Ear today, gone tomorrow.
A callous monster uprooted a small crop of cornstalks planted by preschoolers on an Upper East Side sidewalk, who had been tending to the plot for months.
The tots at Mis Amiguitos Spanish Montessori were just weeks away from harvesting the corn when a still-unidentified brute ravaged the garden Monday — and tossed the spoils into a trash can for the devastated students to find.
“Everyone was in shock. One of the girls started crying, asking why the corn she had planted was cut down. It was really sad,” said Mily Cabarello, the CEO and owner of the school.
The mystery monster rolled up in front of the York Avenue school on a Citi Bike Monday morning, seemingly stopping in his tracks at the site of the stalks, surveillance footage obtained by Fox 5 shows.
He then began tearing them from the dirt and tossing them in a trash bag that he ultimately dumped in a nearby bin, leaving behind the ravaged plot.
“It was like I was watching a massacre. It was just heartbreaking,” Cabarello said of the footage.
The incident was being investigated as an act of criminal mischief, the NYPD said. A suspect wasn’t immediately identified.
The budding farmers, between the ages of 4 and 8, had been diligently tending to the plot all summer after planting the corn seeds in April — and had already staved off two other attacks by garden goons.
Assailants previously stole guard rails the school spent $1,000 on erecting around the garden, and stamped out some of the flowers in what Cabarella described as a “violation” of the tiny greenspace.
Whether the same man is responsible for all three attacks was unknown, but Cabarello warned that it was “the last straw.”
Mis Amiguitos purchased a series of cameras in case the vandal or vandals return so that the school can have a clear picture of their faces.
The students had been looking forward to reaping the benefits of their hard work in September, when they planned to harvest the cornstalks and paint them as classroom decorations.
The school previously successfully planted other gardens in the empty plot since 2021, including pumpkins and sunflowers that had been left untouched before the vandalism that sprouted this year.
“It’s their pride and joy to just go out there every evening and sometimes even in the mornings to water the plants that they take care of,” said Cabarello, adding that it brought joy to the neighborhood.
But the incident does not mean the end of the school’s farming, Cabarello promised.
The students are already brainstorming what the next crop will be, and are considering whether they want to try corn again.
Neighbors have also donated funds, kind words and even corn-shaped balloons to show their support in the face of the vandalism.
“We’re not going to let this keep us down. The kids are ready to get their hands in the dirt and just start over again,” said Cabarello.
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