It was supposed to be a real life lesson on "farm to table", and now Saipan school kids are learning about crime after all 20 of their chickens in the coop they made at Hopwood Middle School were stolen. KUAM News interviewed them in February and now their teacher is speaking out after the incident.

Victor Cabrera, a Hopwood educator, said, "I know that we did a previous story on it and the day before it aired, that night, 13 got stolen." That KUAM story aired on February 23. And since that first incident, the middle school kids' chicken coop at Hopwood Middle School on Saipan was struck two more times.

"They were very very heart broken and for the most part it is one of those things that they just keep asking why, why would someone , first of all break into a school to steal their work," he added.

And now all 20 chickens, which were raised by his students as part of the agriculture class, are gone.

"We do have information as to who the culprits were, but again, because they are minors and it is still under investigation I do not want to get into it. that is up to DPS right now. They have all the information that we have," he said.

The'yre still waiting to hear back from police. And students are in a hurry to start over.

Cabrera said, "Before we can do that we have to make sure that we reinforce our chicken coop area -- make sure that there is lighting, cameras, sensor detectors...we are basically going to turn the chicken coop into Fort Knox."

But another issue is the school's fence line, which hasn't been repaired since Supertyphoon Yutu struck in 2018, leaving the campus and students exposed near a busy beach. "I am not too sure as to why it is taking such a long time to rebuild the fence. This is a security issue for our students during school time and after school hours," he said.

KUAM reached out to the Commissioner of the Public School System Dr. Alfed Ada for comment. Meanwhile, Cabrera, who's been a teach for nearly two decades, says he hopes to rebuild in time for the next school year with summer months away.