SPARTA, Mo. — Four teenagers are accused of breaking into the Sparta Middle School building and damaging several rooms.

Kayla Smith and Logan Clark have both been charged with vandalism and burglary. They are both 17 and will be seniors at Sparta next school year.

They were taken into custody and released. Another juvenile has also been taken into custody. And police continue looking for a fourth suspect.

The vandalism will cost thousands, but police say they also ruined something irreplaceable.

Superintendent Jeff Hyatt opened the doors at Sparta Middle School to show us the damage.

“It’s just really disrespectful and just a shame that someone would do something like this,” he said. 

Left behind were the suspects’ footprints and residue from fire extinguishers covering the gym floor.

“The original 1942 gymnasium,” said Hyatt. 

A thick layer of the dry chemical covered classrooms and computers…

“This isn’t just a simple sweep up. There’s gonna have to be the right equipment,” Hyatt said.

The teens also left behind something else – clear images of them walking around the building, at one point even looking straight into a security camera.

“When he as trying to reach up into the vending machine, he looked right into the camera, plain as day,” said Hyatt.

Security footage revealed at least two of the teens immediately.

“It was easy for me and other staff members to identify two of them,” Hyatt said.

Sparta Police Department Chief Trampus Taylor said the amount of security footage the school had played a big part in solving the case quickly.

“Surely I thought they were wearing masks and none of them were wearing any kind of protective masks or anything like that,” he said. 

Hyatt estimated it would cost from $10,000 to $15,000 to clean up the building and replace all of the computers, but as they find out more about the damage, that number could quickly go up he said.

But inside the superintendent’s office is something no dollar amount can replace.

“The back of it is been destroyed, the front of it is probably salvageable, I’ll probably try to shadow box it,” he said.

A 1959 varsity jacket that belonged to Hyatt’s father was cut up and urinated on.

“A family heirloom, something I’m sure I would have passed on to my daughter,” he said. “You can’t replace that.”

A heartbreaking incident for him personally, but he says the entire situation is affecting the entire community.

“You look at a building here that is getting ready for the start of school on Aug. 10, we got some people working hard to get this place ready and now we are 6 or 8 rooms behind that they were already done. So, a lot of people affected,” he said.

Now Hyatt hopes other students will learn to value the building they have here.

“They need to see this and be respectful of what they have,” he said.