A burglary at Tomales High last Thursday night cost the school seven band instruments worth $4,000.
Deputy Tom Odetto said the unknown culprit(s) climbed through ceiling passageways inside the school to get past locked doors.
It's as if someone were going to form a renegade Dixieland band, said music teacher Fred Campbell. Gone are: one trumpet, trombone, French horn, clarinet, two saxophones, and a 42-inch bass drum.
"It's bizarre," Campbell said. "It's hard to figure if it was a prank or someone trying to sell the instruments.
"It's not going to cripple our program, but it is annoying and depressing for the first week of school .... We've never had these types of [theft] problems in the 12 years I've been here."
Unfortunately, students touched the school's instrument cabinets Friday before fingerprints could be taken, and the ceiling area is too dusty for evidence, Odetto said.
The stolen instruments were professional models; beginners' instruments were left behind, noted instructor Campbell, adding that he thought it odd for thieves to pass by expensive electric instruments stored in the same area.
Especially valuable instruments lost were a Martin Committee trumpet, the type used by jazz great Miles Davis, and a $2,000 Selmer (Paris) tenor saxophone, he said.
"Someone had to know what [the Selmer] was. There were others literally stepped over to get to it," he said. "It's the type a real good jazz player would love to get."
Tomales bus driver Connie Ruggirello six years ago had donated the Selmer, which had belonged to her father, the late Bay Area musician Bob Maddox.
The remaining instruments stolen last week had been purchased over several years with parcel tax (Measure B) funds, school officials said.
"This theft hurts our program," said Principal Jim Patterson. "These were instruments the kids used."
The music program serves about 30 of the school's 281 students, Patterson said. The program still has enough instruments to supply students, but there are fewer for any new musicians to choose from.
School insurance will cover three fourths of the loss, and new security measures are being reviewed, Patterson said.
"One of the [security] problems is that we are so remote, and we're set back so far that you can't see people from the road," the principal added.
A silent alarm is one possible way to enhance security, as is adding surveillance between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., Patterson said. There are also several structural changes in store to make the building more secure, he said.
For now, he said, the school is changing equipment storage areas, leaving the lights on 24 hours a day, and having deputies cruise by more frequently.