School gives tour of vandalism damage

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (WPRI) – Covered in white powder, the hallways of Fairhaven High School looked more like a winter wonderland Monday, as crews worked to clean up an act of vandalism.

Principal Tara Kohler said two teens broke into the school during a Pop Warner football tournament Sunday, and discharged fire extinguishers inside the building - covering the second and third floors with the white powdery substance.

• Photos: Crews cleanup vandalism damage

"This is very disruptive to our school, very disruptive to our students and very disruptive to our community," said Kohler, who after surveying the damage decided to cancel class Monday for the school's nearly 700 students. "The first thing, of course, is student safety and second, can we provide them a solid education on any given day. And the answer today was no."

The fire extinguishers ended up setting off the smoke alarms and police were quickly able to identify the juveniles through security surveillance inside the building. Officers arrested the duo a short time later near the concession stand.

"Having school called off for vandalism you don't want ideas go into peoples heads, so it was important to us that we apprehended whoever it was quickly so they could be the ones to be in trouble for these actions," Kohler said.

Kohler said the school is trying to calculate just how much the incident is going to cost.

She said she hopes the school will reopen Tuesday.

The suspects, juveniles from Fall River and Freetown, were charged with breaking and entering, felony vandalism and trespassing.