Since January, there have been six broken windows at the school, according to the school's director, Therese Ross. One was the result of a misthrown frisbee.The other five, however, appeared to be intentional, Ross said, as she found rocks inside the building after finding the broken windows.
She explained that vandalism tends to occur on Thursday nights. The preschool, which is for children ages 3-5, is not open on Fridays.
"We are not trying to deny the College students their fun," said Ross. "It's just that we have little kids here and we have to explain to them what is going on. We just want people to respect us."
Ross said that on several occasions, the windows facing Stone Dormitory have been sprayed with beer. Frequently, there is also broken glass around the area where the children play.
"We are sweeping [the glass] up while [the preschool children] are riding their bikes," said Ross.
"It's very unsettling to walk in and see broken glass and have kids have to watch where they step," said Stacy Tobin, parent of a student at the school and President of the Board of the Little Red School House.
In a letter to residents of the social quad, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Chari Boykin-East expressed her concerns about the vandalism. She noted that, since September, there have been 11 deliberately smashed doors. "The shards of glass in front of these buildings not only pose a danger to the individuals in the social quad, but this behavior is continuing to have direct impact on the children attending the Little Red School House. In one unfortunate instance this year, a child fell and cut himself on shards of broken glass," stated the letter.
Boykin-East's letter also urged students to remember that they share the College campus with the greater Amherst community and "to be respectful of the space, and to be considerate of other people who also use this space."
Boykin-East wrote a similar letter to social quad residents last fall.
Employees of the Little Red School House said there are benefits and drawbacks of having the preschool on the College campus. "The students, for the most part, provide a great service to us," said Tobin. "It is nice to be on the social quad and have students come to play with the kids … [but] you never know on a Monday morning if you are going to come in and a window will be broken."
"It is kind of sad because those [preschool students] have nothing to do with the [College]," said Lauren Kopyt '02, who works at the pre-school a few times a week. "I don't think people should be taking out their violence and aggression on them."
"There are some people that are targeting us and they are not paying attention to what their actions are doing," said Ross. "It's extremely inconvenient to us."
Ross hopes to raise awareness in order to stop the vandalism. Two years ago, when the Little Red School House suffered similar acts of vandalism, a group of students organized a penny drive in the Campus Center and used the money to buy the children at the school a new toy.
According to Justin Jagher '03, a resident counselor (RC) in Crossett Dormitory, the RCs in the Social Quad have discussed ways to stop the vandalism to the Little Red School House. He said that their main focus right now is to make students aware of the destruction.
"People just have to realize that [preschool] kids are going to play [on the social quad]," said Jagher. "It's a dangerous place to be for them if there is going to be glass there."