Students take on art heist

In shocking news this month, our school suffered an immeasurable cultural loss when four priceless works of art were stolen in broad daylight from the Rhoda Teagle Library. The works include The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh, Girl With A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, and Beneath the Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai. 

Fortunately, our 8th graders have launched an intense, multi-agency investigation into this brazen heist. They have been analyzing surveillance footage, collecting fingerprints and physical evidence, interviewing persons of interest, and drawing lessons on how to proceed from history, using Nicholas Day's book The Mona Lisa Vanishes, which we coincidentally happened to be reading in English class.

At this time, the students' investigation is active and ongoing. They have narrowed down the list of suspects to 8 individuals in our school community, and I am happy to say that all eight of those individuals are cooperating fully with the investigation, submitting to interviews and fingerprinting. 

Over the next couple of weeks, teams of investigators will be reviewing their evidence -- physical, testimonial, and documentary -- and building a case to bring the perpetrator to justice. In the meantime, if you have any information that might aid their investigation, please reach out to any 8th grader. Also, if you see any of these hardworking detectives in the community, please buy them a donut. They need all the help they can get!