Muddy footprints trailed along the floor of math teacher Alvin Ward’s classroom, leading over the ledge and out the window.  Someone had broken in.

Five students had broken into Ward’s room through that window on Wednesday, Sept. 7 around 9:30 p.m.

“I opened up my door and noticed footprints on the floor and I thought maybe one of the sports teams had come in. It had been a rainy day the day before and they could’ve had mud on their shoes and come in for a team meeting. That was my first impression when I got into my room. Then I started to follow the footsteps across the room over to the window and I noticed the window, which I never open because it’s always hard to close, was open by about two inches,” Ward said.

The five students who broke in were trying to gain access to their books and personal belongings which had been locked in the school. According to Dean of Students Thomas Vierheller, the alarm and motion sensors weren’t activated yet, and the cleaning personnel were still in the building. The police were not called.

“There’s nothing specific in our handbook about students breaking into the school. There’s no standard,” Vierheller said.

According to Principal Madelyn Ball, the perpetrators were quickly identified on the security cameras.

“The students who broke in did so to get their own books. It wouldn’t change my opinion of safety at JC because they didn’t do anything to put anybody’s safety in jeopardy,” junior David Knaide said.

According to Director of Facilities Stewart Walker, no new security measures are being put in place as of right now.

“ [The break in] was just soccer players needing to get into the building. They needed their books and didn’t realize their coaches were going to unlock the building. They shouldn’t have done it, but I wouldn’t call it a break in,” Ball said.

“Teenagers sometimes do dumb things,” Ward said.

Emily Clarke is Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.