Student store suffers $1040 loss in late-night break-in
On Tuesday morning at around 7:15am, business teacher Denise Conte received a call from Officer Velasquez saying that the reportedly beloved student store had suffered a break in.
The criminal had broken in and used the store’s dolly to steal their safe and cash register drawers. Although he was able to break into the safe, Conte explained that “there was nothing inside” due to district policy that requires them to “lock all money in the big on-campus safe.” He did, however, find about $20 in quarters in the register.
Along with money, the thief stole a box of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups left over from SkillsUSA the previous weekend, about 40 brownies, 50 Cinnamon Crunch Bars, 40 PopTarts and one warm Diet Coke. Conte noted that the robber apparently “didn’t care for Nature Valley Honey Oat bars,” and left them on the counter.
Finally, two jackets were stolen: one Bearcat Sweatshirt and one zip-up jacket. The sweatshirt, Conte explained, was one of around three that she had sold, but the jacket was a sample jacket that had a hole in the back exclusively for display. The police had been notified of the nature of the jacket and are on the lookout for anyone that may be wearing it.
Examples of merchandise sold at the student store. 
The now empty rack that sweatshirts were stolen from
The total loss was about $1040, though only $20 of it was actual cash. The store has changed its practices so they no longer keep any cash in the room after school hours.
Conte describes that she is proud of her staff for working past their initial feelings of anger and upset and jumping in to clean up the store and brainstorm ways to prevent anything like this in the future. “I have to commend my student staff; after their initial anger and upset (a totally normal reaction), they rolled up their sleeves, cleaned up what they could, and talked about things we can do to prevent future problems,” Conte said. They have been saving for a camera system, and now view this as a priority.
“It was a very unfortunate event and a very preventable one due to the fact that he was almost caught but it’s not something that’s going to set us back; we’re going to get stronger from this, we’re going to take this learning moment and push forward and we should be up and running better than ever before very, very soon,” junior Evan Moses said.
The entire situation seems to be a learning opportunity for the class. “In the end, this is something that happens to real businesses every day, so it is a valuable teaching tool in the end. Making lemonade out of lemons like good entrepreneurs do,” Conte said.
