Palo Alto High School administrators are looking into new security measures for students’ lockers after finding a hole in the wire cage surrounding the lockers, and the contents of lockers 603-658 strewn over the ground Sunday.

Authorities are assuming that the crime was committed Saturday night or early Sunday morning. A custodian discovered the break-in on Sunday morning.

"In all my [15] years at Paly this is the first time this has happened," custodian Marcello Elesango said.

Belongings on the ground found near the lockers were recovered by administrators and are stored in the attendance office, where they may be claimed, according to a notice posted around the affected area.

"At least 15 students have shown up to reclaim their belongings," Paly attendance specialist Anne Jensen said.

The belongings are sorted into different bags, depending on where they were found, Jensen said. Twenty bags are labeled by locker number, and contain one locker’s contents. Five big bags are filled with other possesions found on the ground.

"I’d say 98% of the kids have found all their stuff," Jensen said.

The auditor will replace cut locks at no charge. Students whose possessions were stolen should file a police report, available in the attendance office.

Assistant Principal Chuck Merritt noted ironically that, while bolt-cutters were used to sever locker locks, the perpetrator cut through the individual links of the cage fence instead of saving time and effort by cutting the cage door’s padlock.

Fortunately, Merritt said, no items appear to have been stolen, only scattered. Merritt suspects that the would-be thief, likely not a Paly student, was planning to steal valuables from presumably affluent students but found gym uniforms and textbooks instead of iPods.

Because of the premeditated nature of using presumed bolt cutters and the relatively isolated location of the break-in, Merritt assumes that the culprit had scoped out the school before. This theory, Merrit said, is supported by the fact that the cage is clearly visible from the public bike path running parallel to the railroad tracks.

Since only a few rows were broken into, Merritt thinks that the perpetrator went through the lockers systematically until some distant passerby caused the person to flee.

"It really hurts to see this happen," principal Scott Lawrence said. "Stealing is one of the worst things for the administration. I felt we made the locker cages pretty secure. It is horrific to see this happen. I’m very sad and upset."

Discussions regarding additional security measures were underway before the break-in. "We are in the process of researching about security cameras," Lawrence said.

Security cameras placed in the locker areas would help discourage future theft, Lawrence said, although that suggestion has generated a lot of controversy in the Paly community over the last year after the idea was proposed.

"It would be a good idea," senior Tameeka Bennett said, "except [cameras would] contradict privacy."