Vandals strike CMS International Center four times this month. Staff board up windows

Anna Maria Della Costa
·2 min read

A series of break-ins and vandalism left Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ International Center with damage to windows and missing items — from technology to toys — according to police reports.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have been called out to the center — the former Collinswood Elementary School on 4000 Applegate Road — four times beginning June 5, according to reports. All four investigations remain open. Police haven’t identified any suspects.

Police were called out the morning of June 5 for a burglary that’s being classified as a felony. Suspects forced entry into the main building and stole an iPad, laptop, custodian radios and Matchbox toys and cars, among other items, according to the police report. The stolen property was valued at more than $2,400.

The former Collinswood School Buildinhg which now houses the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ International Center has had a series of Break-ins over the past month starting on June 5, 2023. Two of the break-ins happened over this past weekend.
The former Collinswood School Buildinhg which now houses the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ International Center has had a series of Break-ins over the past month starting on June 5, 2023. Two of the break-ins happened over this past weekend.

Police also were called out June 7, June 10 and Sunday for reports of vandalism and breaking and entering.

“The offender(s) threw rocks and chunks of asphalt at/through 2 windows,” according to the June 7th report. Graffiti also was found.

Someone broke into the building June 10, but didn’t take anything. People also broke into the building this weekend but didn’t take anything, according to police reports. A classroom was ransacked over the weekend.

CMS spokesperson Susan Vernon-Devlin said several windows that were broken have been boarded up. Staff are still working at the site as usual, but there is talk about moving elsewhere, Vernon-Devlin said.

CMS officials told The Charlotte Observer Tuesday detectives believe the same people carried out each of the incidents in June. Cameras are being monitored during non-business hours, CMS officials said.

An earlier break-in

Sylvia Obén, a media relationships specialist with CMS, told the Observer Tuesday that an employee alerted police April 27 about a stolen Microsoft Surface Book 2, costing about $1,334 out of the International Center. The crime is a felony, and that investigation also remains open.

What is the CMS International Center?

The International Center provides services for students and families who speak a language other than English, according to the website. In the 2021-2022 school year, the center served more than 5,000 people who were looking for support and to enroll their children in CMS.

CMS has more than 46,500 students considered linguistically diverse. The international center works to ensure those students have equal access and participation in the district’s educational programs, according to CMS.

Collinswood Elementary moved away from the international center’s current site when Collinswood Language Academy was built at 5621 Flagstaff Drive in Charlotte and opened in August 2020.