Classes canceled for hundreds of Vallejo students after copper thieves cut power to school

VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) -- It's the middle of the school year and hundreds of kids in Vallejo are left wondering when they'll be able to go back to class.

Over the weekend, their school's copper wiring was stolen and the electrical system no longer works.

More than 600 kids who attend Solano Widenmann Leadership Academy, which is K-8, will be home on Monday after the school's electrical system was knocked out by a thief or thieves.

"Upon further examination, we discovered that someone had broken in and had stripped all our copper wiring to the breakers, essentially leaving the campus dark," said Vallejo City Unified Superintendent Ruben Aurelio.

Family members of the kids who go to school there are angry.

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"For some children, that's their only positive environment. That's the only safe haven they have. And to rob them from that is just inexcusable. It's just really sad," said Jay Stafford.

Stafford's sister is now out of school and their family will take turns watching her this week.

Police say no arrests have been made. Aurelio says investigators are looking at surveillance video. But it was dark late Friday into early Saturday, and whoever did this took out the power.

Parents were told that a fix would likely take a week. Aurelio says it could actually be a couple of days or a couple of weeks.

"We're not flushed with a bunch of money to all of a sudden replace thousands of feet of wiring, copper wiring. Right now, we have an estimate. It will be somewhere between $150 to 250,000 to get this campus back up," Aurelio said.

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"It's just very sad. A lot is going on in Vallejo right now. We are what we would like to call a 'lawless city' almost. So much is going rampant, and it's just really sad that now the crime has affected our children being able to attend school," Stafford said.

Aurelio says it's possible that extra school days could be added onto the end of the school year, but right now the focus is getting kids learning as quickly and safely as possible.

"We're going to move to get kids back into school as soon as possible, even if that means distributing students and staff to other campuses that have space that can hold them," Aurelio said.

"We are a very strong community. We are very close-knit. We have a lot of people who advocate in the community and do great things. I believe this is just one of those things that we will have to get over and triumph over," Stafford said.

The Vallejo City Unified School District put out this statement:

NOTICE FOR SOLANO WIDENMANN FAMILIES: A theft has severely damaged Solano Widenmann Leadership Academy's electrical systems, requiring the school to CANCEL CLASSES until further notice. Repairs are expected to take about a week, but if the closure extends, the district will arrange alternate student placements to minimize disruption. Updates on repairs and potential relocations will be shared on ParentSquare, and families are encouraged to contact the school or district office with any questions.