An outpouring of community help and concern has met the news that Seagull Schools at Kapolei was vandalized Monday night, its windows broken, playground equipment destroyed and carpeting in one classroom ruined by shattered glass.

"It's been amazing," said Chuck Larson, executive director of all four Seagull schools on the island. "We've had so many calls from people. Kapolei high school students offered to come and clean it up, some people pledged money, and some called and said they knew who did it."

Police said yesterday that no arrests had been made.

The Kapolei school serves 240 preschool children.

The Campbell Estate foundation has pledged $1,000 to help with repairs and Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the neighborhood board, is calling community businesses asking for financial donations to help with another $1,000 worth of repairs to the playground, said school principal Jayne Arasaki.

Arasaki has thrown away carpeting in one classroom because it was impossible to remove tiny shards of glass. "The glass was all over the carpet and the children sleep on it," she said.

While Arasaki said she and the school were gratified by the immediate assistance offered by the community, she was sad at how the children reacted, assuming they must have done something wrong to cause such damage.

"Some of the children think they did something bad because someone broke their windows. They ask us why these people did this," she said. "How do you explain this to a 3- or 4-year-old?"

Arasaki said they will try to repair some of the playground equipment that was ripped out of the ground and rolled around. But the playhouse will need major fixes.

"One of the Boy Scouts used it as his Eagle Scout project (before the vandals struck) and he had sanded and painted it and put new screens and slats in the window," said Arasaki. "But the vandals took out all the screens, and the toys and equipment inside they threw into the classroom."

The playground is closed until repairs are made.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.