FALLBROOK -- Vandals and "taggers" caused damage at five elementary schools in the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District during December's three-week winter vacation, school officials said Tuesday.

While the incidents troubled school officials, Assistant Superintendent Jim Whitlock said that they were not surprising because vandalism is a common and constant concern at the district's nine campuses.

"Even just over a routine weekend, we suffer a certain amount of vandalism," said Whitlock. "It's a community problem, not necessarily a student problem."

According to a memo distributed by Superintendent Mike Choate, the most damage during the winter break occurred at Fallbrook Street Elementary School, where vandals broke three display cases, destroyed the second grade's greenhouse and sprayed graffiti on tables and walls.

Graffiti was also found at La Paloma and San Onofre elementary schools, the latter of which is on Camp Pendleton.

"Vandalism is less frequent at our two base schools, but it does happen," Whitlock said. "In the summer of 2004, there was a fire started near one of the relocatable buildings at San Onofre that did some damage."

No vandalism was found at Mary Fay Pendleton, the district's other school at Camp Pendleton. In Fallbrook, a padlock securing the boiler room at Live Oak was broken off and a display case was destroyed at Maie Ellis, officials said.

Whitlock said the district employs a security guard who drives around to all its campuses to discourage vandals.

"It's just roving security -- making sure doors are locked, things like that," he said. "And if they see anyone vandalizing the property, they call the sheriff."

Children often use the playground equipment or basketball courts while school is not in session, he said.

"It would be nice if kids could come and play on the playground and not involve themselves in graffiti or vandalism, but there's always that small percentage of individuals who make life difficult for everyone else," he said.

Whitlock added that the school board may decide to enhance security at all of its campuses, but would probably not take up the issue until next year, at the earliest, because of budget constraints.

"We have discussed it, but logistically, it's difficult and expensive," he said. "Most of our in-town principals would welcome the campuses being better secured, because of acts of vandalism and graffiti."

Rich Hendrickson, an officer at the Fallbrook Sheriff's Substation, noted that it is often easier to catch vandals when the acts occur on school campuses, where students' gossip can flush out the culprits.

"If students or friends of students are involved, there's more likelihood that we'll come across names, because they have a tendency to just want to talk about it," said Hendrickson. "If it's random acts committed by people not connected with the school, then those cases are going to be harder to solve."

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 731-5799 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com. To comment, go to nctimes.com.

On the Web:

Fallbrook Union Elementary School District:

http://www.fuesd.k12.ca.us/

Information on combating graffiti:

http://www.graffitihurts.org/community_resources/prevention.cfm