MAPLEWOOD, Mo. (KMOX) -  When it comes to trying to convert scrap metal into quick cash, thieves have pretty much begun stealing anything that isn’t nailed down.

But it appears they’re now willing to work a little harder and target stuff that is securely fastened.

“We had two bronze plaques that were on the gate area to our athletic field,” Maplewood Richmond Heights School District spokesman Brian Adkisson tells KMOX News. “We assume it to be a theft regarding the scrap metal.”

Each plaque was roughly 12-x-18 inches and welcomed visitors to the MRH High School-Middle School campus.

“To steal something from a public school…it’s very sad that it’s come to that,” Adkisson says.

Help for Maplewood police investigators comes in the form of surveillance video that shows two individuals prying off the plaques early last Thursday morning and then driving away in a white pickup truck.

The suspects remain at large.