AURORA, Colo. — An Aurora school was closed Tuesday after a break-in overnight that resulted in "significant" damage throughout the building, according to a communication sent home to families from the school district.
Aurora Police responded to Aurora West College Preparatory Academy on East 13th Avenue just before 5 a.m. for a report about burglary and vandalism. It's a 6-12 public school in the Aurora Public School District.
The letter sent to families said that the level of damage to the building forced the school to close on Tuesday. Staff members were told to complete any work remotely and not to come to the school.
The district said Tuesday evening that the school will be back open Wednesday.
Eighth-grader Josh Salvador Jimenez said he couldn't believe the news when he woke up for school.
"Wow," he said, recalling his initial reaction. "Teacher, guitar, instruments, all of that, like safety of everything."
Ninth-grader Amariae Zollicoffer travels from Westminster to get to school. He said he caught his usual bus to spend the day with Salvador Jimenez, even if they couldn't go to school.
"Probably ride around and go to the park," Zollicoffer said.
The boys decided to head to school to see if they could check on the state of their classrooms.
"Is anything broken?" Salvador Jimenez wondered. "Probably. Guitars are they fine? Is everything fine? Are teachers still here?"
"I was scared and annoyed if like any of the instruments, computers or iPads got stolen," Zollicoffer said.
A broken window could be seen from the south exterior of the building. Salvador Jimenez and Zollicoffer both agreed the decision to cancel classes was the right choice, even if they missed out on a day of classes.
"I mean, who would go to school when there’s like a broken window, a break-in?" Salvador Jimenez said. "It’s really thoughtful like they said we shouldn’t bring kids into here after a crime just happened. Let’s give them the day off. I think that’s perfect."
Still, they can't help but feel a bit upset that someone vandalized their school, and in turn, impacted their daily schedules.
"I mean, you broke one of our windows," Zollicoffer said. "Probably put in danger some people, no school today, so no guitar, so why? I want to play guitar. I want to hang out with friends. But why? Come on now."
The letter to families said clean-up should be completed by the end of the day Tuesday and if that doesn't happen they'll notify families as soon as possible.
"Here’s to hoping, I mean, I hope I get to go to school tomorrow," Zollicoffer said.
Police said they don't know what time the damage occurred and don't yet have any information about potential suspects.
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