Whitehorse Elementary School students received a short reprieve from classes early Wednesday morning after vandals broke into the school overnight.

Department of Education spokeswoman Holly Fraser said this morning the break-in was discovered by staff coming into the school Wednesday morning.

Vice-principal Sharon MacCoubrey was among the staff members who first entered to discover a noxious odour throughout the building.

They soon found a snowblower had been tipped over in a stairwell on the north side of the building, near the entry from the teachers’ parking lot area.

Staff kept students out of the building and contacted the territory’s property management branch to deal with the spill.

Property management officials were soon on the scene investigating, airing out the building and taking out the carpet where the spill had happened.

There was no other damage to the building and it does not appear anything was stolen, MacCoubrey said in an interview early this afternoon.

She noted there were some concerned parents who wondered about why buses were kept at the school during the situation, but noted it was simply a precautionary measure in case they were instructed to leave the premises.

The school has also been fielding quesitons from parents who wondered where staff were in the yard and playground.

As MacCoubrey explained the identification staff normally wear to show they work there was not available because that identification is kept in the school – and staffers were told to stay outside when they arrived.

Ironically, students likely had more supervision than they normally would, with the full school staff outside.

While staff have been fielding questions from parents, the students seemed pleased to have some extra time in the playground. Their only question was whether they might get sent home.

They soon learned that wouldn’t be the case.

By 9:30 a.m., it was clear the students and staff would be able to return to classes shortly, and the buses were able to leave the site.

While the school had been aired out by the time students and staff made their way back in, two classrooms close to the stairwell were closed off for the day.

“We wanted to err on the side of caution,” MacCoubrey said, noting the two classes were instead moved to the library and computer lab for the remainder of Wednesday.

The classrooms were reopened this morning.

It’s unknown how the vandals got into the Fourth Avenue building.