Administrators canceled the Oct. 28 episode of Whitman Shorts after a student stole the laptop and back-up hard drive where the video was saved. The laptop was locked in the Whitman Shorts classroom when it was stolen between sixth period and the end of the day Oct. 27.

A Shorts member noticed that the computer was missing, when he came to pick it up from the classroom at the end of the school day.

Principal Alan Goodwin filed a police report Oct. 28 to investigate the theft.

“We are hoping that someone will come forward, even anonymously, to let us know where the computer is,” Goodwin said. “We’ve reviewed the cameras in that area, but nothing has shown up.”

Goodwin also asked students in Whitman Shorts if they knew anyone who may have wanted to take the computer, but no one had any further information.

“We even explored the idea that it may have been a prank, somebody from, maybe, Whitman Shorts,” he said. “But everyone ensured us that it was far too serious to be a prank.”

Whitman Shorts advisor Geoff Schaefer said that he used to tell his students the room was secure, so they could keep backpacks, sports equipment and any valuables inside the room without having to worry about theft.

“That concept is shattered and I don’t know what to do,” he said. “The tragedy here is that my vision, coming from Laurel High School in 2004, is that I would expect a rough situation to occur there. Here, I never expected it. It really bothers me, and I’ve been kind of depressed this whole week because I expected more from the student body.”

There are two keys to the Whitman Shorts classroom: the sponsor has one and the student whose laptop was stolen has the other.

“We know from the past several years that students sometimes have keys they shouldn’t have,” Goodwin said. “So we aren’t sure who it could be.”

In order to prevent future theft, Schaefer plans on improving the locks on the door to the classroom.

Because all of the video material is encoded with passwords, Goodwin said that he was confused why someone would commit this crime.

“Nothing really adds up,” Goodwin said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”