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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Students at Dr. King Charter High School in the Lower 9th Ward will start classes a week late after thieves vandalized the school and stole all copper wire from trailers used as classrooms, school district officials announced Friday.

The first day of school will now be August 17, 2015.

“We are deeply saddened by this egregious act of cowardice. Dr. King Charter School is a beacon of light in the Lower 9th ward and this horrendous act has literally turned out our lights,” Friends of King School District Director of Finance, Shawne Favre said in a statement.  “We were the first school to reopen in this community, after Hurricane Katrina, and the Friends of King School District and Dr. King Charter School remain a dedicated member of the Lower 9th ward family.”

Favre said high school student have been in trailers since 2008, but this was going to be the last full school year they were used. Students and faculty were planning to move to a new building on the old Lawless site in January 2016.