People out there wanting to do something and get away with it."

School staff decided to form a task force to keep a watch on the campus after hours, and police beefed up patrols.

On Aug. 15, a police officer on patrol caught two teenagers stealing a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit from an unlocked portable building.

He arrested Joshua Ruiz, 18, and Joe Paul Vincent, 17. They were both charged with burglary of a building. Police do not know if the two are responsible for the more than $8,000 worth of damage during the two-month time span.

The school principal sent an email to staff and parents calling the officer a hero.

In the end, the teachers, students and taxpayers suffer due to the crimes.

"Every dollar that has to be put somewhere else is a dollar that's taken out of the classroom," said Brad Domitrovich, Georgetown Independent School District spokesman.