"Just to have something that they've worked on, studied for, to be just gone because somebody thought there might something worth anything in that bag," said Valerie Oka.

She admits she took a chance. Her stop at Best Buy in Iwilei to get a few Christmas gifts was quick. But thieves were quicker.

"I was thinking that I'm in a parking lot. I'm under a light," Oka said.

When Oka left her brown Toyota Camry, someone was watching.

"They could see straight into the car, saw my bag, bashed it in, grabbed the bag and just took off," Oka said.

Oka teaches math at Mckinley High School. Her students test and quiz scores, her grade book, class projects and semester plans were all in that bag.

"Once I realized that was gone, that's when I really started to freak out," she said.

The break-in happened Sunday evening. She's still kicking herself.

"If I had just left it on the floor instead. If I had just put it in the trunk instead," she said.

When Oka met us at Best Buy, glass from the broken window was still on the ground.

"Right now I'm just hoping that somebody finds that whole mess of papers and my grade book because that's the thing that I can't replace," she said.

---