Band room robbed of student possessions during pep rally

During the pep rally on Friday, Sept. 6, the band room was broken into and several students’ belongings were stolen. School administrators are still investigating the incident in hopes of identifying the culprits. Wind symphony students in period two discovered that some of their belongings had disappeared from the backpacks they had left by their seats, in compliance with the rule that does not allow carry-ons into the Greek Theater during pep rallies.  According to Kayla Lewis-Koury (’21) whose AirPods were taken, upon return from the rally, band students discovered that around 15 students’ credit cards, wallets, instruments and more had been stolen. Some, such as Anna Lytz (’20) only noticed much later. “When I came back from the pep rally, I was like, ‘Who knocked over my bag,’ but then during lunch I went into my bag, and I couldn’t find my money anywhere,” Lytz said. As Lytz discovered the theft during lunch, band director Kevin McKeown alerted the students of band that there had been a break-in over Band’s facebook group chat.  That day, science teacher Kate Song, substituting for McKeown, was supervising the class. The students of period two remember the door through which they exited the room was locked. However, it was recently discovered by H-House principal Tristan Komlos, who is in charge of security, that the thieves entered the room through another door. McKeown spoke at a Band Parents Association meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10 regarding the incident. “Please remind your child that they have to keep stuff on them, not in backpacks, or don’t bring them,” McKeown said. Band student Jackson Yassin (’22) is hoping for improved security on campus. “I think the school should install security cameras in classrooms and especially in buildings where there are many ins and outs,” Yassin said.  Komlos said the school hopes to install other methods of additional security.  “We are working on installing electric keys on the music building doors… like the ones at a hotel,” Komlos said.