Over the weekend of April 13-14, 2019, Pretty Prairie High School in Pretty Prairie, KS, got broken into by vandals who vandalized the band room there, causing an estimated $50,000 - $100,000 in damage to instruments, music, and windows.
"Because nine times out of ten, when that happens in your building like it happened here," said Pretty Prairie Superintendent Randy Hendrickson about the incident. "We pretty much knew it was some of our students."
“It’s hard to fathom that anybody regardless of age would conduct something like that on someone else’s property," said Detective John Culley. "It’s very shocking, not only to law enforcement but to the community that something like this would happen. It’s devastating to locals here."
USD 331 in Pretty Prairie posted on Facebook this Monday, "Unfortunately our music room was vandalized this weekend. Many instruments were destroyed or damaged. We are working with the Reno County Sheriff’s Office and our music room is still off limits. We hope to have our insurance agent here on Monday to help us assess the damage. All 5-12 music students will meet in the auditorium for class. As awful as this is for our students, we are working to provide them with instruments as soon as we can. A silver lining, and hopefully a life lesson for our students, is they/we are not in this alone. The outpouring of support has been tremendous. I have received many emails and calls of support and willingness to help. I have a special thank you to Joan Simenou, Superintendent of Burrton Schools, who has been attempting to help us find replacement instruments and has volunteered to help us restore our room when we can."
If you would like to help Pretty Prairie by donating instruments, music, or other materials, call the school's office at 620-459-6241 or donate to the GoFund me here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/replace-music-equipment-for-pretty-prairie-high
On behalf of Kansas Band News, I support Pretty Prairie HS Wholeheartedly.
What a terrible destructive act of vandalism.