Small fires started by three Española Middle School eighth graders June 16 will be the girls’ ticket to another year of eighth grade, according to school staff.
Suspects Elizabeth Chavez, Charlotte Anderson and Mary Ann Gurule were identified with the help of a teacher and school surveillance cameras, Española Police Sgt. Richard Gallegos said. All three girls were taken into custody and transported to the Santa Fe County Juvenile Detention Center, and they now face charges of arson and criminal property damage, Gallegos said.
Teacher Amy Flores had just concluded her summer-school math class around 2:30 p.m. when a student leaving the classroom lit a piece of paper on fire and threw it in a plastic trash can, Assistant Principal Theresa Flores said. Theresa Flores was summoned and ran to a custodial closet, where she grabbed a bucket of water to douse the can. Moments later, students told her a second fire had been started in an upstairs locker, and the assistant principal again came to the rescue with a bucket of water.
Only one student was exiting the classroom at the time the trash can fire was started, so the teacher was able to identify the girl, Theresa Flores said. A security camera captured that student and two other female students lighting paper and putting it in the locker. Students don’t use lockers during summer school, so all of them were empty, Theresa Flores said.
“What these girls were doing was they kept feeding the fire, putting more paper in the locker,” Gallegos said.
Though both fires were quickly extinguished, the locker was damaged and there was smoke damage in the area, Gallegos said.
“It seems like these girls didn’t really care — they showed no emotion,” Gallegos said.
Even if the girls are not incarcerated, they would not be welcome back at summer school, Theresa Flores said. And because they had to complete the remedial math class in order to complete eighth grade, they will now likely be returning to repeat the grade next year, she said.
There are only 35 to 40 students on campus during the four-week summer school that ends this week, so the school didn’t feel it could justify spending money on security guards, Theresa Flores said. Española School District administrators will decide whether this incident and the vandalism that occurred at the middle school June 11 make it necessary to bring security officers in for the last four days of summer school, she said.
Rio Arriba County Commissioner and ProSec Security owner Elias Coriz, whose company is contracted by the District to provide security, said the school hadn’t approached him about bringing in guards since the incidents.