ABU DHABI // Vandals broke into a nursery school in the capital over the weekend and sprayed toys, books and teaching aids with foam from fire extinguishers. It was the second such incident in two weeks at the Bright Beginnings Nursery on Al Khaleej al Arabi Street in Al Mehairba. The nursery was closed yesterday as a result.
"They completely trashed the place," said Jo Shaban, the managing director. "They pulled out every toy, all the books, sprayed all over from the bottom to the top." Staff discovered the damage on Saturday night during an added security check that was implemented after the first break-in. "We're definitely going to reopen tomorrow," said Ms Shaban. "Things will go back to normal. We're not going to let them stop us."
She thought "bored youths" were probably to blame. "I think it was just kids, adolescents having fun." Bright Beginnings, which opened in 2004 and has two branches, each catering for about 300 families, had never had problems with vandalism before, she added. Last November there were two similar incidents at the Humpty Dumpty Nursery, on the same street as Bright Beginnings. Confirming those yesterday, Lisamarie Blackburn, the principal at Humpty Dumpty, added: "Bright Beginnings had a break-in, too? I know there also was another nursery a week before mine that was also broken into."
Al Khalidiya police confirmed they had filed a report on the incident but refused to give details. Lt Nasser Sulaiman said: "The investigation is under way and no comments can be given until we arrest the perpetrators. "We will compare any findings in terms of fingerprints with those of any people involved in vandalism elsewhere in the city," he said. mkwong@thenational.ae * Additional reporting by Hassan Hassan