On Monday, Dec. 9, Mr. Cyphert arrived at his classroom around 7:45 a.m., expecting a regular day. Instead, he saw that all of his fish had died.
“I was very crushed. I looked over at the tank and I noticed that somebody had added tape all around the outside of the tank that wasn’t there before,” said Mr. Cyphert. “Immediately my heart sank.”
After examining the scene, Mr. Cyphert suspected that one of the middle school students from a weekend program had poured detergent into the tank.
Mr. Cyphert reported the incident to Mr. Chong, and together they reviewed security footage from the hallway cameras to identify those responsible.
It became clear that the students had entered and exited the room without mentioning the damage or seeking help. “It didn’t look like anyone was leaving the room to look for help or report the incident. They just taped up the tank and pretended like nothing was wrong.”
“Some kids were very upset. I was very upset, especially because they didn’t say anything,” Mr. Cyphert said.
Initially, nobody took responsibility for the incident, but after a lot of accusations and denial from the Pace Administration and the Saturday program, the student in question eventually came forward.
A week later, Mr. Cyphert was told that the student responsible finally confessed. The head of the Saturday program sat down and talked to each student one-on-one until the perpetrator eventually admitted to pouring the dish soap into the tank. The program has offered to pay for the damage, however, Mr. Cyphert still awaits compensation
Mr. Cyphert has been a part of a program called Trout in the Classroom for two years. Brook trout are native species to New York, and teachers all over New York apply for a grant to fund, raise, grow and release the brook trout that have been raised in the classrooms.
These fish are “going endangered, but because of this program, the population has been recovering. Over the years, New York has experienced acid rain and other forms of pollution. It has decreased the local types of fish, like the trout, so it’s a part of restoring our local environment too.”
Mr. Cyphert was successful last year in raising numerous trout. ”Not everyone gets the grant,” he said. This is a special opportunity to teach his students to raise and release these fish for a good cause towards the environment.
Some agree that if the school that uses Pace classrooms on the weekend can not respect the property, they shouldn’t be able to use the spaces.
Teachers, including Mr. Cyphert, say that this is not the first time things have been tampered with by the Saturday middle school. “A week prior, I found a thumb tack at the bottom of the tank. I don’t know how it would get into the tank, because I keep it covered. A couple of weeks prior to that, in the back hallway closet, somebody mixed a bunch of chemicals together and made a huge mess.”
Ms. Gold shared a similar experience with her board games being misused. “They would use my games to the point where I would come back and the UNO cards would be everywhere. I’d find cards all over the room and boxes destroyed,” Ms. Gold said.
