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Childcare center hit
The SCSU Lindgren Childcare Center was vandalized late Thursday or early Friday morning.
“There was glass all over the place,” said Dennis Mergen, lead pre-school teacher. “You could tell right away that somebody had thrown something through the window.”
Mergen arrived for work shortly after 7 a.m. Friday morning and promptly called Public Safety Department.
A metal pipe had been thrown through a large window that faces N-Lot. The Childcare Center is located on the south end of the Engineering and Computing Center.
The families of about 10 children were not allowed to bring their children in until after noon Friday.
“It inconvenienced student parents because we weren’t sure it was safe,” said Amy Krystosek, toddler teacher.
The damaged window was in a room that is used for eating, making craft projects and playing. There are small tables and chairs in the room, as well as counters for preparing meals.
Even though the hole in the window was about 2 feet long and 6-10 inches wide, shards of glass were thrown as far as 20 feet.
“We could shake glass out of the toys,” Krystosek said.
Glass debris was found inside toys that had been on shelves, underneath puzzle pieces, in the carpet and covering the tables. All of the books had to be vacuumed.
Glass was not limited to that one room, though. It managed to fly around the corner into the adjacent play and toddler rooms.
“It was a big inconvenience and a mess to clean up,” Krystosek said.
Employees spent four hours cleaning the counters, carpets and toys. They wiped everything down with a paper towel, then with a wash cloth, two or three more times.
After the floor was vacuumed five times, childcare staff could still see bits of glass. No children were allowed in the area that day. Maintenance was scheduled to vacuum again later Friday.
Maintenance workers also put a temporary cover over the window.
PSD employees had not seen anything suspicious while patrolling the area that night.
“That’s such a well traveled area,” said PSD Director Miles Heckendorn, “so at this point we have no reason to believe (the vandalism) is poignant to the department of the Childcare Center.”
St. Cloud Police were also called to the scene.
Heckendorn said that most vandalism on campus involves broken windows and screens in residence halls or broken parking lot guard arms.
“It’s not uncommon,” he said, “but it is to have one of this size.”
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