Washington HS janitors mistakenly throw out football gear

Janitors who cleaned out sports lockers at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids just before the long holiday weekend went a little too far.  They accidentally tossed out football cleats and other personal equipment belonging to nearly a dozen student-athletes.

But parents who called to complain about the situation soon found this was a problem with a quick solution.

Usually, when school custodians plan a big spring cleaning, they'll tell coaches to have students take home anything they don't want tossed out.  But a chief custodian new to Washington High School forgot that detail.  So when varsity player Marcus Wright came back after a break to resume summer conditioning, he made an unpleasant discovery.  All the football gear he bought just two weeks before had disappeared from his locker.

“I was surprised, there was somebody else with the locker next to mine and he told me-I was heated,” Wright said.

Wright's foster mother, Mary Arenas, said it cost $185.00 to replace the cleats, gloves and personal uniform clothing the school doesn't provide for players.  Arenas said the state provides a clothing fund for foster children-but she wasn't sure this was covered or that she'd get her money back quickly.  “I would not have been able to get it right away-we would have had to wait or finagle something,” Arenas explained.

But Arenas and the other parents won't have a payback problem for the school's mistake.  Washington officials said they'll take booster club, or other non-taxpayer money, and refund what parents have to pay to replace the missing equipment right away.

Tony Lombardi, Washington Football Coach, said “we're just sick about it.  Obviously, we don't want that to happen to our kids so we're trying to find out what's missing, getting an accounting of that and replace all the gear like they had two weeks ago before it disappeared on them.”

School officials say the value of the equipment they'll need to replace is $1,000 to $1,500.  Parents who discovered the problem Monday found out the newly new equipment went to a local resale charity rather than the trash.  Arenas said she called the store immediately, but found out customers had already snapped up a bargain and everything missing was already sold.