Bobby Cappell, owner of Quality Concrete, said two excavators that were left behind the school over the weekend were damaged. Cappell found the damage about 1 p.m. Monday.
“I got no calls,” Cappell said.
  
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The construction crew had been working at the school off-and-on for about a month, he said. The project was completed last week, but Cappell said the equipment remained at the site while cleanup was being done.
“It’s out of hand,” Cappell said. “There’s an officer there. Something ain’t right.”
But Harry Lopez, director of maintenance for the Iberia Parish School Board, said contractors know that there is no weekend security.
“All of our contractors are required to have insurance,” Lopez said, “for just such reasons.”
There is security weekdays during school hours while students are undergoing LEAP and GREE remediation at Westgate High, but the officer’s duty is to the students and staff and to patrol throughout the school while it is in session, Lopez said. Security stays until classes end at 1 p.m.
School Resource Officer James Wallace said he heard about the vandalism but did not discover it Monday.
“I respond to issues outside the school if I’m called for, if there’s a situation,” Wallace said, adding his job is to maintain order and safety within the school while classes are in session.
Lopez said that the damaged equipment not being found immediately is not unusual considering the location of the equipment.
“Typically this (equipment) was parked off to the side and to the back of the facility,” Lopez said.
“We’ve been asking people not to go back there. In this particular case, it’s not unusual it wasn’t found, because we requested them to stay away because of the ongoing construction.”
Lopez said the site was not visited Monday, but was inspected last week after the final pour of concrete was complete and only a small amount of work was left to do.
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