$25,000 of musical instruments stolen from high school band while in Chula Vista

It’s music tour season for Newbury Park Adventist Academy. Or it was.

“We just relax and have a good time before the end of the school year,” said Joel Albritton, the principal of Newbury Park Adventist Academy, which is up north in Thousand Oaks, California

Last weekend’s stop was Tierrasanta Seventh Day Adventist Church.

With the students back on the bus and ready to head home, chaperones had to break the news: Someone stole about 30 instruments from their rental, including a baritone saxophone, flutes, trumpets, French horns and clarinets.

“It was simply a matter of getting through the padlock and being really stealthy,” Albritton said.

An employee at Denny’s next door said she can’t go more than a couple months without finding out someone’s property in the area got broken into. She was especially upset that, this time, high-schoolers were the target.

“They’re students,” Dora Marie Sinclair said. “They’re the youth. They’re the future that wants to make our communities better. They’re taking from our future, and it’s sad for me to see.”

Albritton said the students didn’t sulk for long.

“Within minutes there were posts on Instagram and there was a flier that had already gone out,” he said. “They knew that something could be done to get us ready for spring concert.”

Spring concert is coming up on May 9. Albritton said there may be no band if they don’t get their instruments back, but even if all they have are their voices, there will always be a show.

Staff are still working to count their losses. Once they do, they'll consider starting an online fundraiser.