Recently, Englewood High School has seen a significant increase in vandalism, allegedly caused by students, costing the school money and ultimately delaying other projects planned that are intended to improve student life at our school. Those forced to clean up or fix the issue say this also puts unnecessary stress on our administration and custodial staff. 

  In the last two months, there has already been an estimated $3,000+ in vandalism damage to the high school as well as an additional 143 work orders that have accumulated for Angel Aguilar to address. Aguilar is the site manager here at Englewood High School. He and his reduced staff are responsible for cleaning halls, bathrooms, classrooms, and the cafeteria each day. It is a time-consuming and difficult task. He believes if he had a closer connection with students, there would be a better sense of understanding that vandalism is destructive and adds more work to their day, “Sometimes I wish I had the help and the time I needed to connect on a more personal level with students here at Englewood High School. When I worked at Finest (Colorados Finest High School of Choice, Englewood Public Schools alternative high school), they only had about 200 students, I knew almost all of them. I knew them personally and it felt like they respected me.”

The most recent damage includes tampering with a toilet that caused flooding of the upstairs restroom that in turn leaked into the girls bathroom near the fieldhouse. In the last week or so, a flush sensor was ripped out of the flush stem in a bathroom, and several bathroom privacy dividers have been removed. 

Aguilar says that over the years he has noticed a trend of different school years resulting in different levels of negative behaviors, “I also noticed that vandalism can depend on the school year, and this year, it’s bad.” 

Senior class president Tracy Jennings is worried about the increase in vandalism, “The custodians don’t need to clean up that stuff. There is no reason they should be cleaning up a child’s mess because we should all know the difference between right and wrong.” 

Overall, vandalism is destructive to our school architecturally, safety-wise, cosmetically, and to the overall student satisfaction at our school. The cleaning staff asks you to do your part in keeping our school clean and safe. If you notice any damage to the school, Mr. Aguilar encourages you to approach him to tell him what is happening or email him at [email protected].