Classrooms Vandalized; Equipment Is Stolen : Pacoima: Officials are uncertain if the incident at Charles Maclay Junior High is gang-related.

Vandals trashed and burglarized more than a dozen rooms at Charles Maclay Junior High School in Pacoima over the weekend, stealing thousands of dollars in electronic equipment, scrawling graffiti on blackboards and leaving some classrooms unusable, school officials said Monday.

The intruders, who apparently used a key to gain access to 17 classrooms, stole four videocassette recorders, four television sets, computer parts and even one teacher’s family photos, school officials said. The vandals also used campus fire extinguishers to spray foam in the rooms, leaving a chalky residue that completely coated the desks and floor of several classrooms.

Glass display cases were shattered and dozens of doorknobs were knocked off.

“This is the worst I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Maclay Assistant Principal Cynthia Augustine said. “It’s demoralizing.”

Seven classrooms--each bearing a sign Monday that said, “Do Not Enter--Hazard”--were so damaged that students and teachers were moved to other rooms. Papers, books and trash littered floors, walls were splattered white with foam or red with what was apparently fruit punch.

“To a degree, I can understand a theft,” Augustine said. “But the anger and demolition--how do you explain that?”

The vandals scrawled gang names and graffiti on chalkboards, but it was unclear if the incident was gang-related, said Herbert Graham, Los Angeles Unified School District director of police.

Graham estimated the damage to be about $3,000, but school officials said the figure may be higher because several vandalized classrooms at the year-round school are used by teachers who are unavailable to give an account of their supplies and equipment.

The break-in occurred Saturday or Sunday, according to Graham. A district spokeswoman said a neighbor telephoned authorities about 9:30 a.m. Sunday to report having seen someone move property from the campus during the night or early morning. Los Angeles police responding to the call discovered the vandalism.

Graham declined to say whether the intruders had used a key to enter the classrooms. But Maclay officials said that only a photocopying room bore signs of forced entry and that the vandalized classrooms could all be opened with the same key--of the same kind as one apparently pilfered Friday.

That afternoon, a teacher alerted administrators that one of his keys was missing, Principal Leonard F. George said. The school’s assigned police officer searched four or five youths suspected of taking the key but found nothing.

Graham confirmed that detectives have recovered fingerprints from the vandalized classrooms, but no arrests have been made.

The weekend incident added to about $12,000 in loss and damage already incurred since July. The school constantly experiences problems with graffiti--almost on a weekly basis--but the latest break-in was the worst since he arrived three years ago, George said.

It was particularly heartbreaking for social studies teacher Denise Pollock, whose framed family photos were stolen.

“It hurt a lot. Where they are I have no idea,” she said of the snapshots that have graced a classroom shelf for the past decade. “I’ve been here 21 years. You want to help the kids, but a few ruin it for all.”