A school van stolen from the SCDS parking lot during Winter Break has been recovered and is undergoing repairs.
On Monday, Dec. 29, maintenance foreman Sailendra Singh noticed shattered glass in the parking lot. At the time the three school vans were being kept in the parking lot, instead of near the outdoor basketball courts behind the school where they are usually parked. It wasn’t until later that the custodians realized that one was missing.
On the morning of Jan. 6, Jay Holman, director of the physical plant, reported the van stolen to the California Highway Patrol. That night, the CHP called Holman to tell him that the van had been found at the California Fitness Center on Fulton and Hurley.
The CHP also notified Holman that two of the three rows of the van’s seats had been taken.
The car was towed to the auto body shop at Harrold Ford, where they are replacing the seats and repairing other damage, including the broken driver’s side window and the punched ignition.
Representatives from the school’s insurance company inspected the van on Jan. 8 to estimate the cost of repairs. Holman said that he expects that the school’s deductible will cover most of the expenses.
Holman said he doesn’t think that he will keep the vans somewhere else in the future because this is the first time that a van has been stolen and he feels the neighborhood is “very safe.”
