The Taiwan Weekly

I am going to start posting important news items from Taiwan each week. Check back each Friday for the news item of the week selected from many pressing issues that have arisen during the working week. Here's the first one. 

Whiteboard Magnets Disappear From Classroom

In a chilling incident in a local high school in Taichung (central Taiwan) up to 8 long, black whiteboard magnets have disappeared from a senior high school classroom. The incident happened after a student recruitment exercise involving teachers demonstrating a typical lesson at the school. 

"We're not sure what happened to the magnets, but basically a teacher borrowed them and then they were never returned. When we went back to check the room they weren't there," reported a staff member who wishes to remain anonymous. 

According to staff estimates the magnets are worth 24NTD in total, which roughly works out to being $1USD. 

"With the way the economy is at the moment we can't afford to be splurging on new classroom materials. We're pretty sure that we've narrowed the suspects down to 6 people but they are all reluctant to assist in the investigation," said another teacher who is responsible for spying on the other teachers and reporting back to management. 

The school is planning on increasing security measures to ensure that a repeat incident doesn't occur. All teachers will be frisked on their way out of the building and the 'Magnet Check-out Book' will be monitored carefully in the future. 

The principal of the school, Mr Lai, released a statement at a press conference urging other schools to be more fastidious about their classroom security. 

"You never expect this kind of thing to occur in your own school. I guess this has been a real wake up call for all of us. Sometimes you think you can trust the people you work with every day and then you get a swift slap in the face which reminds you that people just aren't how they were back in the day. Be careful, this isn't just about whiteboard magnets. It's about other things like markers, paper clips, staples, erasers, rulers, basically all kinds of stationary. I hope your schools never have to deal with something like this." 

The investigation is expected to continue into the next semester until the culprit is caught. 

By Mirsty Fleabeck