Classes Canceled After School Buses Vandalized In Somers

SOMERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- About 3,000 of students in one New York school district got their holiday vacation extended.

Classes at the Somers school district were canceled Monday after state police said numerous school buses were vandalized.

School bus drivers arrived for work around 6 a.m. Monday morning and found several buses with smashed windows, slashed tires and more extensive damage, CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported.

"The damage ranged from punctured tires, broken windshields, to fire extinguishers that were either discharged from the bus or missing from the bus," school district spokesperson Matt Carr said.

Almost half of the 60 buses that are kept in a lot behind Somers High School on Primrose Street were vandalized at some point over the holiday weekend.

Investigators said thousands of dollars in damage was done by vandals over the break. As many as 40 buses were hit.

State police call it a very serious case of criminal mischief, and are looking into whether students are responsible, Conybeare reported.

School district officials said they are performing emergency repairs and are hoping to have everything back to normal to get students back to school Tuesday.

At Somers Middle School the sign on the door said it all, "School closed due to damaged buses."

While kids didn't mind an unexpected day off, parents were forced to keep their children occupied.

"They said that schools were closed and just, I almost lost my mind. It's been a very long break," Danielle Wiener said.

By late Monday afternoon, the bus company repairs had made progress.

"They're working to get spare tires up, new windshields and enough fire extinguishers on the buses," Carr said.

While state police looked into whether students were to blame, school officials and parents were relieved the buses would be rolling and classrooms would be open again on Tuesday morning.

Police investigators told CBS2 that they do have surveillance footage of the yard, but were not ready to release it.

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