Overlake’s Thoughts on the Stolen Items
Last week during announcements, students were made aware of the theft of eight laptops on campus, which were taken from the boys’ locker room in the Field House during the first day of middle school basketball turnouts. Unfortunately, it seems like this was not the first theft to occur on campus this fall as multiple AirPods, chargers, and other small electronics had gone missing in previous weeks. This is an unprecedented situation for Overlake as theft of this scale hasn’t happened as of late in the school’s history.
This rash of thefts began in early September when two laptops went missing as well as several smaller items as mentioned above. No further lost or stolen items were reported until October 21st when those eight laptops were stolen.
As the Overlake administration investigates this situation and discusses campus safety at large, a police case with the King County Sheriff’s Office was opened by the school in partnership with the victims of the thefts. We spoke to Meghan Waddle in order to better understand the open case. Meghan has shared that each affected family was encouraged to file a case with the police. She explains, “families of a student of lost or stolen items can file under the Overlake case number, C19040472, so King Country can have a record of thefts that are occurring at the same location.” Meghan also confirmed that, while King County has an open investigation regarding the thefts, Overlake will need to pursue their own conversations regarding campus safety and the school’s security posture as a whole. She continued by telling us that the police have the devices serial numbers, “and will do what they can to determine if these devices are sold on various online marketplaces such as Craigslist or eBay.”
Bruk Farougeldabi, a freshman and new member of the Overlake community, was one of two students that had their laptop stolen in early September. When asked how this has affected his experience at Overlake, he responded, “It kind of made me more paranoid? Not paranoid, but … I’m more protective about my stuff.” As a new student, Bruk also added that “[though] I can’t judge the school on one person, one incident, but it kind of makes me question the community and how nice it is.”
Jaime McVicar, a new faculty member of the Overlake community, was also shocked by the thefts. He confided, “I find these events troubling because what I have found about this community is that we are a very close-knit group of people who take on the task of looking after one another in a very serious manner and something as insidious as theft undermines the very foundation on which that community is built.”
Kelli Pleskac, a teacher and a parent in our community, delved more in-depth about how this has affected her. She explains, “I have been a teacher here for sixteen years, and part of what I’ve always cherished about Overlake is how trusting and safe the kids felt … So to have something like that happen, for me it represented loss of a culture that I care a lot about and that I hope we can return to. And then on another level, as a parent of a kid, it’s a huge financial hit for us.” When asked about her thoughts on the people responsible, she declared, “I would want them to know that they’re not stealing from anonymous people. They’re stealing from real families and this has a real impact on the families … I would want them to know the impact of those actions.”
There will be some upcoming changes on campus due to these occurrences. The administration has decided to update existing cameras and purchase new cameras to monitor various locations on campus. Meghan stated that the current cameras are five-plus years old, and they don’t have the best quality or recording ability. The administration is looking into more advanced cameras that can be accessed more easily by members of admin and the maintenance team. Signs will likely go up as the cameras are implemented in order for students to know where it is safest to leave their items. The administration is also considering adding additional cameras in areas where students frequently leave their bags unattended. However, Meghan stressed that Overlake will “surveillance places, not people. Overlake does not assume ill intent with families or kids.” Besides these actions, the finance and executive committees are considering other options such as additional lockers or a private investigation. However, these steps have not been finalized.
Right now, students should focus on keeping their belongings with them as much as possible. A good suggestion is to ask a teacher or trusted adult if you may leave your belongings in their office when you cannot watch them. Kelli concludes that “we need to be aware that Overlake is a bubble, or at least has been, and that it is everyone’s responsibility to keep an eye on their own stuff … the community [needs] to band together, look out for one another and, if they see anything or know about something, to say so so we can maybe restore some of the faith again.”
As far as reporting missing items, the administration would prefer that all reports are consolidated and directly shared with Meghan Waddle at the Upper School level or Mike Davidson at the Middle School level in order to ensure that accurate information is passed on in real-time. If you have any information about the people responsible, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Meghan or Mike.
Although these events have shaken our community, we hope that we will be able to regain our trust in each other. Because, in Kelli’s words, “if we do actually find those that are responsible, maybe we can try to restore a little bit where we used to be.”
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